Background
Malan was born in Wellington, Western Cape, then part of the Cape Colony.
Malan was born in Wellington, Western Cape, then part of the Cape Colony.
He joined the South African Training Ship General Botha in 1924 or 1925 as a naval cadet (cadet number 168), and on 5 January 1928 engaged as an officer cadet (seaman's discharge number R42512) aboard the Landsdown Castle of the Union-Castle Line of the International Mercantile Marine Co. 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 RAF started the rapid expansion of its pilot corps, and Malan was one of the people who joined up. He learned to fly in the Tiger Moth at an elementary flying school near Bristol, flying for the first time on 6 January 1936. Commissioned an acting pilot officer on 2 March, he 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, and was appointed to acting flight commander of "A" Flight, flying Spitfires, in August. 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.
No. 74 Squadron saw its first action only 15 hours after war was declared, sent 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 this friendly fire incident, which became known as the Battle of Barking Creek. At the subsequent courts-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, Sir Patrick Hastings to call Malan a bare-faced liar. Hastings was assisted in defending the pilots by Roger Bushell, the London barrister and RAF Auxiliary pilot who later led the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III. The court ruled the entire incident was an unfortunate error and acquitted both pilots.
On 8 August, Malan was given command of 74 Squadron and promoted to acting squadron leader. This was at the height of the Battle of Britain. Three days later, on 11 August, action started at 7 am when 74 was sent to intercept a raid near Dover, but this was followed by another three raids, lasting all day. At the end of the day, 74 had claimed to have shot down 38 aircraft, and was known from then on as "Sailor's August the Eleventh". Malan himself simply commented, "thus ended a very successful morning of combat." He received a bar to his DFC on 13 August.
On the ground, Malan was remembered as an inveterate gambler and often owed his subordinates money. Malan was older than most of his charges and although sociable and relaxed off-duty, he spent most of his time with his wife and family living near Biggin Hill. He would soon develop a routine of flying the first sortie of the day and then handing the squadron to a subordinate while he stayed on the ground to do paperwork. Despite frosty relations after the Battle of Barking Creek he would often give command of the squadron to John Freeborn (himself an ace of note), showing Malan's ability to keep the personal and professional separate.
On 5 April 1946, Malan resigned his RAF commission, retaining the rank of group captain and returned to South Africa where he joined the Torch Commando a joint project of the anti-fascist ex-servicemen's organisation, the Springbok Legion and the War Veterans Action committee. Sailor Malan became the president of that new organization. In Malan's words, it was "established to oppose the police state, abuse of state power, censorship, racism, the removal of the coloured vote and other oppressive manifestations of the creeping fascism of the National Party regime".
Malan died in 1963 from Parkinson's Disease, at the time a rare and essentially mysterious malady. A considerable sum of money was raised in his name to further study the disease, a fund that continues to this day.
Malan developed a set of simple rules for fighter pilots, to be disseminated throughout RAF Fighter Command, which eventually could be found tacked to the wall of most airbases:
TEN OF MY RULES FOR AIR FIGHTING
Wait until you see the whites of his eyes. Fire short bursts of one to two seconds only when your sights are definitely "ON".
Whilst shooting think of nothing else, brace the whole of your body: have both hands on the stick: concentrate on your ring sight.
Always keep a sharp lookout. "Keep your finger out".
Height gives you the initiative.
Always turn and face the attack.
Make your decisions promptly. It is better to act quickly even though your tactics are not the best.
Never fly straight and level for more than 30 seconds in the combat area.
When diving to attack always leave a proportion of your formation above to act as a top guard.
INITIATIVE, AGGRESSION, AIR DISCIPLINE, and TEAMWORK are words that MEAN something in Air Fighting.
Go in quickly – Punch hard – Get out!