Irving Farmer 'Hap' Kennedy (4 February 19226 January 2011) was a Canadian fighter pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) during the Second World War. He was one of Canada's highest-scoring aces of the war, with 10 solo and 5 shared aircraft destroyed, and 1 probably destroyed. Biography Born in Cumberland, Ontario in 1922 to Eva Farmer and Robert James Kennedy (a veteran of World War I, injured in 1917 at Vimy Ridge). The war started when he was 17 in his final year of high school in Ottawa, and he joined the RCAF in October 1940. Service career He did his flight training in Canada at No.2 Initial Training School (ITS) in early 1941, and No.8 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) and No.10 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) to July 1941. As a Sergeant Pilot he was posted overseas to the UK in August 1941, flying Hawker Hurricane fighters at No.55 Operational Training Unit (OTU). In September 1941 he was posted to No. 263 Squadron RAF, flying the Westland Whirlwind, based in the West Country and flying convoy protection and ground attack sorties into France. He was promoted to Flight Sergeant in January 1942 and commissioned as a Flight Lieutenant in March 1942. In June 1942 he was posted to the newly formed No. 421 Squadron RCAF flying the Spitfire Mk.V. He then shipped out to Malta to join No. 249 Squadron RAF in October 1942, where he became an ace with seven confirmed victories. His first aerial victory came in February 1943 when he and another pilot downed a Junkers Ju 52 transport near Licata. He was awarded a quarter victory in shooting down a Junkers Ju 88 of KG 54 on 3 March 1943, a half victory on 22 March 1943 and a third on 16 April. In April he and American ace Squadron Leader J.J. Lynch caught and destroyed three Ju 52 transports off Sicily, and awarded two victories. Over Sicily and Italy he claimed five more victories, including a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 of SKG 10 on both 4 and 10 September and two Messerschmitt Bf 109Gs of JG 77 on 13 October. In June he was posted to No. 185 Squadron RAF, flying a mixture of Spitfire Vs and IXs. On June 22 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Although tour-expired in July 1943, Kennedy stayed on operations, this time with No. 111