page_title: Jack Malloch
section_title: The 1970s & 1980s
hierarchical_section_title: Jack Malloch / The 1970s & 1980s
context_page_description: John "Jack" McVicar Malloch ICD, was a South African-born Rhodesian bush pilot, gun-runner and sanctions-buster who flew in World War II and in various legal and illegal roles around Africa and the Middle East until the early 1980s. in 1978, he was the final recipient of the Rhodesian civil Independence Commemorative Decoration for services rendered to the country.
context_section_description: In January 1970 Malloch formed a new company, this one named Afro-Continental Airways (ACA), as a subsidiary of Air Trans Africa. ACA operated an airline service between Salisbury, Rhodesia; Windhoek, South West Africa (now Namibia); and Blantyre, Malawi; flying a Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation, registered as VP-WAW and formerly owned by Varig Brazilian Airlines. After only a few years the new airline ceased operations and the aircraft was permanently grounded, reportedly becoming a club-house at Charles Prince Airport, Mount Hampden, near Salisbury.
  Between 1970 and 1980, Air Trans Africa, flying a fleet of Gabonese-registered aircraft, became heavily involved in Rhodesian sanctions-busting operations. In August 1973, the UK's Sunday Times newspaper ran an exposé of Malloch and his legal and illegal operations; this was the first public mention of his callsign "Tango Romeo", which was to become famous. Britain made their third complaint to the UN about Malloch and his sanctions-busting activities in May 1976. The following year, in January 1977, Malloch flew French mercenary Bob Denard and a team of mercenaries into Cotonou, Benin in a failed coup attempt.
  In May 1978, Malloch's Canadair CL-44 was intercepted by two MiG 21s over Angola and was forced to escape through the mountains. In July of the same year, he flew a 30 kg coelacanth from the Comores back to Salisbury. His CL-44 was destroyed by fire at Salisbury airport in February 1982.
caption: Former Afro-Continental Airways Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, Charles Prince Airport, Mount Hampden, 1975
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