Jack Rae

John Donald Rae, (15 January 1919 – 19 December 2007) was a flying ace of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during the Second World War. He was officially credited with the destruction of twelve enemy aircraft, as well as eight probably destroyed and six damaged.

Born and educated in Auckland, Rae joined the RNZAF following the outbreak of the Second World War. Rae was posted to England in 1941 to serve with the Royal Air Force, and he flew Supermarine Spitfires over the Channel Front with No. 485 (New Zealand) Squadron. In April 1942, he was attached to No. 603 Squadron, which was tasked with flying Spitfires from the American aircraft carrier USS Wasp to the island of Malta. He then served on Malta with No. 249 Squadron before being repatriated to England due to wounds. Once recovered, he served as a flying instructor before rejoining No. 485 Squadron, still serving on the Channel Front, in May 1943. He was forced down over France a few months later and became a prisoner of war. After the war, he established a business manufacturing clothing and spent his later years living in Kerikeri. He died in 2007, aged 88.

Early life John Donald Rae, known as Jack or JD, He was educated at Cornwall Park School and then at Auckland Grammar. When he finished his schooling, he took up employment as a stonemason. regularly flew with the squadron on escort missions over France. On one such mission, while protecting bombers targeting Gosnay on 9 August, he came close to running out of fuel and just made the return flight to England, setting down on a grass airstrip where other aircraft were parked. He discovered that these were decoys, the airfield a deception to fool German reconnaissance flights. Receiving directions from a local farmer, he took off and landed at a nearby RAF base, running out of fuel on his landing. He shot down his first German aircraft, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, a few days later on 12 August. He destroyed another Bf 109 over Gravelines on 19 August. On 12 February 1942, No. 485 Squadron flew a mission escorting bombers attempting to disrupt the Channel Dash by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. During this mission, Rae damaged two Bf 109s. He shot down a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter on 28 March 1942.

Malta

In April 1942, as part of Operation Calendar, Rae was attached to No. 603 Squadron, which was tasked with delivering Spitfires to Malta to reinforce the aerial defences of the island. Embarking on the USS Wasp, he flew a Spitfire from the carrier's flight deck and landed at the RAF base at Tekali, Malta, on 20 April.

In May 1943, Rae rejoined No. 485 Squadron, by now operating out of Biggin Hill, as a flying officer. According to Rae, this was at the behest of the squadron's commander at the time, Reg Grant, who departed shortly afterwards for a rest. If not for this, Rae believed that he would have been posted to Canada as an instructor. Now back on operations, Rae shared in the destruction of a Fw 190 on 27 July and received the sole credit for shooting down a Bf 109 on 9 August, when his section of four Spitfires, led by Squadron Leader Johnny Checketts, accounted for seven Me 109s. On 17 August, while flying cover for a bombing raid being carried out by Martin Marauders, he shot down two Me 109s. During an escort mission on 22 August, the squadron was surprised by 50 or 60 German fighters. Rae destroyed a Fw 190 but was one of four New Zealanders shot down; he force landed in France and became a prisoner of war (POW). Other pilots in the squadron confirmed Rae's aerial victory on their return to base. Rae had been due to be promoted and made a flight commander in another squadron. He had also been recommended by Checketts for a bar to his DFC; not long after Rae's capture, this award was promulgated. The published citation read:

Rae was incarcerated at Stalag Luft III, a POW camp well to the southeast of Berlin, in what is now Żagań, Poland. He made an escape attempt that led to his being placed in solitary confinement for a time. This meant that he was not involved in the subsequent Great Escape, during which 50 escapees who were recaptured were murdered. As the war drew to a close, the POWs at Stalag Luft III were force marched deeper into Germany. They were liberated by the advancing Allied forces near Hamburg at the end of the war.