Thread: S/L Denis 'Dusty' Miller RIP

Squadron Leader Denis 'Dusty' Miller: bomber and airline pilot | Times Online Obituary

After learning to fly in his native New Zealand, Denis “Dusty” Miller went in 1941 to Britain to serve in Bomber Command, gaining the DSO and DFC for his bravery and leadership in two tours of operations against heavily defended targets. Remaining in Britain as an airline pilot after the war he took part in the expansion of BOAC.

Denis Miller was born in 1918 and educated at Auckland Grammar School. After he arrived in the UK his first operational posting was to 50 Squadron flying Hampdens, after which he instructed on Wellingtons with 25 Operational Training Unit.

With 25 OTU he took part in three of the “thousand bomber raids” against German cities for which Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, chief of Bomber Command, ransacked the training units for aircraft to make up the magic four-figure number. Miller was awarded the DFC.

He was awarded an immediate DSO during his second tour, with 49 (Lancaster) Squadron after a lengthy sortie in April 1944 to lay mines off Gdynia, Poland, the principal German naval base on the Baltic. He and his crew were the lead aircraft and came under heavy fire from shore and shipborne flak. While returning over Denmark, his aircraft was attacked by two Ju88s, which he eluded by flying into cloud.

His DSO citation reads: “With a complete disregard of danger in the face of the enemy, he continues to go into battle with the utmost determination and astonishing keenness. His personal example has been an inspiration to his men”.

At the end of the war, Miller joined BOAC and over 28 years flew a wide variety of aircraft from Yorks and Constellations to Boeing 707s.

His wife, Margery, died in 2007 and he is survived by a daughter. His son, who became a Boeing 747 pilot with British Airways, predeceased him.

Squadron Leader Denis “Dusty” Miller, DSO, DFC, bomber and airline pilot, was born on November 12, 1918. He died on March 24, 2009, aged 90

He must have had thousands upon thousands of hours in his logbook. Former bomber pilots must have made the best airline captains. RIP.

Have been reading a fair bit about bomber pilots turned airline captains recently. Fascinating guys whose love of flying is palpable.