John Reynolds Cock, DFC (3 March 1918 – 20 August 1988) was an Australian-born flying ace of the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War.

[1][2][3] Travelling to England for training, Cock passed the first phase of flight instruction and was granted his commission on 7 May as an acting pilot officer under probation.

Based at Lille for most of the Phoney War, the squadron patrolled along the front lines and sought to intercept Luftwaffe aircraft.

[5] It was flying from here that Cock achieved his first claimed aerial victory on 10 April, a Heinkel He 111 medium bomber that was shot down into the sea.

[2] Aerial operations intensified once the Battle of France began on 10 May, when Cock damaged a Dornier Do 17 medium bomber and a Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter and destroyed a Junkers Ju 88 medium bomber, the latter two south of Lille.

[5][2] On 11 August the squadron was scrambled to intercept Ju 88 bombers that had just attacked fuel storage tanks at Portland.

Another RAF fighter dealt with the Bf 109, leaving Cock to land in the English Channel.

87 Squadron the following month, the Luftwaffe was attacking London and aircraft factories in the south of England, some being in the area of No.

Two days later, while intercepting one of the last daylight raids mounted by the Luftwaffe, an attack on a Yeovil aircraft factory, he shot down another Ju 88 and probably destroyed a Bf 109.

[2][11] In early October, the Luftwaffe began using Bf 109s as fighter-bombers, making high speed dashes on targets in the south of England.

[12] On 10 October, Cock engaged and probably destroyed a Bf 109 over Portland, his last aerial victory.

[13] The following day, Cock was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC); the citation, published in The London Gazette, read This officer has destroyed seven enemy aircraft.

Flying Officer Cock has shown magnificent courage and initiative against overwhelming odds.In November No.

The squadron, based at Drem and equipped with Supermarine Spitfire fighters, was engaged in convoy patrols and interception duties.

[16] In November, he was sent to Australia on attachment to the Royal Australian Air Force, initially based in Sydney.

[1][19] From April to August 1945, Cock was based in Khartoum, in east Africa, where he tested the Hawker Tempest II.

[2] His command, part of the Occupation Force in Austria, was based at Zeltweg and operated the Spitfire LF.IX on patrols along the border with Yugoslavia.

The squadron's operations were beginning to wind down as Britain shifted back to a peacetime footing and in December it was disbanded.

[21][22] Cock returned to Australia, settling in Queensland where he established and operated a supermarket for several years.

He retired in 1983 and the same year, parts of the Hurricane from which he bailed out on 11 August 1940 were retrieved from the sea off Portland by aviation archaeologists.