Henry Millicer

Who was Henry Millicer?

Henry K. Millicer, born Henryk Kazimierz Milicer, was a Polish-Australian aircraft designer and pilot.

He was born in Warsaw, Poland, the son of Kazimierz Milicer, a university professor whose family was descended from Baron Karl von Militzer. An ardent Polish patriot, Henry developed an early interest in aviation. In 1924 he won an aeromodelling competition with the prize being a flight over Warsaw, his home city. At age 14 he built a full-size glider and at 17 qualified as a glider pilot. After receiving a degree in aeronautical engineering he worked as a junior designer in the National Aviation Works on the PZL.37 Łoś bomber project headed by Jerzy Dąbrowski and later for the RWD company on the RWD-25 low-wing, fixed-wheels fighter project. He was also a member of the Polish Air Force reserve and flew against the Germans at the outbreak of World War II, winning the Polish Air Force Cross. At the defeat of Poland in September 1939, he was given the responsibility of ferrying the presidential papers in a small plane to Romania, then escaped to France and England where he flew in a Polish bomber squadron in the RAF. He completed seventeen missions before being seriously wounded in a training exercise. He was awarded the Military Medal for his service and became an interpreter between Polish, French and British pilots. In 1941 he married Warsaw-born Krystyna Paciorkowska, the daughter of the Polish politician Jerzy Paciorkowski.