John Donald Rae, DFC & Bar (15 January 1919 – 19 December 2007) was a flying ace of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during 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.

[6] The Second World War had been under way for several months before Rae joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in September 1940.

[7] After completing his flight training in New Zealand in March 1941,[5] he was sent to England to serve with the Royal Air Force (RAF).

[8] The squadron had been formed earlier in the year and its flying personnel were mainly New Zealanders but with British administrative staff and ground crew.

V.[12] Rae, who decorated his Spitfire with the emblem of his former high school, Auckland Grammar,[13] 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.

485 Squadron flew a mission escorting bombers attempting to disrupt the Channel Dash by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.

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.

[20] The squadron remained on the island as part of its defence and Rae flew his first mission on 22 April, a scramble to intercept raiding enemy aircraft, during which his gunsight failed.

The prevailing breeze carried him to the island, where he landed near Rabat and encountered an aggressive Maltese farmer armed with a shotgun.

[16][31] By the end of the month, the wounds to his leg had become infected and Rae was hospitalised and eventually repatriated to the United Kingdom for treatment.

[34] The citation, published in the London Gazette, recognised: ...gallantry and devotion to duty in the execution of air operations.In May 1943, Rae rejoined No.

[36] 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.

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).

Within recent weeks, Flying Officer Rae has shot down 4 enemy aircraft, bringing his total victories to at least 11.

He has displayed exceptional keenness and devotion to duty.Rae was incarcerated at Stalag Luft III, a POW camp well to the southeast of Berlin, in what is now Żagań, Poland.

As the war drew to a close, the POWs at Stalag Luft III were force marched deeper into Germany.

He ended the war with sole credit for eleven enemy aircraft destroyed and a half share in the destruction of two more for a total of twelve victories.