James Archibald Findlay MacLachlan DSO, DFC & Two Bars (1 April 1919 – 31 July 1943) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter pilot and flying ace of the Second World War.

Born in Cheshire and one of four brothers educated at Monkton Combe School in Somerset, MacLachlan joined the RAF aged 17 in March 1937.

He completed his flight training in early 1939 and had considerable time to gain experience in operational types upon the outbreak of the Second World War.

He enjoyed the speed of the aircraft immensely and indulged in his passion for motor cars by buying an Austin 7 from a Nottingham dealership with his first pay cheque for £14 7s.

At the school he practiced dive-bombing and level bombing attacks and exercised in close air support operations and rounded off his training at RAF Penrose near, Pwllheli North Wales at the No.

[4] He was enthusiastic about describing the mathematical problems associated with aerial bombing and the use of cameras to judge accuracy rather than using live-munitions, but MacLachlan was more enamored with air-to-air gunnery.

At this time the Luftwaffe was heavily engaged in Poland and only a few small-scale skirmishes were fought with a thin German fighter screen left to guard western Germany against a French attack.

The German thrust at Sedan threatened to outflank the Maginot Line in the south and the Allied Armies in the north by breaking through in the centre and advancing to the English Channel.

His low-level flying did not impress his observer, Sergeant Hardy, who said to a member of the squadron: "I don't want to be killed by that f*****g MacLachlan – he does not care for his crew.

Twelve pilots and 207 men boarded HMS Argus in the River Clyde just off Greenock on 7 November 1940 and set sail for the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations.

Excess coincided with the arrival of the Luftwaffe Fliegerkorps X (10th Air Corps) in Sicily to support the faltering Italians in the theatre, after the failed invasion of Egypt.

Capitano Luigi Armanino was taken aboard a rescue craft to a prisoner of war camp in Malta, wounded in the thigh and arm.

[24][25] Over the next few days morale began to sink when Bf 109s from 7./JG 26, led by Oberleutnant Joachim Müncheberg appeared over Malta and immediately took a toll of Hurricanes.

According to MacLachlan they "left us standing"—in his diary he noted the poor morale of the squadron owing to the success of the Bf 109s and he recorded the desperation of pilots eager to shoot one down.

From what the pongos told me after, I believe I registered some rather effective shots MacLachlan probably was hit by a Bf 109 flown by Müncheberg himself—the German fighter leader had reported his 26th victory as a Hurricane with the pilot bailing out.

He flew home on a Boeing 314 Clipper via Lagos, Bathurst in Gambia, Lisbon, Portugal, Dublin, Ireland arriving in Bristol on 7 August.

MacLachlan found locating German aircraft in the dark difficult, though he himself claimed a locomotive damaged on the night and left two of its wagons destroyed.

He flew five more intruder sorties during which he returned via Antwerp and Ostend at near-zero feet after his map had blown out the side-canopy window on 26 June and chased a Ju 88 45 miles south of Selsey Bill without result on 2 July.

He flew as a co-pilot in a Short Stirling heavy bomber and practiced fighter evasion techniques and then proceeded to fly 15 types of aircraft in 11 days.

[47] MacLachlan departed Liverpool for Canada aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth in a heavily guarded convoy and arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 17 October 1942.

MacLachlan was to teach British officer cadets in American flying schools RAF General Service Regulations to prepare them for when they entered an OTU in Britain.

While in America he undertook several public relations tours and met movie stars such as Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine when he visited Hollywood for autographed photo-shoots.

He flew to Canada in a Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar where he spent eight days with the RAF Ferry Command in Montreal flying B-25 Mitchells.

MacLachlan visited his comrades in 1 Squadron based nearby at Ibsley before moving on to Hunsdon to see night fighter officer John Cunningham.

MacLachlan visited his old school at Monkton on 29 May 1943 which had pledged £1,000 for the five needed to buy a Spitfire as part of a local Wings for Victory Week.

[49] MacLachlan was not content in his position and pestered his superiors for an operational posting after weeks of practicing air combat with RAF Army Cooperation Command.

Since his return MacLachlan had been devising tactics for long-range penetrations into enemy airspace, where Allied fighter aircraft had not operated before in daylight.

He proposed to get through the Luftwaffe defence belt at low-altitude and consequently trained in low-level navigation by spending hours flying around England at tree-top height.

The operation required little wind, so it would not interfere with navigation and a low cloud base to allow the two to spot enemy aircraft silhouette against it at even great distances.

Flight Lieutenant McLachlan has set a fine example of courage, initiative and leadership.During the early part of the war, this officer served in the Middle East where he destroyed eight enemy aircraft.