A hero of Wellington of years gone by has been among legendary South Africans who received civilian honours from the City of Cape Town last week.

Thirteen civilian honours were awarded by and nine Mayor’s Awards received from Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis,

Adolph Gysbert (“Sailor”) Malan was one of the recipients of the honours.

This typical Wellington plaasseun who had already learnt to ride a horse, drive his father’s car around the family farm and shoot a bird in flight by the age of 10.

Later, these early skills would prove a good foundation for his role as Spitfire pilot with the 74 Squadron during the Battle of Britain, in which he proved a cool and calculating hunter of enemy German aircraft. ­Sailor and his friend and colleague, Johnny Johnson, would go on to bring down the most enemy aircraft at this time, his personal total being 34, although there may have been more “kills” that weren’t taken into account at the time. During the war years, and especially in 1941, Sailor’s leadership and achievements would cause him and Johnson to go down in history as two of the greatest fighter pilots in World War II.

At the age of 14 he traded his school days for training at the Maritime College on board the warship Generaal Botha, where today’s training by comparison may look more like a tea party. His years with the navy would also give him his famous nickname of Sailor.

His participation on the British side during World War II stemmed not only from a moral decision on his own part – the protection of democracy and humanity against the tyranny of the Nazis and their allies was his first priority – but also from his choice of flying as occupation. Sailor would become known as “the King’s favourite Afrikaner” as a result of the passionate, personal way in which he tackled the massive and brutal German onslaught over South-East England in the summer of 1940.

shared a vision

During his stay in London after the war, Sailor befriended Sir Ernest Oppenheimer and his son Harry, whom he had met through his acquaintance with HN Abrahams, head of the Diamond Trading Company, which handled De Beer’s diamond sales in London. When he returned to South Africa in 1946 he was offered a position with Anglo-American in Johannesburg.

Sailor, Sir Ernest (who was a member of the Union of South Africa’s Parliament from 1924 to 1938) and Harry shared a vision for all the people of South Africa, the same kind of vision for which during the World War II they had been prepared to offer up their lives, Harry having also served during the war in the 4th Tank Regiment in North Africa.

When the National Party (NP) came to power in 1948, with DF Malan as its leader, the dark cloud of racist Afrikaner nationalism began descending on South Africa to disgrace South Africa in the eyes of the international community for almost 50 years. By 1951 the NP government had already suggested that all non-white people be stricken from the voter lists, though this would become law only five years later, after D F Malan’s NP government managed to change the Constitution by immoral and unethical means.

In 1951, the Springbok Legion and the Action Committee for War Veterans founded the “Torch Commando” as a means to combat the government’s plans to withhold the vote from non-white South Africans. As a founding member, together with people like Harry Schwartz and Louis Kane-Berman, who later entered politics, Sailor became deeply involved in a movement that would fight for basic human rights and oppose political oppression, something that had always been very important to him.

struggle was above and beyond

When the Liberal Party offered him a place in their ranks he let them know in no uncertain terms that this struggle was above and beyond the political arena.

His main aim was to lessen the plight of the impoverished non-white communities in matters such as lack of food, housing and utilities.

For the rest of his life Sailor would be completely ignored by the government.

The National Party press characterised him as “a flying poodle”, dressed in his leathers and flying goggles in the service of Jan Smuts and the Jewish mine bosses, who were referred to as the “Hoggenheimers”.

Despite this, Sailor continued to fight against the violation of human rights in his homeland.

His dream of a better, democratic life for all in South Africa not only urged him on and carried him forward, but also caused him to be shunned by and isolated from his white Afrikaner countrymen, who were blinded by the short-sighted racial discrimination of their government.

In 1963, Sailor, one of the most famous fighter pilots in the history of the Royal Air Force, lost his fight against Parkinson’s and died at the young age of 52.

The Spitfire Heritage Trust, together with the Imperial War Museum, honoured this brilliant South African along with his fellow South African fighter pilots at a 75th Anniversary Commemoration of the Battle of Britain in 2015.

There are also plans to create a Spitfire Trust Fund in aid of farm children with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome in Wellington. For more information on this initiative or any information about South African fighter pilots in the Battle of Britain, contact the writer by email at dewitchris6@gmail.com.

* Source: Chris de Wit (University of Stellenbosch)