Dilip Sarkar - Sailor Malan-Freedom Fighter: The Inspirational Story of a Spitfire Ace

SAILOR MALAN

FREEDOM FIGHTER

This book is dedicated to the inspirational memory of Group Captain A.G. Sailor Malan: Freedom Fighter .

FREEDOM FIGHTER

The Inspirational Story of a Spitfire Ace

Dilip Sarkar MBE

SAILOR MALAN FREEDOM FIGHTER

The Inspirational Story of a Spitfire Ace

First published in Great Britain in 2021 by

Air World

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Dilip Sarkar, 2021

ISBN 978 1 52679 526 7

eISBN 978 1 52679 527 4

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52679 528 1

The right of Dilip Sarkar to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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The aviation-minded reader will notice that I have referred to German Messerschmitt fighters by the abbreviation Me (not Bf, which is more technically correct), or simply by their numeric designation, such as 109 or 110. This not only reads better but is authentic: during the Battle of Britain, Keith Lawrence, a New Zealander, flew Spitfires and once said to me To us they were just Mes, 109s or 110s, simple, never Bf.

In another attempt to preserve accuracy, I have also used the original German, wherever possible, regarding terms associated with the Luftwaffe , such as:

Eichenlaub The Oak Leaves, essentially being a bar to the Ritterkreuz.

Freie hunt A fighter sweep.

Gefechstand Operations headquarters.

Gruppenkeil A wedge formation of bombers, usually made up of vics of three.

Jagdbomber ( Jabo ) Fighter-bomber.

Jger Hunter, in this context a fighter pilot or aircraft.

Kampffleiger Bomber aircrew.

Kampfgeschwader Bomber group, abbreviated KG.

Kanal English Channel.

Katchmarek Wingman.

Lehrgeschwader Literally a training group, but actually a precision bombing unit, abbreviated LG.

Ritterkreuz The Knights Cross of the Iron Cross.

Rottenfhrer Leader of a fighting pair.

Schwarmfhrer Section leader.

Strflug Harassing attacks, usually by lone Ju 88s.

Stuka The Ju 87 dive-bomber.

Sturkampfgeschwader Dive-bomber group, abbreviated StG.

Vermisst Missing.

Zerstrer Literally destroyer, the term used for the Me 110.

Zerstrergeschwader Destroyer group, abbreviated ZG.

Each geschwader generally comprised three gruppen , each of three staffeln . Each gruppe is designated by Roman numerals, i.e. III/JG 26 refers to the third gruppe of Fighter Group (abbreviated JG) 26. Staffeln are identified by numbers, so 7/JG 26 is the 7th staffel and belongs to III/JG 26.

Rank comparisons may also be useful:

Gefreiter Private 1 st Class

RAF Abbreviations:

AFC Air Force Cross

AFDU Air Fighting Development Unit

AI Airborne Interception radar

AOC-in-C Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief

ATA Air Transport Auxiliary

ATS Armament Training School

CAS Chief of the Air Staff

CFS Central Flying School

DES Direct Entry Scheme

FAA Fleet Air Arm

FIU Fighter Interception Unit

ITW Initial Training Wing

LAC Leading Aircraftman

MRAF Marshal of the Royal Air Force

MSFU Merchant Ship Fighter Unit

OTC Officer Training Corps

PDC Personnel Distribution Centre

RFS Reserve Flying School

SASO Senior Air Staff Officer

SOO Senior Operations Officer

UAS University Air Squadron

I must thank Dr Yvonne Malan for her ongoing enthusiasm for this project, and continually raising awareness, especially on social media, of her august ancestor, the legendary Group Captain Sailor Malan.

I am especially grateful to my long-standing friend and independent film-maker Desmond Naidoo in South Africa for so generously providing transcripts of certain interviews filmed for the documentary about Sailor Malan Freedom Fighter that has been in the making for some years now. Hopefully funding issues will one day be overcome and Desmonds documentary broadcast

Chris Hussey kindly supplied some interesting newspaper cuttings, found preserved in his late mothers wartime scrapbook; also grateful to Maggie Wylam for permission to quote from her late fathers unpublished memoir concerning the Fall of France, and likewise Steve Child in respect of his uncles recollections of Sailor.

Fellow author and researcher Mark Hillier helped me unravel confusion over Sailors postings in 1944, and Air Marshal Cliff Spink himself a former commander of 74 Tiger Squadron provided some interesting observations regarding the so-called Battle of Barking Creek, and it was helpful to discuss that tragic affair with researcher Nick Black.

Being in the orbit of creative (not to mention obsessed!) people is not always easy, and I am grateful to Sue Bradshaw, brother John and his wife Mary, for taking in their stride me shooting off home several days early from a break on the South coast because I just had to write!

As always, Martin Mace and the Pen & Sword team were a pleasure to work with.

Mans dearest possession is life. It is given to him but once, and he must live it so as to feel no torturing regrets for wasted years, never know the burning shame of a mean and petty past; so live that dying he might say: all my life, all my strength were given to the finest cause in all the world - the fight for the Liberation of Mankind.

Nikolai Ostrowski

It does not matter how many people chose moral duty over the rationality of self-preservation what does matter is that some did. Evil is not all-powerful. It can be resisted. The testimony of the few who did resist shatters the authority of the logic of self-preservation. It shows it for what it is in the enda choice.

Zygmunt Bauman

The broad strokes of Adolph Gysbert Sailor Malans life is relatively well-known, in the United Kingdom at least. The South African of Afrikaner heritage who became one of the most celebrated of The Few.