John Pattison was one of that resolute band of New Zealand pilots who made a wartime contribution to both fighter and bomber operations that was out of all proportion to their small numbers. Having volunteered for RAF service in New Zealand in September 1939, he trained as a fighter pilot and first flew in combat during the Battle of Britain.

Although severely wounded in September 1940, he recovered to rejoin his squadron the following April. Thereafter he was seldom out of the thick of the action and in 1944 rose to command 485 Squadron RNZAF, the first New Zealand fighter squadron to be formed, in 1941. He was still in command when in February 1945 he was finally rested from operations, having fought through the war and won the DFC and DSO.

John Gordon Pattison was born in 1917 at Waipawa in the Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand’s North Island. After Wanganui Collegiate school he worked on his father’s farm, at the same time joining the Civil Reserve of Pilots and learning to fly Tiger Moths. He had logged only 20 hours when the news of war broke. After completing basic pilot training he sailed for England, arriving in July 1940.

With the full fury of the Luftwaffe’s assault impending he was given three hours familiarisation with an advanced monoplane on a Miles Master trainer before the briefest of conversion courses on a Spitfire. On August 27 he was posted to 266 Squadron at Debden, Essex, with the Battle of Britain entering a crucial phase. On his first sortie with the squadron as it tackled an overwhelmingly superior force of German bombers escorted by fighters, No 266 became scattered and he became detached from his comrades and got lost. Running out of fuel he was about to ditch in the Thames estuary when he saw land beneath him and he was able to do a “dead stick” landing in a field.

Posted in September to 92 Squadron at Biggin Hill he found himself in some of the most intense fighting of the battle. When the Luftwaffe, mistakenly, switched its attacks to London in response to the RAF's raids on Berlin, he was involved in the desperate defence of the capital and was shot down, severely injured in the thigh, when a shell from an Me109 exploded in his aircraft. He nevertheless managed to bring his Spitfire into a crash landing at West Malling.

He spent eight months in hospital but by June 1941 he was fit for flying duties, and was posted for a tour as an instructor. In this role his cavalier flying was not always in tune with the “safety first” requirements of the authorities, who took a dim view of his flying a Spitfire under the old Severn railway bridge at Sharpness — always a tempting challenge for bored pilots. (The bridge was demolished in 1970.)

In April 1942 he was back on operations again with 485 Squadron, one of three in the Kenley Wing, then mounting fighter sweeps over occupied France. These sweeps were now meeting the formidable Focke-Wulf 190, which with its 400mph-plus speed, supreme manoeuvrability and armament of four 20mm cannon and two 13mm machineguns was proving superior to the earlier marks of Spitfire. The Spitfires of 485 were soon to get a taste of these fearsome opponents. During a sortie escorting bombers over the Pas de Calais, the New Zealanders were jumped by a force of Fw190s and quickly lost four aircraft to the enemy’s superior firepower and manoeuvrability. Pattison’s engine took a hit from a cannon shell, but he managed to glide his Spitfire out over the Channel and ditch in the sea not too far from the South Coast, where he was picked up.

After 12 months of these sweeps Pattison was rested in mid-1943 and spent some time as a flying instructor before returning to the front line with 66 Squadron in spring 1944. As D-Day approached he was involved with No 66’s Spitfires in bomb attacks on V1 “ski sites” launching grounds, in northern France, and on D-Day itself he flew air cover over the landings.

In September 1944 he was appointed commanding officer of No 485, a proud moment for a New Zealander. From then until February 1945 he led his squadron in support of the Allied armies advancing through Belgium and Holland, seeking out and destroying German armoured vehicles and transport in a campaign in which Allied air superiority over the battlefield was decisive. He was finally rested at the end of this third tour of operations when the squadron was withdrawn from the front line to be re-equipped with Tempests. The citation for his DSO, gazetted on May 8, 1945 — VE Day — commended his courage and “the finest qualities of leadership both in the air and on the ground”.

Demobilised in January 1946, he returned to New Zealand and resumed farming in Waipawa until his retirement. In 2004, on the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings, he was awarded the Légion d’Honneur, personally bestowed on him by the French President, Jacques Chirac. His verdict on his war: “Wonderful times to have lived through and fantastic mates.”

John Pattison is survived by his wife, and by his four sons.

Squadron Leader John Pattison, DSO, DFC, Légion d’Honneur, wartime fighter pilot, was born on January 27, 1917. He died on September 11, 2009, aged 92