Trained in Rhodesia at 26 EFTS and on Harvards at 22 SFTS. He was commissioned as Pilot Officer before leaving Rhodesia on 2 September 1941 on the S. S. Mauretania, and arriving in the Middle East on the 21 October. After a course at 74 OTU at Aquir, Palestine. 27 Jan 42 - joined 451 Sqn with whom he flew Hurricanes until posted to 112 Sqn RAF. 44 - F/L Ahern and F/Sgt Peters were out on patrol and encountered a formation of FW-190's. F/Sgt Peters blew one of the enemy aircraft to pieces in the air and F/L Ahern inflicted damage to several others. After a spirited engagement Ahern took hurried stock of the damage done to his Kittyhawk and found to his dismay that the airspeed indicator and half the starboard elevator had been shot away. There was a hole clean through the port mainplane one yard long by eighteen inches wide. There was also a gap in the rudder big enough to allow a pair of fists through and that the port tail plane and aileron were also holed. Ahern's achievement in getting his aicraft back to base, a matter of a 100 mile flight, is a striking illustration of just how much punishment a Kittyhawk can take. With these two squadrons he completed 340.40 operational hours in 242 soties, before being given a rest from operations by being appointed to a planning position at Advance Headquarters of the Desert Air Force. He remained there until he returned to Australia on 29 October 1944 where he was posted to become an instructor at 2 OTU Mildura, where he remained until discharged on the 26 October 1945 with the rank of Squadron leader and having been awarded the DSO and DFC.

Noble Six Hundred - V A Winters

Messerschmitt Roulete - Wg Cdr Geoffrey Morley-Mower DFC AFC

Australian War Memorial Picture No MEA1492, MEA1497, P00869.036