KITS 08/2020

K9953, F/Lt. Adolph Gysbert Malan, No. 74 Squadron, RAF Hornchurch, Essex, June/July 1940

CHANNEL BATTLE. This aircraft is also in the modernized form of the Spitfire Mk.I, but interestingly has an older antenna mast configuration. South African

native Adolf ‘Sailor’ Malan, originally an actual sailor, joined the RAF back in 1935, and served with No. 74 Squadron from 1937. At the time, the unit flew

the Gloster Gauntlet Mk.II. In September, 1937, he was named A Flight Leader. In February, 1939, the unit converted to the Spitfire and went into combat on

September 6th, 1939, but unfortunately, this was an incident in which they were vectored into a flight of No. 56 Squadron Hurricanes. Malan’s Flight shot

down two Hurricanes, and one pilot, Montague Hulton-Harrop was killed. The incident became known as the Battle of Barking Creek, and went through

court martial on the basis that Malan did not control his pilots sufficiently enough. The final decision was that this was a tragic accident and all defendants

were acquitted. Over the course of Operation Dynamo, Malan gained five kills, and was awarded the DFC. For the downing of two He 111s on the night of

19th/20th of June, he gained his first Bar to go with the DFC. Even at the beginning phases of the Battle of Britain, Channel Battle/Kanalkampf, Malan and

his pilots gave up on the line-astern formation, known as ‘looser man’, and were accepting the more flexible finger-four formation instead, something the

Luftwaffe had done as far back as the Spanish Civil War. Legend has it that on July 28th, Malan damaged the aircraft flown by Werner Mölders and even

wounded him, but current research attributes this event to No. 41 Squadron. On August 8th, Malan took command of No. 74 Squadron. On August 11th, this

unit, under the command of Malan, gained 38 kills over four operational flights. The event has come to be regarded as ‘Malan’s August 11th’. Malan himself

achieved sixteen kills during the Battle of Britain, and by the end of his career in August, 1941, this had risen to 27 kills with another seven shared. He was a

magnificent tactician, and was also famous for his ten rules of air combat. He continued in the RAF in different roles until April, 1946, when he entered into

retirement with the rank of Group Captain and returned to South Africa, dedicating himself to farming. He was politically active through the fifties and was

a vocal opponent of Apartheid, but the rise of the African National Congress caused him to withdraw due to disagreement with the ANC’s practices. He died

at the age of 53 on September 17th, 1963.

N3162, P/O Eric Stanley Lock, No. 41 Squadron, RAF Hornchurch, Essex, United Kingdom, August/September 1940

The HARDEST DAY. Eric Lock, nicknamed ‘Sawn off Lockie’ due to his small stature, joined No.41 Squadron as a rookie in June, 1940. At the beginning of July,

he found the time to get married, and after his honeymoon, he began his combat career in the developing Battle of Britain. His first kills didn’t come until August 15th. He first shot down a Bf 110, followed by a Ju 88. During the rotation of units, No 41 Squadron was moved from Catterick to Hornchurch in Essex on

September 3rd, into the centre of the most intense combat during the Battle of Britain. From that point on, Lock accumulated kills on an almost regular daily

basis, and by the 20th of September, he had fifteen kills to his credit, accomplished in sixteen days, this despite suffering leg wounds in combat with a Bf 109E

on September 5th. On October 31st, 1940, Eric Lock was the most successful Allied pilot of the Battle of Britain with 21 kills. On November 8th, Lock’s Spitfire

was heavily damaged in combat with several Bf 109Es over Beachy Head in eastern Sussex, and he had to belly land in a field. Lock was himself wounded in

the right hand and both legs from rounds fired by a Bf 109E on November 17th. He again force landed his aircraft near an airstrip at Martlesham Heath in

Suffolk. However, this time he was not able to get out of his aircraft due to serious injuries and loss of blood. He remained in his aircraft unconscious for some

two hours before being found by a pair of patrolling soldiers, who carried him to a hospital on an improvised stretcher made from rifles and a tarp. Over the

next three months, Lock endured fifteen major surgeries and spent another three months in a rehabilitation centre at Royal Masonic Hospital, where he was

repeatedly operated on by a pioneer of plastic surgery, Archibald McIndoe. He returned to No. 41 Squadron, and to flying, in June, 1941, and in July, he was

promoted to Flight Lieutenant and made B Flight Leader with No. 611 Squadron. In July, he gained three kills over Bf 109Fs during offensive missions over

France. On August 3rd, 1941, while returning from a ‘Rhubarb’ mission, he attacked a German convoy not far from Pas de Calais and has been listed as missing in action ever since. It is generally assumed that he was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed in the sea. Neither his Spitfire Mk.V, W3257, nor his body, were

ever located, despite several efforts. At the time of his disappearance, he had 26 aircraft to his credit, which he achieved over a twenty-five week span over

the course of one year, six months of which were spent in hospital. Eric Lock was the first of three famous British pilots and heroes of our Spitfire Story, who

were shot down at that time. Douglas Bader was shot down and taken prisoner on August 9th, 1941, and on January 28th, 1942, Robert Tuck.

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INFO Eduard - August 2020