Flying Officer James Ian "Skip" McKay

 

Flying Officer James Ian "Skip" McKay.

Billy Bishop Home, Museum and Archive.

 

F/Lt. Ian MacKay

The Sun Times, 13/11/1943

On 13th July, 1943, a routine Fighter sweep for 403 squadron came to a disastrous conclusion for F/O James Ian McKay, when his engine cut out during a downwind landing, causing him to crash land on the airfield at Kenley, hitting a “sand pit,” according to the accident card.  He was taken to hospital in a serious condition.

Happily,  he survived not only this crash, but the entire War, returning to Canada and eventually becoming a Superior Court judge. However, he had no memory of his accident at Kenley because he had been, “hit on the head.” He was later told that his engine had failed at 700ft and, in making a forced landing, he had hit a gun pit: “Another two feet and there would have been no accident.”

JAMES IAN MCKAY was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, on April 1, 1921 to Norman McKay and Catherine Ferguson Foote. He grew up in Owen Sound and attended Dufferin School. During the summer, Ian worked for the Owen Sound Transportation Company as a Watchman/Wheelsman on the S.S. Manitoulin. After graduating in 1939, Ian worked for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce until he enlisted in Toronto, at the age of 19, in August 1940.

He was sent overseas in May, 1941, and departed for Malta in October, flying Hurricanes  there from 12th November until 3rd June, 1942. The odds weren’t in their favour and MacKay commented that it was, “a bit rough at times.”

MacKay contributed to a Press article about the air war over Malta…

CANADIAN FLYERS DEMONSTRATE CHIVALRY IN WAR IS NOT DEAD
Hard – Hitting Fighters Hold to Scruples in Tough Going
BOCHES DIFFERENT
With the R.C.A.F. Somewhere in England, June 11, 1943 — (CP) — Chivalry in war may be on the wane (this is a very tough war), but it has yet to disappear altogether from aerial combat. There are still some niceties observed in the air by fighter pilots of both sides in this war.

“Flying Officer J.I. (Skip) McKay, of Owen Sound, Ont., said a lot must depend on the way you feel in the air, which may account for some of the things he ran across during fighter work in Malta.
Shoot Own Mates.
“Sitting here in the mess, we all say no, we wouldn’t shoot a man in a parachute,” said Skip. “None of us would want to think otherwise. But in the ‘Med’ I’ve seen one of my best friends ‘get it’ while he was going down in his parachute so I guess everybody doesn’t think the same way. “Out there, too, I’ve seen the Jerries shooting up fellows in dinghies. “Once he even saw them shooting up fellows in dinghies when Skip and his flying mates knew these targets were Nazi airmen who had been shot down. “What did we do then?” asked Skip. “Well,” he smiled, “to tell you the truth, we just laughed like hell and went along home.”

During his time in the R.C.A.F. as a fighter pilot, Mckay served in Halifax, Iceland, Scotland and England, receiving seven campaign medals and scoring 2 enemy aircraft destroyed, 1 1/2 probables and 7 damaged, most of those over Malta.

After he was discharged in May 1945, McKay began law school at Toronto’s Osgoode Hall and completed his law degree in 1949. In 1982, he was appointed a Judge of the Federally Administered District Court of Ontario for Bruce County. On April 1, 1996 at the age of 75, Ian retired as a Superior Court Judge, but continued to serve on a Pension Appeals Board.

F/Lt. James Ian “Skip” Mckay was married twice, the first time in April 1944 to Jacqueline McCullough and then to Loretta E. Briggs in 1983. He had three children, and had become a Great-Grandfather when he passed away on May 22nd 2015, at the age of 94.

Rest in Peace Sir and thank you for your service.