A memorial service for Capt. John W. Harder, 53, a Royal Air Force hero in World War II, will be held at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina. He died Monday.

Mr. Harder was born in New York City and had attended high school in Southboro, Mass.

He had joined the RAF at the age of 16 and had been assigned to Allied Ferry Command to fly Hud­son bombers from California to England. At 19, he had been the youngest wing commander in the RAF as a pilot in the 64th Fight­er Squadron.

Captain Harder shot down numerous enemy planes during-World War II. His Spitfire was shot down over France in 1944 and he was captured by the Germans.

He was awarded the Distin­guished Flying Cross, second only to the Victoria Cross in recogni­tion of heroic conduct.

In 1956, he founded Starflite, Inc., a charter-flying service. He was a personal pilot for Lady Bird Johnson during her beautification-of-America campaign.

He also had been a senior pilot instructor for the Boeing Co. from 1967 to 1970.

He is survived by his wife, Joan; three sons, Fred, Michael and Lewis; four daughters, Carol, Barbara, Maggie and Amy; his mother, Gertrude Harris Burton; four brothers, Lewis, Philip, Avery and Henry; and two sisters, Cynthia and Jennifer.

The family suggests that re­membrances be made to the Puget Sound Blood Center.


In addition to this "official" obituary, over in France, the local newspaper in Evron published the following...

Saved in 1944 by the people of Evron

John Harder is dead…

In 1972 at Evron Town Hall, Mr Harder is between Mr Mauduit & Mr Leblanc


Mr John Harder is dead. This news has recently reached Evron where this American pilot had been officially received in May 1972, after having 28 years earlier lived an adventure in which two local inhabitants, Mr Leblanc and his mother had been involved.

John Harder “pilot adventurer” to use an American magazine phrase enlisted from the start of WW2 with the RAF in England at a time when the USA was neutral.

During a mission along the Paris – Brest railway line his plane (a Spitfire) was hit by anti aircraft fire above Rennes. It was only above Laval when the pilot noticed that his plane had been damaged and that he had to parachute out.

The Spitfire crashed at Mezangers and John Harder not far from there.

5000 German soldiers were stationed at Evron and several detachments set off at once in search of the pilot.

Mrs Leblanc and her son who now live in Evron lived at that time in a farm at Mortry, quite near the plane’s crash site. They likewise set off to try to find the pilot before he might be captured by the Germans.

Mr Marcel Leblanc, aged 21, came across him on the road, he made him put on his jacket and hat and took him home on his cart using the main road. The Germans who they encountered several times did not recognise the man they were looking for.

Refusing to spend the night in the house which did not have an emergency exit, John Harder slept in a haystack and departed the next day, dressed in civilian clothes, in an attempt to cross the German lines. Laundry Ticket Mr and Mrs Leblanc heard no news about the pilot until the day when, 25 years later, they told Mr Bertrand Mauduit of their adventure. With the information and a laundry ticket bearing John Harder’s name which was found on the pilot’s shirt, Mr Mauduit undertook a long research.

A letter which he had sent to the RAF ex-servicemen and which was published in the Association Newsletter allowed him to have success: an English journalist wrote some weeks later with the address of John Harder which he had found while examining the lists of planes which had been involved in offensive reconnaissance on 10th June 1944 the day when the pilot was shot down.

The contact was therefore established and Mr Harder undertook from his side research to rediscover his rescuers, but the name of Leblanc is so common in France that he had to rapidly abandon his work. Wedding Dress A while later in May 1972 Mr Harder rediscovered his French friends in Evron. On a visit to Mezangers where he crashed, he found a wheel from his plane which had been recovered by a local craftsman and he discovered himself in a wood the carburettor of his Spitfire which had landed there 28 years earlier

A farmer’s wife likewise came to find him to return his parachute – a parachute which had undergone numerous transformations since: it had been cut and made into a wedding dress. The female farmer gave him however the dress and the silk fragments which she had kept. During his stay the American pilot was officially received at Evron Town Hall where he was awarded the Civic Medal of Honour.

This episode was only one adventure in the life of John Harder, who led a rather extraordinary life. In 1964 he was the private pilot for Mrs Johnson, the American President’s wife. Employed by Boeing he delivered a plane to the King of Saudi Arabia and he flew the king with his 60 wives and 60 servants to Switzerland

New York Times 29/7/77
John W Harder
John W Harder, an American who held a permanent commission as a Royal Air Force Fighter Pilot in World War II, died Monday at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. He was 53 years old.

He joined the RAF in 1941 and, after service in heavy bombers engaged in night raids on Germany, transferred to fighters and served as leader of Spitfire Squadron 64. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

He returned to this country in 1947 and founded Starflite Inc, a corporate aviation service, at Winchester County Airport. Later he became an instructor at the Boeing Company teaching student pilots to fly its airliners.

Mr Harder, who retired in 1970, for reasons of health, leaves his wife, the former Joan Hopkinson, three sons, Michael, Fred and Lewis; four daughters, Carol, Barbara, Maggie and Amy; his mother Gertrude W Burton; three brothers, Philip, Lewis and Henry, and three sisters, Cynthia, Avery and Jenepher