Strana 37
K9953, F/Lt Adolph G. Malan, No. 74 Squadron, RAF Hornchurch, United Kingdom, June-August 1940
No. 74 Squadron was re-equipped with Spitfires
in February 1939. South African Adolf “Sailor”
Malan, a sailor by trade, entered the war on
September 6 in an incident known as the Battle
of Barking Creek, when his A Flight accidentally
shot down two Hurricanes from No. 56 Squadron.
During Operation Dynamo, he scored five aerial
victories; on the night of June 19–20, 1940,
he shot down two He 111s. Malan was an opponent
of line-astern formation and, with his pilots,
used the more flexible finger-four formation.
Legend has it that on July 28, he damaged
Werner Mölders’ aircraft and wounded Mölders
himself. On August 8, he took command of
No. 74 Squadron, which achieved 38 aerial
victories on August 11 during four operational
sorties led by Malan. The event is known as
Malan’s August 11. Malan himself achieved
16 aerial victories in the Battle of Britain, and
by the end of his operational career in August
1941, he had 27 solo victories and seven shared
victories. He was an outstanding tactician,
famous for his Ten Rules of Air Combat.
He retired as a Group Captain in April 1946
and subsequently farmed in South Africa.
In the 1950s, he became politically active as an
opponent of apartheid. The Spitfire with serial
number K9953, bearing the fuselage code ZP
-
A,
was from the early production run of Spitfires.
Sailor Malan flew it regularly from the fall
of 1939 until the end of August 1940, scoring
11 confirmed kills, making K9953 one of the
longest-serving and most successful Spitfires
in the Battle of Britain.
R6895, F/Lt Alan C. Deere, No. 54 Squadron, RAF Hornchurch, United Kingdom, July-August 1940
The Spitfire R6895 is from the late production
series of the Mk.I version and was the third
and final Spitfire flown by the legendary New
Zealander flying ace Alan “Al” Deere. The pilot’s
personal emblem, a kiwi bird, was painted on
the fuselage below the cockpit. Al Deere flew
a total of 30 sorties in this Spitfire from July 11,
1940, to August 31, 1940, and scored two of his 21
aerial victories in it. His Kiwi III was destroyed
on August 31, 1940, while attempting to take
off during the bombing of Hornchurch Airfield.
At that time, No. 54 Squadron was the only one
fully equipped with Spitfires fitted with Rotol
RX5/1 propellers. Al Deere took part in No. 54
Squadron’s very first operation, providing air
cover for retreating Allied forces in Belgium on
May 16, 1940. Deere shot down his first two Bf 109s
on May 23 while escorting F/Lt. J. Leathart, who
was flying a Miles Magister for the commander
of No. 74 Squadron, S/Ldr L. White, who had
been shot down near Calais. On the evening of
May 26, Operation Dynamo—the evacuation of
Dunkirk—began, and two days later, Deere made
an emergency landing on a Belgian beach. After
a nineteen-hour ordeal, however, he managed to
return to Hornchurch. Following the conclusion
of the Dunkirk evacuation, No. 54 Squadron
joined the Battle of Britain, during which
Al Deere scored seven aerial victories. During
World War II, he held a number of command
posts, including commanding the elite Wing at
Biggin Hill, and during the Allied invasion of the
continent, he led No. 145 (Free French) Wing.
His total score stands at 21 aerial victories
(some sources cite 17). He retired with the rank
of Air Commodore.
KITS 06/2026
INFO Eduard
37
June 2026