John ”Johnny” Checketts, a World War II fighter pilot who crippled at least 14 enemy planes and twice survived being shot down, died last week at his New Zealand home, a newspaper reported on Monday. He was 94.
Checketts died in the southern city of Christchurch on Friday, according to a death notice published in the Dominion Post newspaper. The cause of his death was not disclosed.
Checketts joined New Zealand’s air force as a trainee pilot in October 1940, according to the New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum. He graduated in June 1941 and was posted to Britain.
Over the next four years, Checketts emerged as one of New Zealand’s best fighter pilots, credited with shooting down more than 14 German airplanes and damaging at least 11 others, many over enemy territory, the museum said on its website.
”I had very good eyesight. I could see an enemy aircraft at a great distance and it gave me the opportunity to … win a victory or shoot him down,” he said in a 2002 interview with the New Zealand Press Association (NZPA).
Still, Checketts faced two near-fatal crashes after taking enemy fire.
In 1942, the former mechanic was forced to abandon his stricken Spitfire aircraft over the English Channel.
”The channel was bloody cold. I was wounded in the leg, but I was picked up after an hour in the water,” he told the NZPA. ”I couldn’t have lasted the night. I was very lucky to have been rescued.”
The following year, Checketts was engaged in a fierce dogfight over France when he was again shot down. With his ammunition spent and flames belching through the cockpit, Checketts ditched the plane and parachuted to safety.
Over the next several weeks, the injured Checketts was hidden and cared for by members of the French resistance until he and 11 other servicemen were smuggled back to Britain in a small fishing boat.
”The French are lovely, lovely people. They saved my life, they nursed me and cared for me,” Checketts said. ”My injuries weren’t terminal but were painful and took a long time to heal.”
Checketts was awarded several military honours for his service — including a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Distinguished Service Order in 1943, a United States Silver Star in 1944 and the Polish Cross of Valour in 1945 — but he never forgot the horror of war.
”Everything about it is to destroy and I don’t think human beings are brought into this world to destroy things. They are brought into the world to preserve,” he said.
Remembering his first kill — a German fighter pilot he shot down over France in early 1943 — Checketts said he felt ”considerably” upset at the time, but quickly returned to the business of survival.
”He was somebody’s boy with a mother and father. But I also thought it could easily have been me,” he said. ”After that, I didn’t let it worry me because it was him or me.”
After the war, Checketts returned to New Zealand and served in the air force until 1955, when he retired. He later served as aide-de-camp to two New Zealand governors general, Bernard Freyberg and Charles Norrie.
He is survived by two sons and a daughter. — Sapa-AP