SAAF WW2

[dinomartino1]

Sailor Malan
Adolph Gysbert Malan, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, RNR (24 March 1910 – 17 September 1963), better known as Sailor Malan, was a South African World War 2 fighter pilot and flying ace in the Royal Air Force who led No. 74 Squadron RAFduring the Battle of Britain.

Malan was a farm boy from Wellington whose first shots were fired from a “kettie” (self-made catapult) progressing to being adept with a shotgun. By the tender age of 13, he left school and joined General Louis Botha Maritime College, a school of hard knocks. Like many a young man, he was motivated by wanting to see the world, as a merchant seaman.
At the age of 15 he was working as a seaman on the Union Castle Shipping Line and carried on as a seaman for the next decade. Adolph Malan also trained with the Royal Naval Reserve with the rank of Sub-Lieutenant. It was his switch over from Naval Service to become an airman that earned him the nickname “Sailor”. It would seem that both his forenames were neither favoured by him nor by Lynda, the woman he married, who called him John. But it was his more than a decade at sea that led to everyone calling him “Sailor”.


He finished his fighter career in 1941 with 27 destroyed, 7 shared destroyed and 2 unconfirmed, 3 probables and 16 damaged. At the time he was the RAF's leading ace, and one of the highest scoring pilots to have served wholly with Fighter Command during World War II.

Although not an instinctive pilot Malan was an exceptional shot and a highly aggressive fighter-pilot, and above all a superb tactician who instilled the methods and techniques he had honed in 1940, which would cast an influence on successive generations of R.A.F. fighter pilots who followed after him. He developed a set of clear rules for fighter-pilots, which was disseminated throughout RAF Fighter Command, which during the latter part of the war could be found tacked to the wall of most airfield's Orderly Rooms:

TEN OF MY RULES FOR AIR FIGHTING

1. Wait until you see the whites of his eyes. Fire short bursts of one to two seconds only when your sights are definitely "ON".
2. Whilst shooting think of nothing else, brace the whole of your body: have both hands on the stick: concentrate on your ring sight.
3. Always keep a sharp lookout. "Keep your finger out".
4. Height gives you the initiative.
5. Always turn and face the attack.
6. Make your decisions promptly. It is better to act quickly even though your tactics are not the best.
7. Never fly straight and level for more than 30 seconds in the combat area.
8. When diving to attack always leave a proportion of your formation above to act as a top guard.
9. INITIATIVE, AGGRESSION, AIR DISCIPLINE, and TEAMWORK are words that MEAN something in Air Fighting.
10. Go in quickly – Punch hard – Get out!

After the war he became a political activist opposing the ruling National party, he believed that that whites and people of colour should stand together in saying an injury to one is an injury to all. He saw the Apartheid policies and the political thuggery and emergence of an aberration that he had fought against in the skies of Europe. As he was strongly anti-Nazi, he was dismayed at seeing it on the rise in his homeland.
For his anti govt leadership role and for the things that he publicly said in defence of democracy, constitutionalism, justice, anti-racism and standing up for the poor and people of colour in particular, Sailor Malan was isolated and purged from South African historical memory.

The Nationalist government of the day several of whom including Balthazar Vorster Prime Minister of South Africa 1966-78 were openly war-time Nazi sympathizers and members of the Ossewabrandwag [The Ossewabrandwag (Ox-wagon Sentinel) was an anti-British and pro-German organisation in South Africa during World War II] controversially denied Malan a State funeral in 1963. This active snub further entrenched increasing post-independent anti-British sentiment within South Africa after 1948 and outraged many South African WW2 veterans who had regarded Malan as a South African WW2 hero and as a patriot . The perception that the Nationalists acted more favorably to another South African Sidney Liebbrandt who had spied for Germany and was sentenced to death for high treason and later pardoned whom the Nazis had landed by boat off the South African coast in 1941, only added salt to the wound left by the refusal of a State funeral for Malan.

Group Captain A G Malan (second from left), Commanding Officer of No 145 (Free French) Wing discusses the operational situation on the morning of 'D-Day' with some of his pilots at Merston, Sussex. On the left stands Free French pilot, Lieutenant Raoul Duval; second from the right is the Wing Leader, Wing Commander W V Crawford-Compton; third right is Commandant C Martell, Commanding Officer of No. 341 (Free French) Squadron RAF.

Group Captain A G Malan when Officer Commanding No. 20 Wing.

Group Captain A G Malan, Station Commander at Biggin Hill, Kent, (left), talks to Squadron Leader E J Charles, Officer Commanding No. 611 Squadron RAF (middle), and Wing Commander A C Deere, leader of the Biggin Hill Wing (right).

Biggin Hill

 

[dinomartino1]

Still from gun camera film shot by Flight Lieutenant A G "Sailor" Malan, leader of 'A' Flight, No. 74 Squadron RAF, recording his first aerial victory, a Heinkel He 111 over Dunkirk. Although debris and billowing smoke issue from the Heinkel's starboard engine and the starboard undercarriage has dropped, Malan's claim was categorised as unconfirmed since he did not observe the aircraft's destruction. 'A' Flight was based at Hornchurch but was flying out of Rochford at this time in order to shorten the patrol range to Franc

 

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Group Captain A.G. 'Sailor' Malan on the wing of Squadron Leader Hugo 'Sinker' Armstrong's Spitfire IX at Biggin Hill, 2 January 1943

 

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Group Captain A G "Sailor" Malan, Officer Commanding No. 145 Wing based at Merston, climbing in to the cockpit of his Supermarine Spitfire before taking off from Appledram, Sussex.

 

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Malan in the greatcoat

 

[dinomartino1]

Wing Commander A A N Malan, Commanding Officer of No. 150 Squadron RAF, briefs aircrew of his Squadron and those of No. 142 Squadron RAF at Kairouan West, Tunisia, for a night bombing raid on a target in Sicily

 

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[dinomartino1]

I never knew much about Malans post war life, it only adds to my admiration for the man

 

[dinomartino1]

Members of the crew of a Consolidated Liberator B-24 of No. 31 Squadron SAAF which took part in the operations to resupply the Polish Home Army by air during the Warsaw Uprising. In attempting to drop their loads at under 500 feet over drop-zones in the middle of the heavily-defended city during August 1944, the Squadron suffered heavy losses. Amendola, 23 August 1944.

Brigadier James (Jimmy) Durrant, the Commander of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group RAF, in conversation with crew members in the RAF air base in Amendola, 23 August 1944. Left to right: Warrant Office John MacLachlan (wireless operator) of 31 Mons Road, Delville, Germiston, Transvaal. Sergeant James Tumelty (gunner) of 48 Grange Road West, Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, England

From left to right: Lieutenant Rudolph Le Roux (gunner) of 346 Jules Street, Malvern, Johannesburg, South Africa. Lieutenant Frans Cloete (navigator) of Eldoret, Kenya. Lieutenant Gavin Shipman (gunner) of 106 Killner Street, Bloemfontein, Orange Free State. Lieutenant Neville Coats (second pilot) of 246 Park Street, Belgravia, Johannesburg, South Africa. Warrant Office John

From left to right: Lieutenant Rudolph Le Roux (gunner) of 346 Jules Street, Malvern, Johannesburg, South Africa. Lieutenant Frans Cloete (navigator) of Eldoret, Kenya. Lieutenant Gavin Shipman (gunner) of 106 Killner Street, Bloemfontein, Orange Free State. Lieutenant Neville Coats (second pilot) of 246 Park Street, Belgravia, Johannesburg, South Africa. Warrant Office John MacLachlan (wireless operator) of 31 Mons Road, Delville, Germiston, Transvaal. Sergeant James Tumelty (gunner) of 48 Grange Road West, Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, England (detached from the RAF). Major Gerard Greindl DFC (pilot) of Belgium.

Major G J "Lemmie" le Mesurier, Officer Commanding No. 1 Squadron SAAF, standing by his Hawker Hurricane Mark IIB, BG971 'AX-V', at LG 92, Egypt. On 3 July 1942 le Mesurier, flying BG971, led eleven Hurricanes to intercept a dive-bombing raid in the El Alamein area. While the aircraft of No. 274 Squadron RAF provided top cover the South African Hurricanes attacked a large formation of Junkers Ju 87Bs and succeeded in shooting down thirteen in what was to become known as the Alamein "Stuka Party". The following day, le Mesurier was himself shot down and wounded. He did not return to the Squadron until the following September

Aircrew of No. 252 Squadron RAF climb into the back of a lorry for the drive to their Headquarters at Idku, Egypt, after a successful strike on an enemy supply train carrying guns and ammunition near Bir Abu Mischeifa. Four Bristol Beaufighters of the Squadron escorted three Bristol Bisleys of No. 15 Squadron SAAF to the target, which was completely destroyed. In the middle of the group sits Wing Commander P H Bragg, Commanding Officer of 252 Squadron, who led the attack, and sitting third from the left is one of his flight commanders, Flight Lieutenant A D Frecker. Behind them is one of the aircraft which participated in the attack, Beaufighter Mark VIC, T5346, with three victory markings on its nose

Supermarine Spitfire Mark VCs of No. 2 Squadron SAAF based at Palata, Italy, flying in loose line astern formation over the Adriatic Sea while on a bombing mission to the Sangro River battlefront.

Wing and squadron commanders of No. 244 Wing RAF at Triolo landing ground, south of San Severo, Italy. Left to right: Squadron Leader P S "Stan" Turner, (Officer Commanding No. 417 Squadron RCAF); Squadron Leader P H "Hunk" Humphries, (OC No. 92 Squadron RAF); Wing Commander W G G Duncan Smith, (Wing Leader); Group Captain C B F Kingcombe, (OC Wing); Squadron Leader L C Wade, (OC No. 145 Squadron RAF), and Major M S Osler SAAF, (OC No. 601 Squadron RAF).

The outgoing Commanding Officer of No. 5 Squadron SAAF, Major E M Baker (left), standing by his Curtiss Kittyhawk Mark III, FR781 'GL-H' "Raynor", at Cutella, south of Vasto, Italy, accompanied by the Squadron Engineering Officer, Lieutenant W A Gillham. Having commanded the Squadron for five months Baker was repatriated to South Africa, but returned to Italy in May 1944 to serve on the staff of No. 239 Wing RAF. In the foreground is a 1,000-lb MC bomb on its trolley.

 

[Edward]

incredible posts! thanks and keep them coming!

 

[Steve27752]

Brilliant, thanks very much for doing that.

 

[dinomartino1]

North American Mustangs of No. 5 Squadron SAAF based at Cervia, Italy, flying along the northern Italian coast. Five Mark IVs are accompanied by a single Mark III at the rear.

Lieutenant A Sachs SAAF seconded to No. 92 Squadron RAF, sitting on his Supermarine Spitfire Mark VIII at Canne, Italy. On 5 December 1943 Sachs scored the 99th and 100th victories for his Squadron when he shot down two Focke Wulf Fw 190s near Pescara, before colliding with a third Fw 190 and being forced to bale out. After a period as a flying instructor in the United Kingdom, he returned to Italy to command No. 93 Squadron RAF from September 1944 to February 1945

 

[dinomartino1]

Pilots of the South African Air Force play volley ball between attacks on the Mareth Line.

Supermarine Spitfire pilots of No. 40 Squadron, South African Air Force, at Gabes in Tunisia, April 1943.

Douglas Boston aircraft of No 24 Squadron, South African Air Force lined up at Zuara, Tripolitania. The nearest is AL683/`V'.

A formation of No 24 Squadron, South African Air Force Douglas Boston aircraft flying over Tunisia.

 

[dinomartino1]

The crew of Douglas Boston Mark III, W8376 'C', of No 24 Squadron, South African Air Force, walking away from their aircraft on an airfield in Libya after a sortie

Mechanics from No. 1 Squadron SAAF prepare to fit a replacement propeller on a Supermarine Spitfire Mark IXE of No. 111 Squadron RAF, parked by a vineyard on the edge of the airfield at Pachino, Sicily.

Two pilots of No. 72 Squadron RAF, one South African and one from New Zealand, chat while awaiting the signal to take off at Anzio, Italy. The aircraft is Supermarine Spitfire Mark VC, JK171 'RN-O'.

Two clipped-wing Supermarine Spitfire V's of No 40 Squadron, South African Air Force serving in a ground support role. ER622/`WR-D' accompanied by another Spitfire of the Squadron patrols over the Tunisian coast.

An African soldier or 'Askari' on guard duty at No. 23 Air School at Waterkloof, Pretoria, South Africa, January 1943.

A Services Golf Tournament held in Rome, in which several well-known peacetime golfers took part. Photograph shows: Lieutenant Bobby Locke, now serving in the South African Air Force, playing while Private Tommy Bolt, the American golfer looks on.

 

[dinomartino1]

King George VI conferring a Bar to Flying Officer A G Lewis's DFC in an awards ceremony at Duxford, Cambridgeshire. Lewis, a South African, had just returned to service with No. 249 Squadron RAF, after being shot down and badly burnt on 28 September 1940, at which time he had himself shot down 18 enemy aircraft.

Curtiss Tomahawk Mark IIB (named "Chaka") of No. 5 Squadron SAAF, piloted by Lieutenant R C Hirst, on the ground at LG 121, Egypt. From this landing ground east of Sidi Barrani, the Squadron flew its first operational sorties in March 1942, being responsible for the air defence of Egypt between Mersa Matruh and Sollum, and for the protection of convoys resupplying Tobruk.

A Douglas Boston aircraft 'S-Sugar' of No 24 Squadron, South African Air Force running up its engines on an airfield in the North African desert

Group Captain P H "Dutch" Hugo (left), Commanding Officer of No. 322 Wing RAF, and Wing Commander R "Raz" Berry, who took over leadership of the Wing in January 1943, conversing at Tingley, Algeria. Petrus Hendrik Hugo, a South African, joined the RAF on a short-service commission in February 1939. He flew with No. 615 Squadron RAF during the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, and became a flight commander in September 1941. He was posted to command No. 41 Squadron RAF in November 1941, and then took over the leadership of the Tangmere Wing in April 1942 but was shot down (for a second time) and wounded shortly after. On recovery Hugo became Wing Leader at Hornchurch, but was soon posted to lead No. 322 Wing in the forthcoming invasion of North Africa (Operation TORCH). He took command of the Wing in November 1942 and added significantly to his victory score over Algeria and Tunisia. From March to June 1943, Hugo served on the staff at HQ North-West African Coastal Air Force, but returned to command 322 Wing in Malta, Sicily, France and Italy until it disbanded in November 1944. Having achieved 17 confirmed and 3 shared victories, he then joined the staff HQ Mediterranean Allied Air Forces and finished the war flying with the Central Fighter Establishment

Squadron Leader J J Le Roux, Commanding Officer of No 602 Squadron RAF in the cockpit of his Supermarine Spitfire Mark IX, "Betty", at B11/Longues, Normandy. Le Roux, a South African, joined No. 73 Squadron RAF in France in 1940. He was shot down twelve times, but enjoyed better luck with No. 91 Squadron in 1941 and 1942, shooting down eight enemy aircraft before joining No. 111 Squadron RAF in North Africa. He ended his second tour in command of the Squadron. Following a rest from operations he was given command of No. 602 Squadron in July 1944. Le Roux is generally credited as the pilot who attacked and badly wounded Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel in his staff car on the road between Livarot and Vimoutiers on 17 July 1944, the day on which he also destroyed two Messerschmitt Bf 109s and damaged two more to bring his victory score to 23.5. On 29 August 1944, Le Roux took off in bad weather to collect some beer for his Squadron from England, but was lost en route.

 

[dinomartino1]

Squadron Leader Marmaduke Thomas St John "Pat" Pattle, Officer Commanding No. 33 Squadron RAF, and the Squadron Adjutant, Flight Lieutenant George Rumsey, standing by a Hawker Hurricane at Larissa, Thessaly, Greece.
Marmaduke Thomas St John Pattle, DFC & Bar (3 July 1914 – 20 April 1941), usually known as Pat Pattle, was a South African-born Second World War fighter pilot and flying ace Royal Air Force (RAF).
While most of Pattle's victories were claimed while flying Hurricanes, at least 15 were downed in Gladiators. His claims included 26 Italian aircraft.

20 April 1941, the Germans were well aware that British and Allied forces had begun preliminary withdrawal operations from ports in southern Greece. The Luftwaffe made substantial attacks against these departure points in a bid to prevent or forestall an evacuation. On Sunday 20 April, the Luftwaffe mounted mass attacks against Allied shipping in Piraeus Harbour. On this very morning, at roughly 05:00, large formations appeared over the capital, Athens. The remaining Allied fighter units in the area committed themselves to defending the Allied ships in what became known as "the Battle of Athens". Barely 15 Hawker Hurricanes, the entire Allied air presence in Greece at the time, participated in a series of defensive missions over Athens.

Pattle had flown several patrols that morning and was suffering from a high temperature and fever. He had downed a Ju 88 and two Bf 109s on a morning interception to interdict German air operations. One of his victims, a Bf 109 from III./JG 77 crash-landed at Larissa. His success took Pattle's total from 47 to 49 At 17:00 in the afternoon, another raid approached. He was seen, just before an air raid alarm, in the mess, lying on a couch, shivering under the blankets. He was detailed to take a patrol over the lines but during the mission briefing, around 100 German bombers with fighter escort attacked the capital, seeking to attack Allied shipping in the harbour. He ran for the door towards a Hurricane. His adjutant, George Rumsey, tried to stop him, but Pattle was determined to fly. On the way to his fighter, he narrowly avoided being killed in a strafing attack by a low-flying Bf 110. He took to the skies minutes later. Pattle climbed to gain altitude and headed for Piraeus Harbour at 20,000 feet.

At this time, other Hurricanes were already in action with Bf 110s from Zerstörergeschwader 26 (ZG 26). The Irish ace Timber Woods attacked a formation of Bf 110s positioned above him. One of the Bf 110s detached itself and dived on the RAF pilot. Pattle, instinctively knowing that the German had the advantage and the Hurricane pilot had acted foolishly, dived toward the Bf 110. He engaged the Bf 110, knowing he too would likely be followed and attacked from behind. He succeeded in shooting it down in flames, but not before it had fired at point-blank range into the Hurricane, with the same effect. Woods died when his fighter crashed into the harbour.[75] Pattle avoided a German counter-attack and climbed instead of attempting a dive, since the Bf 110s could out-dive the Hurricane. He fired into another Bf 110 and avoided a collision with a third. No RAF pilot saw Pattle die for certain. Jimmy 'Kettle' Kettlewell, one of Pattle's unit, arrived on the scene moments after Pattle had scored his victory. He saw a lone Hurricane diving towards the sea, its pilot slumped forward over the controls and flames engulfing the engine compartment. Two Bf 110s were still firing at it. Seizing the opportunity, he engaged and shot one of them down watching it and the Hurricane hit the sea simultaneously. Kettle did not specify the fate of the German crew — the victory was his fifth, making him an ace.[75][76]It is possible Kettlewell's victim was one of two 5./ZG 26 Bf 110s that were lost: Bf 110E (Werknummer 4272—factory number), Oberfeldwebel Georg Leinfelder and Unteroffizier Franz Beckel who were killed in action or Bf 110E (Werknummer 4299), Oberleutnant Kurt Specka and Günther Frank. A third Bf 110 crash-landed with severe damage. Kettlewell was shot down and wounded in the same battle.

Surviving records show that the German claimants included Staffelkapitän Hauptmann Theodor Rossiwall and Oberleutnant Sophus Baagoe who were credited with kills against Hurricanes, taking their scores to 12 and 14 respectively. Baagoe would be killed in action within a month, on 14 May 1941. It cannot be known for certain which one shot down Pattle since three other German pilots made claims in the air battle.One of the 80 Squadron pilots involved in the battle, Roald Dahl, records five Hurricanes were downed in several air battles that day, with four pilots dying. One of those was Pattle.

Pattle was provisionally credited with 50 air victories (and two shared), seven (and one shared) probable victories, and four (and two shared) damaged. It is likely that his total was at least 40 enemy aircraft destroyed a figure which biographer Edgar Baker has compiled through a list of semi-official records and log-books. Baker asserts that the true figure could be higher, owing to the inability of post-war researchers to identify an exact figure, due to the loss or destruction of British records in the retreat from Greece or during the subsequent occupation. Recent research into Pattle's claims has shown that 23 claims can be directly linked to records by March 1941.
The Air Historical Branch contains contains information collated through memory. Baker's work suggests another 17 were claimed in April 1941.[Other research dedicated to the history of German bomber units, some of which took part in the air battles against Pattle's unit, have drawn attention to the fact that 97–98 percent of all German primary records belonging to the Luftwaffe have been lost either through Allied bombing or through Hermann Göring's order to destroy all records in the first week of May 1945. This makes any research into German bomber losses difficult.

Squadron Leader J J le Roux, who commanded No. 111 Squadron RAF from January to April 1943, standing in front of his motorcycle at Souk el Khemis ('Waterloo'), Tunisia.

Photographic set of 25 images of Allied airmen (first 25 out of 50, in alphabetical order), escapees from Stalag Luft III in Sagan, recaptured and executed by Gestapo in March and April 1944 after failure of the Great Escape.

From left to right: 1. Flying Officer Henry Birkland, Royal Canadian Air Force. 2. Flight Lieutenant Edward Gordon Brettell DFC, Royal Air Force. 3. Flight Lieutenant Leslie George Bull DFC, Royal Air Force. 4. Squadron Leader Roger Joyce Bushell, Royal Air Force. 5. Flight Lieutenant Michael James Casey, Royal Air Force. 6. Squadron Leader James Catanach DFC, Royal Australian Air Force. 7. Flight Lieutenant Arnold George Christensen, Royal New Zealand Air Force. 8. Flying Officer Dennis Herbert Cochran, Royal Air Force. 9. Squadron Leader Ian Kingston Cross DFC, Royal Air Force. 10. Sergeant Halldor Espelid, Royal Air Force (Norwegian). 11. Flight Lieutenant Brian Herbert Evans, Royal Air Force. 12. Lieutenant Nils Fuglesang, Royal Air Force (Norwegian). 13. Lieutenant Johannes Gouws, South African Air Force. 14. Flight Lieutenant William Jack Grisman, Royal Air Force. 15. Flight Lieutenant Alastair Gunn, Royal Air Force. 16. Warrant Officer Albert Horace Hake, Royal Australian Air Force. 17. Flight Lieutenant Charles Piers Hall, Royal Air Force. 18. Flight Lieutenant Anthony Ross Henzell Hayter, Royal Air Force. 19. Flight Lieutenant Edgar Spottiswoode Humphreys, Royal Air Force. 20. Flying Officer Gordon Arthur Kidder, Royal Canadian Air Force. 21. Flight Lieutenant Reginald Victor Kierath, Royal Australian Air Force. 22. Flight Lieutenant Antoni Kiewnarski, No. 305 Bomber Squadron, Polish Air Force. 23. Squadron Leader Thomas Gresham Kirby-Green, Royal Air Force. 24. Flying Officer Włodzimierz Adam Kolanowski, No. 301 Bomber Squadron, Polish Air Force. 25. Flying Officer Stanisław Król, No. 74 Fighter Squadron RAF and Polish Air Force.

 

[Micawber]

Another fascinating thread Dino, thank you.

 

[ausreenactor]

Interesting point is the fact that the SAAF used Army rank and not Air Force rank like the rest of the Commonwealth in WW2. And the modern Canadian Army uses Air Force rank? World is topsy-turvy in the countries with the REALLY weird accents...

 

[B-Man2]

Great photos and back stories Dino !!