John Milne Checketts, (20 February 1912 – 21 April 2006) was a New Zealand flying ace of the Second World War, who was credited with the destruction of enemy aircraft, three probably destroyed and 11 damaged.
Born in Invercargill, Checketts worked as a mechanic before joining the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in October 1940. After completing his flight training he was sent to the United Kingdom to serve with the Royal Air Force. From January 1942, he flew with No. 485 (NZ) Squadron before being posted to No. 611 Squadron. He returned to No. 485 Squadron in August 1943 as its commander but two months later was shot down over occupied France. He was returned to the United Kingdom by the French Resistance. He later commanded a wing carrying out operations in support of the D-Day landings and escorting heavy bombers on raids into Germany.
Checketts remained in the RNZAF after the war, commanding air bases in New Zealand and Fiji. Returning to civilian life in 1954, he set up an aerial topdressing company and later undertook conservation work. He died in 2006, aged 94.
Early life John Milne Checketts was born in Invercargill on 20 February 1912, the first of three children, to Ernest and Mary Jane Checketts. His father was a carrier, transporting loads around Southland, and he also kept animals. Checketts was educated at the Invercargill South School and then Southland Technical College, where he studied engineering. He graduated in 1928 but continued to study engineering at night school while undertaking an apprenticeship as a motor mechanic.
Finishing his apprenticeship in 1934, Checketts began working for a motor dealership. His father, who had moved the family to a small farm in 1918, had lost his job and Checkett's wages supplemented the family's income. He was interested in aviation; he had seen his first aeroplane, an Avro 504K, when he was eight years old, and was among the crowd that greeted Charles Kingsford Smith when Smith arrived at Invercargill's Myross Bush aerodrome in the Southern Cross. Checketts took his first flight in late 1937 or early 1938, as a passenger in a de Havilland Puss Moth.
In August 1939, Checketts enrolled in the Civil Reserve for the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). Wishing to serve as a pilot rather than the RNZAF's preference for a ground mechanic given his technical background, he took evening classes in educational and technical subjects such as algebra, navigation, electricity and Morse code.
Second World War Training in New Zealand In October 1940, with the Second World War well underway, Checketts was called up to the RNZAF. He underwent flight training at No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School, near Dunedin, soloing on 17 December 1940 in a Tiger Moth. Rated a below-average pilot, he nonetheless went on to No. 1 Service Flying Training School at Wigram, near Christchurch, and then progressed to the Advanced Training School, also at Wigram, after passing his wings examination.
Checketts completed his flight training in June 1941 and was commissioned as a pilot officer in the RNZAF. He was posted to the United Kingdom to serve with the Royal Air Force (RAF). He departed from Auckland on 22 July 1941 aboard the Dominion Monarch.
Operations At the RAF's No. 56 Operational Training Unit, in Lincolnshire, Checketts learned to fly the Hawker Hurricane and was assessed as an above-average pilot. Despite his familiarity with the Hurricane, his first operational posting, in November 1941, was to the Supermarine Spitfire-equipped No. 485 (New Zealand) Squadron. Aged 29, he was much older than his fellow fighter pilots. The squadron, with largely New Zealand flying personnel but British ground crew and administration, was based at Kenley, south of London. It shared the facilities with No. 452 (Australia) Squadron and No. 602 Squadron, and these all formed the Kenley Wing. A New Zealander, Al Deere, was commander of No. 602 Squadron and he and Checketts became great friends. At their first encounter, Checketts was depressed; he had struggled on his orientation flight in a Spitfire and was concerned that his squadron commander would transfer him on account of his poor performance. Deere, seeing Checketts on his own, went over and after listening to him, provided reassurance.
Soon becoming familiar with the Spitfire, Checketts began flying missions, his first being on 7 January 1942. On 12 February 1942 the Kenley Wing took part in an operation escorting torpedo-bombers over the English Channel during Operation Cerberus, when the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau steamed rapidly from Brest in France to reach safety in German ports. Although he did not encounter any German aircraft, Checketts, flying at the rear of his four-man section, used his Spitfire's cannon to help sink an E-boat. The squadron shot down four aircraft and damaged several others, as well as accounting for an E-boat and their exploits received extensive publicity in British and New Zealand newspapers.
In March 1942, having already attacked an E-boat earlier in the flight, Checketts had his first dogfight with German aircraft while escorting Douglas Boston bombers on a mission to Le Havre. Attacked by Messerschmitt Bf 109s, he accidentally set off a series of Very flares while performing evasive moves. This apparently scared off the attacking Bf 109. Further missions across the English Channel followed, and on 4 May 1942, Checketts was set upon by six Bf 109s. He was shot down and bailed out over the channel. He was rescued from his inflatable dinghy by a rescue launch of the Royal Navy. It was only after he was aboard the launch that he realised he had been wounded in the leg by shrapnel. His injuries were minor and he returned to operational duties, carrying out interception and low-level strafing missions, escorting bombers, and undertaking fighter sweeps, within three days of being shot down.
Checketts was promoted to flying officer in June 1942 and was soon posted to "Sailor" Malan's Central Gunnery School at Sutton Bridge, in Lincolnshire. He soon became friendly with Malan, the two going hunting together, and he spent a month improving his aerial marksmanship. Rated "above average" at aerial marksmanship by Malan, Checketts rejoined No. 485 Squadron, which was being rested from frontline duties, on 23 July. Now based at King's Cliffe near Peterborough, the squadron was conducting convoy and night patrols over Norfolk as well as fighter sweeps across to the Low Countries. In mid-August 1942, having accumulated 220 operational flying hours in nine months, and in need of a rest, Checketts was sent to Martlesham Heath to serve as an instructor in fighter gunnery, specialising in deflection shooting. After a few months, he returned to operational duties, this time with No. 611 Squadron. Along with No. 340 Squadron, a Free French squadron, it formed a wing, commanded by Al Deere and based at Biggin Hill as part of No. 11 Fighter Group.
Checketts was soon flying offensive operations with the Spitfire Vb, escorting a bombing raid to Abbeville on 13 January 1943, during which he engaged and damaged a Focke-Wulf Fw 190. This was his first official claim for a damaged fighter; Malan, now station commander at Biggin Hill, had queried Checketts about the operation afterwards and ordered him to make a claim. Although Checketts had damaged others in the previous year he had never put in official claims for them. The Spitfire Vb was outclassed by the Fw 190 and the squadron soon reequipped with the Spitfire IXb. In April 1943, Checketts was given command of the squadron's B Flight. On 30 May 1943 he shot down a Fw 190 while on an escort mission to Caen. This was his first confirmed aerial victory; he had already damaged four Fw 190s earlier in the month.
Mid-1943 was spent primarily escorting medium bombers on raids to France, Belgium and the Netherlands, or in offensive operations against German fighters. In June 1943, Checketts was promoted to flight lieutenant and also received an honorary commission as a pilot in the Free French Air Forces. By this time, he was regularly flying alongside No. 341 Squadron, another Free French unit that had replaced No. 340 Squadron. Later in the month, he was able to test fly a captured Fw 190, considering it well matched against his Spitfire except at high altitudes. At the end of the month, he was advised that the squadron was to be withdrawn from the frontline for a rest. Since the start of the year, Checketts had recorded 196 flying hours and completed 100 missions; as it happened, he was to remain at Biggin Hill. On the recommendation of Deere, Checketts was given command of his former unit, No. 485 Squadron, now part of the Biggin Hill Wing, and promoted to squadron leader the following month. Checketts' new command would have had, as a typical fighter squadron, an operational establishment of 16 aircraft. It was to swap their old Spitfire Vbs with No. 611 Squadron's Spitfire IXbs.
Command of No. 485 Squadron On assuming command of No. 485 Squadron, Checketts changed its tactics, drilling it in the "finger four" formation rather than the weaving formation previously used and which led to avoidable casualties. His new command spent several weeks on bomber escort duties and on 15 July 1943 he shot down a Fw 190 near the Somme Estuary. This was followed several days later by two more Fw 190s, one over Tricqueville and the other on the French coast. He had accounted for two of the four German aircraft shot down by No. 485 Squadron that day. The wing's No. 341 Squadron destroyed a further five aircraft. With neither squadron of the Biggin Hill Wing suffering any casualties, it was recognised for its efforts with congratulatory telegrams from Winston Churchill and Air Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, the head of Fighter Command. On 31 July 1943, Checketts claimed a Bf 109G while on a bomber escort mission to Tricqueville. Guiding the squadron towards Douai as cover for a group of Martin B-26 Marauder bombers on 9 August 1943, Checketts spotted a flight of eight Bf 109s in the distance. With the permission of Deere, also flying as commander of the Biggin Hill wing, Checketts led a breakaway section of four Spitfires to attack them. He quickly destroyed three of the Bf 109s and damaged another while the other pilots in the section destroyed one each. This action received considerable publicity and was the subject of a BBC radio broadcast featuring Checketts. For his exploits he was later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC); the citation, published on 17 August 1943, read:
While acting as high cover for bombers attacking an airfield near Rouen on 22 August, No. 485 Squadron was jumped by a force of Fw 190s and Bf 109s, and several pilots were shot down. Checketts probably destroyed a Bf 109 but as he did not see it go down, he claimed it as damaged. The following day, he shot down a Fw 190. By now he was occasionally leading the Biggin Hill Wing on its raids, one being on 24 August 1943, when it covered a bombing raid on an airfield near Paris.
On 6 September 1943, No. 485 Squadron flew high cover for B-26 Marauders bombing the rail marshalling yards at Serqueux, Seine-Maritime. The Spitfires were attacked by 20 Fw 190s from above. Checketts shot one down but was then attacked by several others and his aircraft was set on fire. Burned and wounded, he struggled to bail out. He landed from Abbeville in a field where he was approached by a French boy who helped him on to his bicycle and then wheeled him to nearby woods. The next day he was taken by a Frenchman to his own home, where his injuries were tended by the Frenchman's wife.