McDonald, John

John McDonald was born January 31, 1925 in Nagambie, Australia. He grew up on a farm in that part of western Australia, experiencing the Depression and drought of the 1930s.  In February 1943, while working as a clerk for Victorian Railways, John enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He was mustered as a pilot and completed his initial training in Australia before travelling to England in 1944, where he learned to fly Spitfires. John was attached to 451 Squadron and he flew escort missions for RAF bombers for several months at the end of the war.  There was not much left of the Luftwaffe by that time as John recalls, but he did deal with flak on the missions he flew.  At war’s end John served as part of the British occupation forces in Germany, working to return that shattered nation to some kind of stability and recovery. John returned home and was discharged from the RAAF in August 1946. He initially went to school and then worked as a farmer for 60 years, marrying Patricia Moloney and raising a family and finding his way in the postwar world.  John McDonald was interviewed over zoom by Zach Dunn and Scott Masters in September 2025.