William Lloyd Brill, DSO, DFC & Bar (17 May 1916 – 12 October 1964) was a senior officer and bomber pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

Following assignment as an instructor with the Royal Air Force (RAF), he returned to the bombing campaign in January 1944 as a flight commander with No.

Brill's leadership and determination to complete his missions despite damage to his aircraft—on one occasion inflicted by another Lancaster's bombs from above—earned him the Distinguished Service Order.

[3] The previous month he had been tested as a potential air cadet, the interview panel finding him a "quiet country chap" who was "rather slow" but "intelligent".

[1][5] He went through the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS), undergoing initial instruction at RAAF Bradfield Park in Sydney.

Selected to be a pilot, he received his elementary flying training on De Havilland Tiger Moths at RAAF Station Narrandera.

460 Squadron was one of several nominally Australian formations taking part in RAF Bomber Command's strategic air campaign against Germany.

Who am I to hold the lives of five other men in my hands?On the night of 29/30 May 1942, Brill's was one of 27 aircraft detailed to bomb the Gnome et Rhône, Thomson Houston, and Goodrich factories in the Paris suburb of Gennevilliers.

Returning to England through more bad weather, he spotted an emergency landing ground and brought the crippled Wellington down with the bomb doors still open and one tyre flat; the plane was later scrapped.

[11][12] For his "splendid courage and determination" in pressing home the assault, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 26 June,[13][14] the first pilot in his squadron to be decorated.

The press would come to refer to the pair as the "Flying Twins", as their wartime careers closely paralleled one another—both men came from the Riverina district, joined the Air Force together on Remembrance Day 1940, arrived in England in August 1941, flew Wellingtons in No.

[18] Having volunteered for his second tour, Brill underwent conversion to Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster heavy bombers in the last months of 1943.

[20] The statistical likelihood of surviving an operational tour of 30 missions in Bomber Command was never more than 50%, but loss rates during the Battle of Berlin were far higher.

The Lancaster he flew was said to be jinxed, possessed of an engine that lost power in the air but always tested well on the ground, and suffering oxygen failure that killed its rear gunner on the previous sortie.

Having released his bombs over target, he felt the plane take several strikes that he assumed were anti-aircraft fire but were in fact the incendiaries of a Lancaster flying above.

[20][22] He flew eleven operations during the Battle of Berlin, including Bomber Command's costliest raid of the war, against Nuremberg in March.

463 Squadron had begun to concentrate on targets in France and Belgium as the Allied air campaign shifted focus from strategic bombing to destroying airfields and disrupting lines of communication before the invasion of the continent.

The controller was required to arrive ahead of the main Allied force, check that flares marking the target were in place, and warn his fellows if they were bombing inaccurately.

By the time Brill had completed this task and gone in himself to attack, the ground defences were fully alert and peppered his Lancaster with 140 bullet holes, but he refused to take evasive action until he had delivered his bombload.

[15][26] According to the official history of the RAAF in World War II, Brill "proved a very worthy successor to Balmer both in administration and in the dashing type of leadership which had brought the Waddington squadrons to the fore in No.

[30] The unit was in action on D-Day over Pointe du Hoc and, later, clearing a corridor for Allied troops advancing up the Cherbourg peninsula.

By now he had earned a reputation for being quite "mad", as he would often circle back and check over his handiwork after a bombing run, rather than making his escape from the target area as quickly as possible.

[34] During non-operational periods, he made a habit of taking a Lancaster on a so-called test flight to the southern border of Northern Ireland, where he and his crew would change into civilian clothes, cross into Ireland and stock up on food and liquor for a party back at Waddington; he always made a point of inviting the Air Officer Commanding RAAF Overseas Headquarters, Air Vice Marshal Henry Wrigley, to such events, which Wrigley attended without fail.

Little support or direction on its use as a training facility was forthcoming from higher command, and in the summer months its Avro Lincoln bombers were employed in bushfire patrols over East Gippsland, reporting 44 outbreaks in February 1947 alone.

Promoted to group captain, Brill served throughout 1959 as commanding officer of RAAF Base Canberra before again being appointed Director of Personnel Services.

[1][45] In January 1964 he assumed command of RAAF Base Townsville, returning to Canberra that October for assignment to the Department of Air.