John Beech Austin (17 July 1917 – 12 January 2012) was a British Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot during the Second World War.

[1] Austin was born in Sutton Coldfield, and matriculated from King Edward's School, Birmingham, aged 16 and went to work for the Coventry branch of the Midland Bank as a junior clerk.

He was trained to fly in Tiger Moth biplanes at weekends, was given lectures in theoretical maintenance in weekday evenings, and learned how to navigate using maps on his knees.

At RAF Filton training started again from scratch on Tiger Moths, and then from July 1940 the twin engine enclosed-cockpit Oxfords which were alright to fly as long as they didn't stall.

[citation needed] As a pilot working for the SOE, Austin flew missions to drop agents and supplies for resistance groups against the German occupying forces in Europe.

One specific group of interest were the Chetniks commanded by General Mihailovic, and it was decided that air drops would be attempted to supply his forces.

Austin made the first supply drop leaving Malta on the night of 7 November 1941 accompanied by a Serbian navigator to assist with map reading.

Austin was rested in March 1944, having added a Bar to his DFC – the citation praised "his exceptional ability and attitude towards operational flying", which had had "an inspiring effect on his squadron".