was very rigorous and saw many of
the Americans eliminated. However,
Hills managed to get past each
hurdle and finally got into No. 7
Elementary Flying Training School
at Windsor, Ontario, and this meant
he would actually be in real aircraft.
He graduated on 4 March 1941 after
getting 60 hours of flight time on
Fleet Finch biplanes. Next stop was
Manitoba where he became part of
No. 10 Training School where he putyoung Americans were doing. At that
time, the British Commonwealth Air
Training Plan was starting to build up
speed but still needed a lot of work so
Hills and many other trainees were
shopped around to different military
installations to perform the most
trivial of tasks.
The backlog of volunteers was
so large that trainees had to wait
for their turn to enter the five-week
class — something thatWith briefing completed and maps
and notes stuffed into the top portion
of his right flying boot, one of the
pilots wandered out into the chilly
darkness to go over his aircraft one
more time. He knew the ground crew
had closely inspected his Mustang but
the young pilot had learned that it was
better to be safe than sorry. His name
was Hollis “Holly” Hills and at age 27
he had already accomplished quite a
bit.
The pilot proudly wore the
uniform flash that said “Canada/
USA” and Hills had been born
in Iowa but the family moved to
Pasadena, California, when he was
eleven. As he read newspapers and
watched the newsreels showing the
German advances into Europe, he
began to feel that he needed to do
something to fight the Nazis. Of
course, America was not at war but
in June 1940 he decided to cross the
border and join the
Royal Canadian Air
Force — something
hundreds of other
airclassicsnow.com 71
All the drama of an upcoming Mustang
Mk. I tactical reconnaissance mission is
illustrated in this photograph showing
F/O D.W. Samson of No. 16 Squadron
attaching the straps for his Mae West
while the ground crew gives AG431 a
final inspection.Holly Hills in the cockpit of a 414 Squadron Tomahawk. This view shows his personal
“Joker” insignia to advantage.