Born:
10 September 1892, Schombeni in Swaziland. He has the unique distinction of being the first infant of European descent born in Swaziland. His father, our great grandfather, was a journalist in Mbabane who started the Swazi Times. To add to confusion, he was also called Allister M Miller OBE, however, there is great confusion as to his birth names. It would seem he was born Alexander Mitchell Miller, why he called himself Allister I do not know?
The main street in Mbabane was named after him, Allister Miller Road.
Education:
Early education was at SACS in Cape Town and then at St Aiden’s in Grahamstown. Following that he sailed to England in order to study Engineering at City & Guilds Engineering College (London University). His studies were then interrupted by the outbreak of WW1 in 1914.
WW1:
In September 1914 he enlisted and was commissioned in the 5th Cavalry Reserve (Royal Scots Greys and 1st Royal Dragoons), a cavalry regiment, in which he saw active service in France. With the siege conditions in France all Cavalry regiments were relegated to a secondary role and he then turned to the RFC and obtained a transfer in February 1915.
He completed his flying training in November 1915 and was posted to 3 Squadron RFC and in June 1916 was made a Flight Commander.
Recruiting Tours:
In October 1916 the British authorities, with the agreement of the Union Government, arranged for an intensive recruiting campaign in South Africa. He was tasked with recruiting 30 suitable candidates but, due to the enormous interest, ended up signing up 450 recruits. This was the first recruiting tour that Allister Miller was sent on and, being so successful, was sent out again to South Africa, arriving in Cape Town in October 1917. He was given the use of 2 BE2e aircraft, an assistant and 2 RFC mechanics. Incidentally, the 2 BE2e aircraft were sponsored by the British expatriates in Brazil, hence their names of “Rio de Janiero Britons” No.1 & No.2. This was an extensive tour of the Union where, not only was he expected to recruit candidates for the RFC, but, was also tasked with flying displays to generate interest and also to raise money for RFC Hospitals. It was during this tour that
he visited Queenstown. At the end of the tour he had in excess of 8 000 applicants, from which he selected 2 000 for flying training and had raised 13 000 pounds. The careful selection resulted in the South African contingent having 98% of the candidates successfully becoming pilots, a far higher percentage than any other British Dominion. The distinguished service of many of the “Miller Boys” is well documented, probably the most famous being Andrew Weatherby Beauchamp-Proctor VC, DSO, MC & Bar, DFC.
End of WW1:
On completion of the recruiting tour, he was sent back to France, in October 1918, as OC of 45 Squadron (Independent Air Force, which became the RAF). When the war ended, he remained with the British Expeditionary Forces up till January 1919.
Years between the Wars:
1. On return to the Union in 1919 he, along with 2 partners, formed the “South African Aerial Navigation Company”. Lack of support, coupled with the trials of infancy, inevitably proved too much and the company was liquidated.
2. He never relinquished his determination to form a regular airmail service in SA and thus turned to Politics in 1920. He contested the Springs constituency, was unsuccessful and was again defeated in 1921 in Salt River. However, in 1924, he successfully campaigned for the Point Division of the South African Party in Durban. As an MP he never missed a chance to promote his ideas on aviation in the country. The inauguration of the Light Aeroplane Club, at the end of 1926, was a product of his campaigning. In 1927 he imported a DH 60 Cirrus Moth, named it “The Point”, and went on extended tours of the country to try and popularise general aviation in SA.
3. On 26th August 1929 his dream of an airmail service was born. Union Airways commenced with a fleet of 5 DH Gypsy Moths and a small staff of experienced pilots. Mail was carried weekly to their Headquarters in Port Elizabeth from Cape Town, Durban and the Rand, via Bloemfontein. The first 12 months showed financial optimism, but technical requirements & constraints started to affect the viability of the company. As a result of a fatal accident in 1931, all possible financial backing dried up. He was approached by South West African Airways, who immediately offered Junkers F13’s, this resulted in SWAA amalgamating with Union Airways. This move would ultimately cost him control of the company and the South African government final acquired all the assets & liabilities of Union Airways and thus SAA was born.
4. In 1936 Johannesburg celebrated its jubilee year and a South African entrepreneur, Isidor Schlesinger, planned an air race from Portsmouth to Johannesburg. He agreed to put up 10 000 pounds as prize money for the race which was to be planned under the auspices of the Royal Aero Club of Britain. Allister Miller was sponsored by the Johannesburg Corporation who supplied a Percival Mew Gull (ZS-AHM), named the “Golden City”. The race was routed via Yugoslavia with an obligatory landing in Cairo, then south to SA. The race itself was a total disaster, only one participant, the Vega Gull of Scott & Guthrie crossed the finishing line after a total flying time of 52 hours, 56 minutes & 48 seconds. All the other participants either crashed (& a number were killed) or experienced technical problems. Delays in finding fuel in Belgrade and bad weather forced our grandfather to retire, which was probably a good thing.
Second World War:
At the outbreak of hostilities, Allister Miller once again enlisted, this time in the SAAF and was appointed as OC of a number of Flying Schools throughout SA during the war with the rank of Lt. Col. As probably everyone here knows that, during WW2, the United Kingdom embarked on a joint military plan to train aircrew in the Commonwealth Colonies. This was the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and out of this, 47 Air school, here in Queenstown, came into existence. 47 Air School was one of the air schools that he commanded in 1943/44 (I don’t have the exact dates). Incidentally, our father was posted to 47 Air School as a staff pilot and his logbook shows his first flight, in an Oxford, on 19th May 1943. While on active service, seconded to the RAF in Burma, and flying Hurricanes, he was shot down by the Japanese and was forced to bale out. He was very lucky to survive (as are us) as he was badly injured and was behind enemy lines. However, he was picked up by Chinese partisans and carried for 10 days through the Burmese jungle to get him back to the allied lines. I know he spent a long time recovering after eventually being repatriated back to SA. His logbook entry “Baled out” is dated 9 April 1942 and his next entry is dated 3 February 1943, flying an Oxford at 26 Air School (Conversion Course), Pietersburg. I can only surmise that his posting to 47 Air School, as a staff pilot, was part of his recovery. He returned to operational flying in July 1945 flying B24 Liberators out of Egypt. It was obviously at 47 Air School where he must have wooed the OC’s younger daughter who was destined to become our mother.
Our Miller grandparents had three children, Allister Mackintosh Miller jnr., Jean Mercy Mackintosh Miller and Fiona Mackintosh Miller (our mother). Jean also married a 47 Air School officer, Frank Carey RAF, who was a navigational instructor here. After the war they moved to Guernsey, Frank Carey’s home.
A M Miller jnr. was a pilot in the SAAF during the war and ended up flying Mosquitos for 60 PR Squadron, SAAF. He did the photo recce of the second Ploesti oil raid by the Americans for which he was awarded the American DFC. Sadly, he went missing somewhere over the
Italian Alps on 26 February 1944. He and his navigator, Bill Allison, were never heard of again and no wreckage was ever found. It was assumed he must have had contact with an ME 262, which was the only aircraft that was capable of speeds in excess of the Photo Reconnaissance Mosquitos. ME 262s were known to be in the area at that time as the then OC of 60 PR Squadron Pi Pienaar’s encounter with one later that year bears testament.
Our grandfather never gave up hope that his son would be found, to the point of being obsessed. I believe this and the death of his wife in 1950, to whom he was devoted, was the cause of his untimely death in 1951 at the age of 59. His death certificate, according to my mother, stated “Broken Heart” as the cause, a sad ending to a very colourful character.
