John Noble MacKenzie, DFC (11 August 1914 – 28 March 1993) was a New Zealand flying ace of the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War.

He flew several patrols covering the beaches at Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo and then fought in the Battle of Britain, during which he destroyed several German aircraft.

He later rejoined the RAF, serving in a number of training posts until his retirement from the military in 1957 with the rank of squadron leader.

After completing his schooling he went farming but in April 1937 sought a short service commission in the Royal Air Force (RAF).

For the early part of the war, it carried out covering operations for convoys and patrols along the East coast of England.

In a later flight that day, he engaged a Dornier Do 17 medium bomber but return fire from its rear gunner damaged his aircraft and he made another forced landing.

[3][6] On 15 August, when the Luftwaffe mounted large scale daylight bombing raids against the United Kingdom, MacKenzie was leading a section of No.

Although he received sole credit for the He 111, MacKenzie believed that it had already been damaged in an earlier encounter with RAF fighters.

41 Squadron continued to encounter enemy aircraft in its area of operations as the Luftwaffe resumed attacking convoys in the English Channel and Thames Estuary.

MacKenzie destroyed a Bf 109 on 17 November 1940, tacking onto the end of a formation of three enemy fighters without them realising his presence until he opened fire.

[13] On 27 November his squadron encountered a group of ten Bf 109s, all of which were destroyed with MacKenzie accounting for one which crashed near Folkestone.

He took part in the intensive air fighting covering the Dunkirk operations, and has since led his section with conspicuous success.

[11] The DFC he had been awarded the previous November was presented to him by King George VI in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in late February.

[20] When the Japanese attacked British Malaya in December 1941, the squadron had yet to reach operational standards and intensified its training.

By the end of the year it was flying regular patrols aimed at detecting and destroying Japanese reconnaissance aircraft but the Buffaloes were inadequate for the task, having a low operational ceiling.

[22][23] Losses to Japanese fighters and bombing raids on Kallang soon reduced the squadron to only a few aircraft by the end of the month[24] by which time MacKenzie was its commander.

[26] The squadron was shortly evacuated to Tjililitan airfield, in the Dutch East Indies, from where they flew covering patrols over Java until the Japanese advance prompted a further move to Fremantle in Australia on 23 February 1942.

His new command was mostly made up of personnel who had served in Singapore and was equipped with P-40 Kittyhawk fighters after initially working up on North American Harvard trainer aircraft.

64 Squadron, which operated Spitfires escorting bombings, attacking coastal shipping and flying patrols along the English coast.

He was successful and resumed his service career that July as the commander of Air Fighting Development Squadron at RAF West Raynham.

His final posting was back in the United Kingdom, at RAF Brampton, where he was on the research staff at the Technical Training Command for 18 months.

[30] Returning to New Zealand, MacKenzie purchased an automotive dealership in Balcultha and operated this until 1972, at which time he retired.