Sailor Malan

Adolph Gysbert Malan, (3 October 1910 – 17 September 1963), better known as Sailor Malan, was a South African fighter pilot and flying ace in the Royal Air Force (RAF) who led No. 74 Squadron RAF during the Battle of Britain.

Malan was born on 3 October 1910 to an Afrikaner family of Huguenot descent in Wellington, Western Cape.

He joined the South African Training Ship General Botha in 1924 or 1925 as a naval cadet at the age of 14, and on 5 January 1928 engaged as an officer cadet aboard the Landsdown Castle of the Union-Castle Line which later earned him the nickname of "Sailor" amongst his pilot colleagues.

On 19 February 1932, he joined the Royal Naval Reserve as an acting sub-lieutenant, and was commissioned a sub-lieutenant on 18 June 1935.

In 1935 the Royal Air Force (RAF) started the rapid expansion of its pilot corps, for which Malan volunteered.

He learned to fly in the de Havilland Tiger Moth at an elementary flying school near Bristol, flying for the first time on 6 January 1936.

He was commissioned as an acting pilot officer on 2 March, completed training by the end of the year, and was sent to join 74 Squadron on 20 December 1936.

He was confirmed as a pilot officer on 6 January 1937.

He was promoted to acting flying officer on 20 May 1938 and promoted to substantive flying officer on 6 July.

He received another promotion to acting flight lieutenant on 2 March 1939, six months before the outbreak of war.

Malan developed the Ten Rules for Air Fighting for fighter pilots.

No. 74 Squadron was dispatched 15 hours after war was declared to intercept a bomber raid that turned out to be returning RAF planes.

On 6 September 1939, "A" Flight was scrambled to intercept a suspected enemy radar track and ran into the Hurricanes of No. 56 Squadron RAF.

Believing 56 to be the enemy, Malan ordered an attack.

Paddy Byrne and John Freeborn downed two RAF aircraft, killing one officer – Montague Hulton-Harrop – in friendly fire, which became known as the Battle of Barking Creek.

At the subsequent court-martial, Malan denied responsibility for the attack.

He testified for the prosecution against his own pilots stating that Freeborn had been "irresponsible, impetuous, and had not taken proper heed of vital communications".

This prompted Freeborn's counsel, Patrick Hastings, to call Malan a bare-faced liar.

Hastings was assisted in defending the pilots by Roger Bushell, who, like Malan, had been born in South Africa.

The court ruled the entire incident as an unfortunate error and acquitted both pilots.

After fierce fighting over Dunkirk during the evacuation of the British Army from Dunkirk on 28 May 1940, Malan was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) having achieved five "kills".

During the night of 19/20 June Malan flew a night sortie in bright moonlight and shot down two Heinkel He 111 bombers, a then-unique feat for which a bar was awarded to his DFC.

On 6 July, he was promoted to flight lieutenant.

Malan and his senior pilots abandoned the Vic formation used by the RAF and turned to a looser formation (the finger-four) similar to the four aircraft Schwarm the Luftwaffe had developed during the Spanish Civil War.

It is believed that on 28 July he met Werner Mölders in combat, damaged his plane and wounded him, but failed to bring him down, though recent research has suggested that Mölders was wounded in a fight with No. 41 Squadron RAF.

On 8 August, Malan was given command of 74 Squadron and promoted to acting squadron leader at the height of the Battle of Britain.

On 11 August, action started at 7 am when the squadron was sent to intercept a raid near Dover, which was followed by three more raids, lasting all day.

At the end of the day, 74 Squadron had claimed to have shot down 38 aircraft, and was known from then on as "Sailor's August the Eleventh".

Malan himself commented, "thus ended a very successful morning of combat".

He received a bar to his DFC on 13 August.

He finished his fighter career in 1941 with twenty-seven destroyed, seven shared destroyed and two unconfirmed, three probables and sixteen damaged.

At the time he was the RAF's leading ace, and one of the highest scoring pilots to have served wholly with RAF Fighter Command during the Second World War.

After the war, Malan returned to South Africa.

On 29 December 1941 Malan was added to the select list of airmen who had sat for one of Cuthbert Orde's iconic RAF charcoal portraits.

He had the rarer honour of also being the subject of a full colour painting by Orde.

On 24 December Malan received the Distinguished Service Order, and on 22 July 1941, a bar to the Order.

On 10 March 1941 he was appointed as one of the first wing leaders for the offensive operations that spring and summer, leading the Biggin Hill Wing until mid-August, when he was rested from operations.

He finished his active fighter career in 1941 with 27 kills destroyed, 7 shared destroyed and 2 unconfirmed, 3 probables and 16 damaged, as one of the highest scoring pilots to have served wholly with Fighter Command during World War II.

He was transferred to the reserve as a squadron leader on 6 January 1942.

In the 1950s Malan became leader of the Torch Commando, a liberal anti-authoritarian organization that opposed the introduction of the apartheid system.