Battle of Britain veteran dies at 92

John Gard'ner. Photo / Supplied

Battle of Britain pilot John Gard'ner, who survived when his aircraft was shot down into the Channel as his squadron was massacred by Messerschmitts in July 1940, has died in Tauranga after a brief illness. He was 92. His death leaves alive just three of the 95 New Zealand pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain - Bernie Brown, also of Tauranga, Alan Gawith, of Nelson and Keith Lawrence, who lives in England.

Gard'ner - the apostrophe in his surname, adopted by ancestors, was first inserted to make a verse rhyme in a poem about a British battle in the mid 1700s where a forebear fought with distinction - became hooked on flying in the late 1930s when he paid ten shillings for a joyride over Nelson.

He cast his lot with the Royal Air Force in 1938 "because I wanted to see the world and it just seemed a marvellous thing to do. I had no idea there was going to be a war".

After learning to fly and finishing his training, Gard'ner was posted to 141 Squadron, first on Blenheims and then single-engined Defiants that carried a pilot and gunner.

The Defiant proved hopeless in a day-fighter role but was useful later as a night fighter. The 141 Squadron joined the Battle of Britain on the south coast on July 11, 1940.

Patrolling at 1500m off Folkestone, the nine Defiants were attacked out of the sun by the 109s. Four were shot into the sea, a fifth, fatally damaged, crashed in Dover and a sixth fell short of its base. Seven of the eight crew on the Defiants downed in the Channel died, including fellow New Zealand pilots John Kemp and Rudal Kidson. Gard'ner, the only survivor, popped up near a British torpedo boat. He woke up in a Dover hospital, head swathed in bandages. After sick leave, Gard'ner rejoined 141 Squadron.

At war's end he was a squadron leader and flight commander on 488.

Gard'ner rejoined the RAF postwar and served until 1965. He bought an orchard in the Bay of Plenty after returning to New Zealand. Gard'ner, born in Dunedin on June 14, 1918, is survived by his wife Suzanne, two sons and two daughters.

- NZPA