John Noble MacKenzie

Pilots of No. 41 Squadron, December 1940. MacKenzie stands on the far left and in the centre is Squadron Leader Don Finlay, a former Olympic hurdler for Great Britain[5]

In late July, No. 41 Squadron returned to Hornchurch to assist No. 11 Group, now heavily engaged in the Battle of Britain. MacKenzie's first encounter with the Luftwaffe during the battle was on the morning of 29 July when his section encountered a formation of bombers escorted by fighters. He engaged one fighter but was attacked by another which damaged his Spitfire. With a smoke-filled cockpit and unable to bale out, he made a forced landing at Deal. In a later flight that day, he engaged a Dornier Do 17 bomber but return fire from its rear gunner damaged his aircraft and he made another forced landing. The squadron operated from Hornchurch until mid-August before it returned to Catterick.[3]

On 15 August, when the Luftwaffe mounted large scale daylight bombing raids against the United Kingdom, MacKenzie was leading a section of No. 41 Squadron when it encountered a large group of Junkers Ju 88 bombers near the Durham coast. Mackenzie claimed a Ju 88 as probably destroyed, seeing smoke coming from the starboard engine after his attack but being unable to verify it as definitely destroyed.[6] In early September, and with MacKenzie having just been promoted to flying officer, the squadron went back to Hornchurch. He shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter over Canterbury on 6 September, having pursued it from 16,000 feet (4,900 m) above the Thames Estuary. He claimed another Bf 109 the same day as a probable.[3][7] On 9 September, he shot down a Bf 109 and two days later claimed a Heinkel He 111; its crew made a forced landing in a field after MacKenzie shot up its port engine. Although he received sole credit for the He 111, MacKenzie believed that it had already been damaged in an earlier encounter with RAF fighters.[8] He shared in the destruction of another bomber, a Do 17, on 15 September. A week later, while he and a colleague escorted an Avro Anson near Calais, they encountered a group of Bf 109s. MacKenzie shot down one, which crashed into the English Channel, and damaged another.[9] He shot down a Bf 109 on 5 October and shared in the shooting down of a Dornier Do 215 two days later.[9][10] Two more Bf 109s were damaged while on a patrol on 25 October. He ended the patrol running out of fuel and damaging his Spitfire when landing in a field near Redhill.[11] At the end of the month he destroyed a Bf 109 over Marden.[10]

Although the Battle of Britain was now officially over, No. 41 Squadron continued to encounter enemy aircraft in its area of operations as the Luftwaffe resumed attacking convoys in the English Channel and Thames Estuary. MacKenzie destroyed a Bf 109 on 17 November 1940, tacking onto the end of a formation of three enemy fighters without them realising his presence until he opened fire.[12] On 27 November his squadron encountered a group of ten Bf 109s, all of which were destroyed with MacKenzie accounting for one which crashed near Folkestone. This was to be his last confirmed victory.[13] The same month, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC); the citation published in the London Gazette read:

Flying Officer MacKenzie has flown with his squadron since the war began and has on numerous occasions led his squadron. He took part in the intensive air fighting covering the Dunkirk operations, and has since led his section with conspicuous success. Since 6th September, 1940, this officer has destroyed at least seven enemy aircraft and has at all times shown skill, courage and determination in pressing home his attacks against superior numbers of the enemy.

— London Gazette, No. 34993, 15 November 1940[14]

Promoted to acting flight lieutenant in January 1941, MacKenzie was now commanding one of the squadron's flights.[10] The DFC he had been awarded the previous November was presented to him by King George VI in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in late February.[15] Soon afterwards, having made a total of 245 operational flights, MacKenzie was taken off offensive operations and began flight control duties. His acting rank was made permanent later in the year.[10]

A flight of Brewster Buffaloes over British Malaya

In September 1941, MacKenzie was posted to join the newly formed No. 488 Squadron,[16] raised by the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in New Zealand and intended for service in Singapore. The squadron needed experienced leaders like MacKenzie to help bring it up to operational readiness as soon as possible.[17] MacKenzie arrived in Singapore in October to join the squadron and take command of its "A" flight.[18] The squadron was based at Kallang and began familiarisation with the Brewster Buffalo aircraft, which it had taken over from No. 67 Squadron.[17] MacKenzie was heavily involved in the training of the squadron as its commander, Squadron Leader Wilfred Clouston, another Battle of Britain veteran, was occupied with the administrative duties.[19]

When the Japanese attacked British Malaya in December 1941, the squadron had yet to reach operational standards and intensified its training. By the end of the year it was flying regular patrols aimed at detecting and destroying Japanese reconnaissance aircraft but the Buffaloes were inadequate for the task, having a low operational ceiling.[20] In the squadron's first major encounter with the enemy, an interception of a bombing raid, McKenzie's Buffalo was damaged by a Ki-27.[21][22]

Losses to Japanese fighters and bombing raids on Kallang soon reduced the squadron to only a few aircraft by the end of the month[23] by which time MacKenzie was its commander. He had taken over the role when Clouston was posted to RAF Headquarters in Singapore.[24] Despite reinforcement with some Hawker Hurricanes, the Japanese bombing of the squadron's airfield hampered operations. In fact, as a result of the bombing, he lost his hearing for a time.[25] The squadron was shortly evacuated to Tjililitan airfield, in the Dutch East Indies, from where they flew covering patrols over Java until the Japanese advance prompted a further move to Fremantle in Australia on 23 February 1942.[26]

MacKenzie went on to New Zealand where in April he took command of the newly raised No. 14 Squadron, a unit of the RNZAF. He had been promoted to acting squadron leader the previous month. His new command was mostly made up of personnel who had served in Singapore and was equipped with P-40 Kittyhawks after initially working up on North American Harvards. After four months at No. 14 Squadron, MacKenzie was posted to the Fighter Operational Conversion Unit which was based at Ohakea. He remained there until mid-1943 at which time he returned to the United Kingdom. Once there, he went to RAF Sutton Bridge to complete a course at the Central Gunnery School. He then took command of the gunnery and bombing squadron at No. 61 Fighter Operational Training Unit.[26]

In April 1944, MacKenzie was appointed commander of No. 64 Squadron, which operated Spitfires escorting bombings, attacking coastal shipping and flying patrols along the English coast. In September he was repatriated to New Zealand, having transferred to the RNZAF earlier in the year. He hoped to go on operations against the Japanese but in the event this did not eventuate and instead, after doing a conversion course on the F4U Corsair, he went back to Ohakea, but this time to the Fighter Leaders School. He remained there until August 1945 when he left the RNZAF.[26] He was officially credited with the destruction of nine enemy aircraft, a share in another destroyed aircraft, three probably destroyed, and three damaged.[27]