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- John Albert Axel Gibson, DSO, DFC (24 August 1916 – 1 July 2000) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) officer and a flying ace of the Second World War. He was credited with the destruction of 12 enemy aircraft. Born in Brighton, the United Kingdom, Gibson moved to New Zealand with his mother after his parents divorced. In 1938, he went to England having been accepted for service with the RAF. He flew with No. 501 (County of Gloucester) Squadron during the Battle of France and the subsequent Battle of Britain. Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in late August 1940, he spent much of 1941 as an instructor before briefly serving with No. 457 Squadron. In mid-1942, he was loaned to the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) and served with its No. 15 Squadron, including a period as its commander, during the Solomon Islands campaign in the Pacific. He was later awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his service with the squadron. He returned to Europe in 1945, serving with No. 80 Squadron. After the war, he transferred to the RNZAF but then rejoined the RAF. He retired from the military in late 1954. In his later years, he was involved in civil aviation in South Africa and Rhodesia, and also flew during the Biafran War and the Rhodesian Bush War. He retired to England, where he died aged 83. (en)
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