John Francis Jackson

John Jackson (back, left) with fellow pilots in the Middle East, including (seated front, from left) Bobby Gibbes, Ed Jackson and Peter Turnbull, June 1941

Jackson first saw action with No. 3 Squadron in the North African campaign at the controls of a Gloster Gladiator. Soon after he arrived, he had an accident taking off that finished with the biplane on its nose.[14] Though he considered himself a "full-blown operational pilot", his experience in air-to-air gunnery was "practically nil", and he essentially learned the skills of being a fighter pilot as he went along.[3] Once the unit had converted to Hawker Hurricanes, he began to score victories in quick succession. He shot down three Junkers Ju 87s in a single sortie near Mersa Matruh on 18 February 1941, the same action in which Gordon Steege claimed three.[4][15]

On 5 April 1941, Jackson fired several bursts at a Ju 87 before his guns jammed; he then made two dummy attacks and forced the German plane to crash land in a wadi, thus claiming his fourth victory.[4][16] After converting to P-40 Tomahawks, No. 3 Squadron took part in the Syria–Lebanon campaign. Jackson became an ace on 25 June, when he destroyed a Potez 630 light bomber (possibly a misidentified LeO 451) of the Vichy French air force. He claimed a Dewoitine D.520 fighter on 10 July. The next day Jackson shared in the destruction of another D.520 with Bobby Gibbes; the pair tossed a coin to take full credit for it; Gibbes won to claim his first "kill".[2][17]

Jackson was promoted to flight lieutenant on 1 July 1941.[12] By now his younger brother Ed had been posted to No. 3 Squadron and was serving with him in Palestine.[18][19] With the campaign in Syria concluding in mid-July, the unit undertook no operations in August and personnel went on leave before returning to action in Egypt the next month.[20] The rural-bred Jackson took to the night life in Alexandria, but his stay at a first-class hotel left him bewildered as to the purpose of the room's bidet, which he eventually determined was "some feminine arrangement".[3] Peter Ewer, in Storm Over Kokoda, observed: "There was something of the patrician about John Jackson, but his well-to-do background had a distinctly Australian tinge to it. He liked a game of cards, with a bet on the outcome."[3] In Whispering Death, Mark Johnston noted that although "tall and blue-eyed", he "did not have the air of a 'boy's own' or movie star pilot", but rather was "balding, ambling and no extrovert".[18] Jackson returned to Australia in November 1941.[1][12][Note 1] He was mentioned in despatches, and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for his "marked keenness and determination" during operations with No. 3 Squadron in the Middle East.[12][21] The former award was promulgated in the London Gazette on 1 January 1942 and the latter, which listed him as "John Henry Jackson", on 7 April.[22][23] The DFC was presented to Jackson's widow Elisabeth, after his death.[24]

Jackson as CO of No. 75 Squadron in Port Moresby

Following his return from the Middle East, Jackson was briefly an instructor at No. 1 Service Flying Training School, based at RAAF Station Point Cook, Victoria. He wrote to his wife, "I just loathe this joint. This training is a tough job and I take my hat off to the boys who have been doing it since war broke out ... every one of these instructors is longing to be sent overseas, but I doubt if they have any chance of ever getting there—they are so valuable here."[12][25] In January 1942, he was posted to No. 4 Squadron, which operated Wirraways in Canberra.[12][26]

As the Japanese advanced towards New Guinea in early 1942, the RAAF urgently established three new fighter units for Australia's northern defence, Nos. 75, 76 and 77 Squadrons.[27] Jackson was promoted to acting squadron leader and appointed commanding officer (CO) of No. 75 Squadron on 19 March, barely two weeks after the unit was formed at Townsville, Queensland.[2][28] He took over from Wing Commander Peter Jeffrey, who had led No. 3 Squadron in the Middle East and been given the task of preparing No. 75 for operations at Port Moresby, where the local Australian Army garrison was under regular attack by Japanese bombers.[27][29] Jeffrey later recalled chiding Jackson for his eagerness to return to combat despite having already done enough in the war, to which the latter replied, "What are you fighting for? King and country? Well, I'm fighting for my wife and kids and no Jap bastard's going to get them!"[30] On 21 March, Jackson led the squadron's main force to Seven Mile Aerodrome to take part in the defence of Port Moresby, a crucial early battle in the New Guinea campaign,[27] and what military aviation historian Andrew Thomas called "one of the most gallant episodes in the history of the RAAF".[28] The unit was equipped with P-40 Kittyhawks, whose long-awaited arrival had seen them irreverently dubbed "Tomorrowhawks", "Neverhawks", and "Mythhawks" by the beleaguered garrison at Moresby.[29] Jackson's age of thirty-four was considered advanced for a fighter pilot, and he was affectionately known as "Old John" to his men, one of whom was his younger brother Les, now a flight lieutenant. As CO, Jackson's leadership was to prove inspirational to his pilots, many of whom had received only nine days of training in fighter tactics, and fired their guns just once.[27][29]

Jackson and other slain RAAF pilots commemorated at Port Moresby, 1942

On 22 March, the day after he arrived in New Guinea, Jackson took No. 75 Squadron on a dawn raid against the Japanese airfield at Lae. Rather than attacking directly from the south, he led the Kittyhawks in from the east, where they would not be expected and where the rising sun would hide their approach. Achieving the surprise he had hoped for, Jackson made two strafing passes over the airfield, ignoring standard practice that called for only one such pass to reduce the risk from anti-aircraft fire.[29][31] The Australians claimed a dozen Japanese planes destroyed on the ground and five more damaged.[2][27] They also shot down two Mitsubishi Zero fighters in the air, and lost two Kittyhawks over Lae, along with one that had crash-landed on takeoff from Moresby.[29][31] The Japanese struck back the next day, destroying two Kittyhawks at Seven Mile Aerodrome. With his losses mounting, Jackson was given permission to withdraw the squadron to Horn Island in Far North Queensland, but refused.[28][29] On 4 April, Jackson made a solo reconnaissance over Lae, after which he led another four Kittyhawks on a raid against the airfield, claiming seven enemy aircraft destroyed on the ground without loss to themselves; Japanese sources credited the Australians with only two machines destroyed, but seventeen others damaged. Two days later, Les Jackson was forced to ditch his aircraft on a coral reef, but made it to shore with the aid of a life jacket that John dropped to him, not realising at the time that the downed pilot was his younger brother.[32][33]

Jackson himself had to ditch into the sea on 10 April, when he was shot down after being surprised by three Zeros during another of his solo reconnaissance missions near Lae.[1][28] After playing dead beside his crashed plane to discourage the Japanese fighters from machine-gunning him, he swam to shore and made his way through jungle for over a week to Wau, with the help of two New Guinea natives. When he arrived back at Port Moresby in a US Douglas Dauntless on 23 April, a Japanese air raid was in progress and a bullet cut off the tip of his right index finger.[27][34] Having survived his trek through the jungle, he dismissed the wound as "a mere scratch".[35] On 27 April, Jackson met with his pilots and revealed that some senior RAAF officers had expressed dissatisfaction with the way in which No. 75 Squadron was avoiding dogfighting with the Japanese Zeros. Jackson and his men had generally eschewed such tactics owing to the Zero's superiority to the Kittyhawk in close combat. The senior officers' comments had evidently stung him, as he declared to his pilots: "Tomorrow I'm going to show you how".[36][37] According to journalist Osmar White, who saw him on the night of the 27th, Jackson's "hands and eyes were still and rock steady" but he appeared "weary in soul" and "too long in the shadows". White concluded: "He had done more than conquer fear—he had killed it".[38] The next day, Jackson led No. 75 Squadron's five remaining airworthy Kittyhawks to intercept a force of Japanese bombers and their escort. He destroyed an enemy fighter before being shot down and killed.[27][28][39][Note 2] His aircraft hit the side of a mountain and embedded itself six feet; Jackson was identified only by his size-ten boots and the revolver he habitually wore.[37][40] His final tally of aerial victories during the war was eight.[2][4][12][41]