View source for Sailor Malan

{{Short description|South African WWII flying ace and anti-apartheid activist (1910–1963)}}
{{for|the South African rugby player|Adolf Malan}}{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = [[Group Captain]]
| name          = Sailor Malan
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DSO*|DFC*}}
| image         = Group_Captain_A_G_Malan_WWII_IWM_CH_12661.jpg
| image_size    =
| alt           = 
| caption       = Group Captain Sailor Malan c. 1945
| nickname      = Sailor
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1910|10|03|df=yes}}
| birth_place   = [[Wellington, Western Cape|Wellington]], [[Cape Province]], [[Union of South Africa]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1963|09|17|1910|10|03|df=yes}}
| death_place   = [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]], [[Cape Province]], [[South Africa]]
| placeofburial = West End Cemetery, Kimberley
| allegiance    = United Kingdom
| branch        = [[Royal Navy]]<br>[[Royal Air Force]]
| serviceyears  = 1932–1946
| rank          = [[Group Captain]]
| unit          = 
| commands      = [[No. 145 Wing RAF|No. 145 (Free French) Fighter Wing]]<br/>[[No. 19 Wing RAF]]<br/>[[No. 74 Squadron RAF]]
| battles       = [[Second World War]]
* [[Battle of Barking Creek]]
* [[Battle of Dunkirk]]
* [[Battle of Britain]]
* [[Operation Overlord]]
| awards        = [[Distinguished Service Order]] & [[Medal bar|Bar]]<br/>[[Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Flying Cross]] & Bar<br/>{{Lang|fr|[[Croix de guerre (Belgium)|Croix de guerre]]}} (Belgium)<br/>[[Czechoslovak War Cross 1939–1945|War Cross]] (Czechoslovakia)<br/>[[Legion of Honour]] (France)<br/>[[Croix de guerre 1939–1945 (France)|Croix de guerre]] (France)
| relations     = 
| laterwork     = Farmer and leader of the [[Torch Commando]]
}}

'''Adolph Gysbert Malan''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|DSO1|DFC1}} (3 October 1910&nbsp;– 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]].{{sfn|Price|1997|p=65}} 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. In  the 1950s Malan became leader of the [[Torch Commando]], a [[liberalism|liberal]] anti-authoritarian organization that opposed the introduction of the [[apartheid]] system.<ref name="Fick 1952">{{cite web | last=Fick | first=Albert | title=Sailor Malan Fights His Greatest Battle - October 15 1952 |work=[[Maclean's]]  | date=1952-10-15 | url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1952/10/15/sailor-malan-fights-his-greatest-battle | access-date=2020-06-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614043728/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1952/10/15/sailor-malan-fights-his-greatest-battle |archive-date=2020-06-14}}</ref>

==Early life==

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 ''[[HMS Thames (1885)|General Botha]]'' in 1924 or 1925 as a naval cadet{{efn|cadet number 168}} at the age of 14, and on 5 January 1928 engaged as an officer cadet{{efn|seaman's discharge number R42512}} aboard the ''Landsdown Castle''<ref>CR1 record card, R42512, record group BT348, The National Archives (London)</ref> 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.{{sfn|London Gazette 21 June 1935}}

==Royal Air Force==
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,{{sfn|London Gazette 17 March 1936}} 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.{{sfn|London Gazette 16 March 1937}} He was promoted to acting [[flying officer]] on 20 May 1938{{sfn|London Gazette 23 August 1938}} and promoted to substantive flying officer on 6 July.{{sfn|London Gazette 16 August 1938}} He received another promotion to acting [[flight lieutenant]] on 2 March 1939,{{sfn|London Gazette 2 March 1939}} six months before the outbreak of war.

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

==Second World War==

===Battle of Barking Creek===

{{Main|Battle of Barking Creek}}

[[File:Commonwealth Air Aces of the Second World War CH8119.jpg|thumb|Malan in the cockpit of his [[Supermarine Spitfire]] at [[Biggin Hill]], Kent.]]

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.{{sfn|Nasson|2009|pp=88}} 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".{{sfn|Nasson|2009|pp=88}} This prompted Freeborn's counsel, [[Patrick Hastings]], to call Malan a bare-faced liar.{{sfn|Cossey|2002|pp=64–66}} 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.{{sfn|Bungay|2001|p=67}}

===Dunkirk===

After fierce fighting over Dunkirk during [[Operation Dynamo|the evacuation of the British Army from Dunkirk]] on 28 May 1940, Malan was awarded the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (UK)|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.{{sfn|London Gazette 6 August 1940}}

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 ''[[Organization of the Luftwaffe (1933–1945)#Schwarm, Rotte and Kette|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]].{{sfn|Shores|Williams|1994|p=622}}

===Squadron leader of No. 74 Squadron===

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&nbsp;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.{{sfn|London Gazette 13 August 1940}}

[[File:Sailor Malan, colour oil painting by Cuthbert Orde.JPG|thumb|right|Sailor Malan, colour oil painting by [[Cuthbert Orde]] ]]
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.<ref>{{citation| author = RAF Museum| title = Sqdn Ldr Adolph Gysbert Malan DSO, DFC |work=RAF Museum Online Collections| url = http://navigator.rafmuseum.org/results.do;jsessionid=7737A08DF483E2E4A45DB574929022DD?view=detail&db=object&pageSize=1&id=7603| access-date =4 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727200126/http://navigator.rafmuseum.org/results.do;jsessionid=7737A08DF483E2E4A45DB574929022DD?view=detail&db=object&pageSize=1&id=7603 |archive-date=2011-07-27}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=November 2022}}

===Wing commander – Biggin Hill===

On 24 December, Malan received the [[Distinguished Service Order]], and on 22 July 1941, a bar to the DSO. On 10 March 1941 he was appointed as one of the first [[wing leader]]s 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.{{sfn|London Gazette 23 May 1944}}

After a lecture tour to the USA, he commanded the [[RAF Sutton Bridge|Central Gunnery School]] for more than a year. Malan was promoted to temporary [[Wing commander (rank)|wing commander]] on 1 September 1942{{sfn|London Gazette 1 October 1942}} and became station commander at [[London Biggin Hill Airport|RAF Biggin Hill]], receiving a promotion to war [[Military rank#Types of rank|substantive]] wing commander on 1 July 1943.{{sfn|London Gazette 3 September 1943}}

[[File:Malan and RAF officers D Day IWM CL 29.jpg|thumb|Malan (second from left), RAF and Free French officers on D-Day]]

==Post-war opposition to apartheid==

After the conclusion of the war, Malan resigned his commission with the Royal Air Force in April 1946, retaining the rank of [[group captain]],{{sfn|London Gazette 9 April 1944}} and returned home to South Africa, where he commenced a career in sheep farming.{{sfn|Nasson|2009|pp=77}} 

Malan maintained his ties to the RAF community however, acting as president of the [[Royal Air Forces Association]]’s South African Area and becoming a life-member of its Johannesburg Branch.<ref>''Air Mail'' (2021, Oct-Dec), p.45</ref> 

In the early 1950s, he became involved in increasingly volatile South African domestic politics with its radical polarizing atmosphere and racially and culturally divided societal tensions. After the [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] was voted into government in the late 1940s South Africa's domestic governance moved to a position of [[national conservatism]] and introduced [[apartheid]], which Malan objected to. In the early 1950s in response Malan joined a [[Classical Liberal|liberal]] politically organized protest movement opposed to the introduction of the apartheid system styling itself as the [[Torch Commando]], of which – with his public recognition acquired from his war career – he was elected president. Through the early 1950s he involved himself in political opposition to what he perceived was increasing authoritarianism of the National Party in government, which he felt threatened to become [[fascist]] in nature. At one point the Torch Commando (called for its predilection for staging night-time rallies outside government buildings with the protestors bearing flaming torches for dramatic illumination) movement had 250,000 members, and staged well-attended rallies across South Africa, which Malan often publicly addressed.<ref>{{Citation |title=Malan v. Malan - Torch Commandos Against the Government|publisher=[[Associated Press]] Archive |date=1953 |author=British Movietone |via= Youtube |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW8gNsq5_n8}}</ref> 

By the late 1950s, the movement lost momentum as some of the factions that constituted it increasingly moved from a hitherto public liberal position to one of [[world communism]], and splintered away to join the [[African National Congress]] (ANC), with which Malan was not sympathetic.<ref>{{cite web |author=Peter Dickens |title=The Torch Commando |website=The Observation Post |publisher=Peter Dickens |date= 10 November 2017|url= http://www.samilhistory.com/tag/torch-commando/}}</ref> The rise of the ANC and its perceived radical agenda discouraged the majority of the Torch Commando's membership from continuing with their campaign against the apartheid state laws, leaving Malan with the disintegrating organization and him retiring from politics and public life, leaving the National Party to rule South Africa for the next four decades.<ref>{{citation |title=Sailor Malan - Freedom Fighter |publisher= South African Legion (United Kingdom & Europe) |url=http://www.salegion.org.uk/torch-commando}} {{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==Death==

Malan died at the age of 52 on 17 September 1963 from [[Parkinson's disease]], at the time a rare and little understood medical condition. A considerable sum of money was raised in his name to further study the disease. His funeral service was at [[St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley]],<ref>{{Cite web |title= Sailor Malan - Forgotten Hero of Democracy |date= 3 March 2015 |publisher= The Spitfire Society Trust ZA |url= https://www.spitfiresocietytrustza.org/sailor-malan-forgotten-hero-of-democracy/ |access-date= 13 March 2018 |archive-date= 27 March 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220327080624/https://www.spitfiresocietytrustza.org/sailor-malan-forgotten-hero-of-democracy/ |url-status= dead }}</ref> and his body was buried at West End Cemetery in Kimberley, [[Cape Province]].{{cn|date=February 2023}} Due to his prominent role in opposition to apartheid, the South African government sought to marginalize the event of his passing in order to further erase any lasting legacy of the [[Torch Commando]]. Malan was not permitted a military funeral and all South African military personnel who attended his funeral were instructed not to wear their uniforms. The [[South African Air Force]] was instructed not to give any tribute to his death.<ref>{{cite web |author=Peter Dickens |title=The Torch Commando |website=The Observation Post |publisher=Peter Dickens |date= 30 July 2017|url= https://samilhistory.com/2017/07/30/the-torch-commando-led-south-africas-first-mass-anti-apartheid-protests-not-the-anc/}}</ref>

== Awards and decorations ==

* {{MilAward Desc|DSOx|x25px}}
* {{MilAward Desc|DFCx|x25px}}
* [[File:1939-45 Star & Battle of Britain clasp.png|x25px]] [[1939-45 Star]] with [[Battle of Britain|Battle of Britain Clasp]]
* [[File:Ribbon - Air Crew Europe Star & Rosette.png|x25px]] [[Air Crew Europe Star|Air Crew Europe Star with France & Germany Clasp]]
* {{MilAward Desc|DefenceMedalWWII|x25px}}
* {{MilAward Desc|MID1939|x25px}}
* {{MilAward Desc|FRLdHO|country=yes|org=yes}}
* [[File:Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 ribbon.svg|x25px]] [[Croix de Guerre 1939–1945]] (France)
* {{MilAward Desc|BECDG|x25px|country=ZAR}}
* [[File:Czechoslovak War Cross 1939-1945 Bar.png|x25px]] Czechoslovak War Cross 1939 Ribbon

==Cinematic portrayals==

In the 1969 film [[Battle of Britain (film)|''Battle of Britain'']], the character of the Squadron Leader nicknamed “Skipper” played by [[Robert Shaw (actor)|Robert Shaw]] was based on Malan.<ref>Interview with director [[Guy Hamilton]] in the documentary 'A Film for the Few', which was included with the 2004 Special Edition DVD release of the film</ref>

==See also==

* [[List of top World War II aces]]
* [[List of World War II aces from South Africa]]
* [[Huguenots in South Africa]], for the history of French surnames (like Malan) in South Africa.

==References==

=== Notes ===
{{Notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===

{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book
  |last=Bungay
  |first=Stephen
  |year=2001
  |title=The Most Dangerous Enemy: A history of the Battle of Britain
  |publisher=Aurum Press
  |isbn=978-1-84513-481-5
  }}
* {{cite book
  |last=Cossey
  |first=Bob
  |year=2002
  |title=A Tiger's Tale: The Story of Battle of Britain Fighter Ace Wg. Cdr. John Connell Freeborn
  |publisher=J & KH Publishing
  |isbn=978-1-900511-64-3
  }}
* Franks, Norman L.R. ''Sky Tiger The Story of Sailor Malan''. Crecy, Manchester, UK. 1994. {{ISBN|978-0-907579-83-0}}.
* {{cite journal |last1=Nasson |first1=Bill |title=A flying Springbok of wartime British skies: A.G. 'Sailor' Malan |journal=Kronos |date=November 2009 |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=71–97 |url=http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/kronos/v35n1/v35a04.pdf|jstor=41056623 }}
* {{Cite book
  |last=Price
  |first=Alfred
  |author-link=Alfred Price (author)
  |year=1997
  |title=Spitfire Mark V Aces, 1941–45
  |series= Aircraft of the Aces No. 16
  |location=Oxford, UK
  |publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]]
  |isbn=978-1-85532-635-4
}}
* {{Cite book
  |last1=Shores
  |first1=Christopher
  |last2=Williams
  |first2=Clive
  |year=1994
  |title=Aces High
  |location=London
  |publisher=Grub Street
  |isbn=978-1-898697-00-8
}}
* Walker, Oliver '' Sailor Malan''. Casssell & Co Ltd. 1953.
*{{London Gazette
  |issue=34173
  |page=4009
  |date=21 June 1935
  |ref={{sfnref|London Gazette 21 June 1935}}
  }}
* {{London Gazette
  |issue=34265
  |page=1742
  |date=17 March 1936 |nolink=y
  |ref={{sfnref|London Gazette 17 March 1936}}
}}
* {{London Gazette
  |issue=34380
  |page=1750
  |date=16 March 1937 |nolink=y
  |ref={{sfnref|London Gazette 16 March 1937}}
}}
* {{London Gazette
  |issue=34542
  |page=5293
  |date=16 August 1938 |nolink=y
  |ref={{sfnref|London Gazette 16 August 1938}}
}}
* {{London Gazette
  |issue=34544
  |page=5418
  |date=23 August 1938 |nolink=y
  |ref={{sfnref|London Gazette 23 August 1938}}
}}
* {{London Gazette
  |issue=34611
  |page=2097
  |date=2 March 1939 |nolink=y
  |ref={{sfnref|London Gazette 2 March 1939}}
}}
* {{London Gazette
  |issue=34915
  |page=4811
  |date=6 August 1940 |nolink=y
  |ref={{sfnref|London Gazette 6 August 1940}}
}}
* {{London Gazette
  |issue=34920
  |page=4939
  |date=13 August 1940 |nolink=y
  |ref={{sfnref|London Gazette 13 August 1940}}
}}
* {{London Gazette
  |issue=35725
  |supp=y
  |page=4258
  |date=1 October 1942 |nolink=y
  |ref={{sfnref|London Gazette 1 October 1942}}
}}
*{{London Gazette
   |issue=36157
   |supp=y
   |page=3927
   |date=3 September 1943 |nolink=y
   |ref={{sfnref|London Gazette 3 September 1943}}
}}
*{{London Gazette
  |issue=36524
  |supp=y
  |page=2339
  |date=23 May 1944 |nolink=y
  |ref={{sfnref|London Gazette 23 May 1944}}
}}
*{{London Gazette
  |issue=37526
  |supp=y
  |page=1795
  |date=9 April 1946 |nolink=y
  |ref={{sfnref|London Gazette 9 April 1944}}
}}
{{sfn whitelist|CITEREFLondon_Gazette_21_June_1935|CITEREFLondon_Gazette_17_March_1936|CITEREFLondon_Gazette_16_March_1937|CITEREFLondon_Gazette_16_August_1938|CITEREFLondon_Gazette_23_August_1938|CITEREFLondon_Gazette_2_March_1939|CITEREFLondon_Gazette_6_August_1940|CITEREFLondon_Gazette_13_August_1940|CITEREFLondon_Gazette_23_May_1944|CITEREFLondon_Gazette_1_October_1942|CITEREFLondon_Gazette_3_September_1943|CITEREFLondon_Gazette_9_April_1944}}

{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://acesofww2.com/safrica/aces/malan/ Sailor Malan at acesofww2.com]
* [http://zar.co.za/sailor.htm ZAR.co.za Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722161534/http://zar.co.za/sailor.htm |date=22 July 2011 }}

{{Top UK World War II Aces}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Subject bar
| portal1=Aviation
| portal2=Biography
| portal3=United Kingdom
| commons=y
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malan, Adolph}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1963 deaths]]
[[Category:People from the Cape Winelands District Municipality]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force group captains]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:South African anti-communists]]
[[Category:South African anti-fascists]]
[[Category:South African World War II flying aces]]
[[Category:South African recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:British World War II flying aces]]
[[Category:The Few]]
[[Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in South Africa]]
[[Category:Afrikaner anti-apartheid activists]]
[[Category:Wing leaders]]
[[Category:Royal Naval Reserve personnel]]
[[Category:Royal Navy officers]]