Battle of Britain Album #13: No. 74 Squadron RAF

Group Captain A G 'Sailor' Malan, a South African who became an ace during the Battle of Britain and finished the war with 35 aerial victories. Photographed in the cockpit of his Supermarine Spitfire at Biggin Hill, Kent. Imperial War Museum photo CH 8119.

 

Adolph Gysbert Malan, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar (3 October 1910 – 17 September 1963), better known as Sailor Malan, was a South African fighter pilot and flying ace in the Royal Air Force (RAF) who led No. 74 Squadron RAF during the Battle of Britain. He finished his fighter career in 1941 with twenty-seven destroyed, seven shared destroyed and two unconfirmed, three probables and sixteen damaged. At the time he was the RAF's leading ace, and one of the highest-scoring pilots to have served wholly with RAF Fighter Command during the Second World War.

 

Color oil painting of Sailor Malan by Cuthbert Orde, 1940. RAF Museum photo.

 

Francis White, Spitfire Mk Ia K9867, CO No 74 Squadron, Hornchurch (UK), May1940. Artist: Gaëtan Marie.

 

“Height of the Battle” by Robert Taylor. Continuing his popular series of Giclee Studio Proofs on canvas, Robert Taylor portrays Squadron Leader 'Sailor' Malan DFC, Commanding Officer of 74 Squadron and one of the great Battle of Britain Aces, in his famous painting Height of the Battle. Having already made one diving attack into the force of Luftwaffe He111 bombers approaching London with their fighter escort, 'Sailor' peels his Spitfire over for a second attack. Another top Ace, Pilot Officer Harbourne Stephen DFC, is hard on his heels. Below them, typifying the scene as it was on the afternoon of Wednesday 11 September 1940, Mk.I Hurricanes from 17 and 56 Squadrons have already joined the fray.

 

“First Flap of the Day” by Nicolas Trudgian. HM Stephen - one of the Battle of Britains top scoring fighter pilots, brings down two Me109s in quick succession over the White Cliffs of Dover, early on August 11, 1940. Flying a Spitfire with 74 Squadron, HM shot down five German aircraft on this day, and damaged a further three. The note in his log book starts ‘First flap of the day at 0600 hrs’. Published 2000.

 

“The Right of the Line” by Graeme Lothian. Sailor Malan leading No. 74 Squadron engaging Me109s of I/JG52 during the Battle of Britain, September 1940.

 

“This Sceptred Isle” by Robert Taylor. For nearly a thousand years the white cliffs of southern England had taunted many a foreign army. These fortress walls of chalk, however, were defended by the moat-like waters of the Channel, and together they had shielded the British from her enemies. Alongside Drake they had defied the armies of Spain and her great Armada and, in 1805, had halted the march of Napoleon's Grand Armee. No enemy force since that of William the Conqueror in 1066 had successfully managed to cross the Channel in anger but, in May 1940, one of the most powerful armies the world had ever seen arrived at Calais. An invasion by Hitler's all-conquering Wehrmacht was imminent - or so it seemed. To cross the Channel and breach the English defenses, the Luftwaffe simply had to gain control of the skies, and with massively superior numbers the outcome seemed inevitable. The fate of Britain lay in the hands of less than 3,000 young airmen from Fighter Command - Churchill's 'Few'. By July the most famous air battle in history was underway and, over the next three months under tranquil summer skies, the 'Few' battled to defend their Scpetred Isle. Impossibly outnumbered and flying daily to the point of exhaustion, by October these courageous young men had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, emerging defiantly victorious. The threat of invasion might be over but a terrible price had been paid - during that long battle for the survival of Britain 544 had been killed and 422 wounded; and of those who survived a further 814 would be killed before the end of the war. This painting pays tribute to the valiant 'Few', portraying a fleeting moment of calm for the pilots of 74 (Tiger) Squadron during the height of the Battle of Britain. With his commanding officer Sailor Malan (ZP-A) to his right, Acting Flight Lieutenant John Freeborn (ZP-C) takes time to reflect on another day of intense combat while passing over the white cliffs and the familiar lighthouse at Beachy Head, as the squadron cross the English coast to head for home.