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GORDON RAYMOND MILLS Gordon Raymond Mills was a unique character, born the youngest of three, in Gosport on the October 5th 1926. He spent his childhood in various places around the world due to the fact that his father, William George was in the Royal Engineers. In his younger days, Gordon was a keen and enthusiastic sportsman, involved in many sporting teams, notably football, hockey, swimming and tennis, both at school and college. He had great pride in showing the scar from an operation to pin his broken leg; the result of a footballing injury obtained when he was 12, which he maintained to his last days, was NOT an accident! One thing he will always be remembered for was his love of taking things apart to see how they worked or, more importantly, how he could improve them! He was never very good at putting things back together however, hence lots of bits and pieces lying around which may come in handy for something else! Gordon began his working life as an electronics engineer with the Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment. He worked his way up through the years and perhaps one of his happiest times, when on board HMS Girdleness, was his involvement in the development of new surface to air guided missile systems. He was very proud of his work, but never really talked about it in detail. We think he took his oath of secrecy very seriously! He continued to work at A.S.W.E. until his early retirement having achieved the dizzy heights of Senior Scientific Officer, a position of which he and his family were justifiably proud. Gordon was a loving and devoted son who cared for his parents and elder sister Eileen in their final years. He liked to keep himself to himself but always maintained a loving relationship with his older brother Ron and Sister in law, Joyce. As in all sibling relationships, the elder brother offered the younger much advice, most of which was duly ignored or forgotten! Gordon was a generous and loving uncle to his nephews, Brian and Corin, and niece, Celia, and was always on hand to help out when financial crises occurred. This continued with his great nephews, Matthew and James and nieces, Emma, Elena and Zoe all of whom have experienced the kindness and generosity of the man. It came as shock to Gordon to have become ill, as he had always enjoyed good health. His last eight weeks spent in hospital was a considerable trial for him, but he managed to maintain a dignified and grateful demeanour with the hospital staff whose care was very much appreciated. Over the last few weeks, Gordon was pleased and comforted to know that he had the love and support of his family in his hour of need. He will be missed by all of them. Rest in peace, Gordon; no doubt you will be sitting in your comfy reclining chair and watching a state of the art wide screen TV! Say "Hello" to your Dad, Mum and Eileen for us. We love you. Celia Walker - 9th June 2003 - read at Gordon's funeral. |
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The Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment originated in an Experimental Department set up
in 1917 at HM Signal School, Portsmouth, to coordinate research work undertaken since 1896
on the Torpedo School ships HMS Defiance and HMS Vernon. In 1941 the Experimental Department
became the Admiralty Signal Establishment which, like its predecessors, was largely concerned
with communications. However, technological advances during the Second World War necessitated
an increase in related fields of research, and in 1948 these were brought under one body, the
Admiralty Signal and Radar Establishment at Portsmouth. In 1959 it was decided that missile
technology justified an extension of its scope, and on being amalgamated with the Admiralty
Gunnery Establishment (AGE) it received the title of Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment
(ASWE). It is responsible for various aspects of research, development, design and trial of
equipment, devices and techniques in the fields of communications, radar missile control, and
electronic counter-measures and in related fields. In 1971 the Admiralty Compass Observatory was absorbed into ASWE as its Navigation Division, and in 1984 the Establishment was amalgamated with Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment (AUWE) and Admiralty Marine Technology Establishment (AMTE) to form the Admiralty Research Establishment (ARE). (National Archives ADM 220) |
| Posted to HMS Experimental Department, Malta, on 30th June 1959 aboard HMS Girdle Ness. |
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Seaslug missile tests - Malta WH876, in U.14 configuration, was used as a pilotless drone target by 728B Squadron. This was a Royal Navy squadron, at Hal Far, Malta, who flew these target drone Canberras on guided missile trials [Seacat and Seaslug]. WH876 was numbered "595" whilst with the RN. The Canberras, six of them, were painted all-over white with wide black bands around the outer part of the wings. The navy only managed to shoot down one of the six - WH921 ("590") - brought down by a missile fired by HMS Girdle Ness on 6 October 1961. Having survived the Navy(!), WH876 returned to the UK in December 1961 where it was put into store at Pershore. The cockpit section is kept at Boscombe Down. |
| Staff Number 117752H |