George Milson's memoir
Title
George Milson's memoir
Description
George Milson joined the RAF in September 1939. After receiving his wings, he was posted to No. 18 Squadron, flying night operations to Dunkirk, Duisburg, Wilhelmshaven, and later carrying out low level shipping sweeps and “Circus” operations over northern France. George completed thirty operations before being posted to the Middle East, joining No. 84 Squadron at Mosul and later serving in the Western Desert. There he flew repeated daylight strikes on enemy troops and shipping during the advance across Libya and took part in formation work, desert flying and intensive operational activity as the squadron moved forward.
In January 1942 he flew as part of a six aircraft ferry flight from Egypt to the Far East, travelling via Habbaniya, Bahrain, Sharja, Karachi, Calcutta, Rangoon and finally Sumatra. He carried out both day and night attacks on Japanese landing forces, fleet units and positions around Palembang and Java, often in difficult conditions with poor facilities and heavy losses. During the collapse of Java he escaped on foot from Kalidjati with a small mixed group before being captured near Tjilatjap.
He spent more than three years as a prisoner of war, first in solitary confinement and then in camps at Tjilatjap, Bandoeng, Changi and Kranji, taking part in work parties and camp duties until liberation in 1945. After repatriation he returned to Britain and was demobilised later that year.
In January 1942 he flew as part of a six aircraft ferry flight from Egypt to the Far East, travelling via Habbaniya, Bahrain, Sharja, Karachi, Calcutta, Rangoon and finally Sumatra. He carried out both day and night attacks on Japanese landing forces, fleet units and positions around Palembang and Java, often in difficult conditions with poor facilities and heavy losses. During the collapse of Java he escaped on foot from Kalidjati with a small mixed group before being captured near Tjilatjap.
He spent more than three years as a prisoner of war, first in solitary confinement and then in camps at Tjilatjap, Bandoeng, Changi and Kranji, taking part in work parties and camp duties until liberation in 1945. After repatriation he returned to Britain and was demobilised later that year.
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Spatial Coverage
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Language
Format
41 printed sheets
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
BMilsonGWMilsonGWv1
Collection
Citation
George Milson, “George Milson's memoir,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed February 8, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/55480.