Flight Lieutenant John Worthington Harder
Flt Lt John Worthington Harder
No.64 Squadron Supermarine Spitfire during Operation Starkey, September 1943.
John Worthington Harder, from New York, already held a civilian pilot's licence when he volunteered for the RAF in October, 1941, aged just 18. By the end of the November he was under training with the RAF contingent at the Spartan School of Aeronautics, Oklahoma. A few weeks later, America entered the war, but Harder refused the offer of applying for a commission in the US Army Air Corps. He wrote home that he had:
Never been happier in my life, and that I have no regrets about joining the RAF. If it was to be done all over again, I would do it only about a year sooner. It may seem unpatriotic, but this is one American volunteer who will never transfer to the United States Forces. I feel I owe too much to the RAF.
In mid-1942 he was sent to Britain, where he served for a short period with Coastal Command, before transferring onto heavy bombers. He served with Bomber Command until poor vision, for which he needed contact lenses, led to a second transfer.
I now have the lenses and they fit perfectly... They are really splendid, completely comfortable, unbreakable and invisible. However, due to the fact that contact lenses cut down the light by about 30%, I think you will be glad to know I am giving up the heavy stuff. I am rather pleased in a way to get off night work.
Although continuing to need to wear contact lenses, he was soon training to be a fighter pilot. In March, 1943, he was posted to No.64 Squadron, flying Supermarine Spitfires over France.
Despite the huge differences between fighters and the aircraft he had been flying, Harder immediately took to his new role, writing to his brother in the US military that he was now flying Spitfire and all that. Afraid you have nothing to match them in all round excellence.
