Adolph Malan Adolph Gysbert Malan , DSO & Bar , DFC & Bar ( 24 March 1910 – 17 September 1963 ) , better known as Sailor Malan , was a famed South African World War II RAF fighter pilot who led No . 74 Squadron RAF during the height of the Battle of Britain . Malan was known for sending German bomber pilots home with dead crews as a warning to other Luftwaffe crews . Under his leadership No . 74 became one of the RAF ' s best units . Malan scored 27 kills , seven shared destroyed , three probably destroyed and 16 damaged . Malan survived the war to become involved in the anti - apartheid movement in his country . His younger brother , George F . Malan , was killed flying with No . 72 Squadron RAF as a Spitfire pilot in Tunisia , in earlier 1943 . Early life . Malan was born in Wellington , Western Cape . He joined the South African Training Ship " General Botha " in 1924 or 1925 as a cadet ( cadet number 168 ) , after which he joined the Union - Castle Line of the International Mercantile Marine Co . which later earned him the nickname of " Sailor " amongst his pilot colleagues . Royal Air Force . In 1935 the RAF started the rapid expansion of its pilot corps , and Malan was one of the people who joined up . He learned to fly in the Tiger Moth at an elementary flying school near Bristol , flying for the first time on 6 January 1936 . Commissioned an Acting Pilot Officer on 2 March , he completed training by the end of the year , and was sent to join 74 Squadron on 20 December 1936 . He was confirmed as a Pilot Officer on 6 January 1937 , and was appointed to acting Flight Commander of " A " Flight , flying Spitfire s , in August . He was promoted to acting Flying Officer on 20 May 1938 and promoted to substantive Flying Officer on 6 July He received another promotion to acting Flight Lieutenant on 2 March 1939 , six months before the outbreak of war . The Second World War . The Battle of Barking Creek . No . 74 Squadron saw its first action only 15 hours after war was declared , sent to intercept a bomber raid that turned out to be returning RAF planes . On 6 September 1939 , " A " Flight was scrambled to intercept a suspected enemy radar track and ran into the Hurricanes of No . 56 Squadron RAF . Believing 56 to be the enemy , Malan ordered an attack . Paddy Byrne and John Freeborn downed two RAF aircraft , killing one officer , Montague Hulton - Harrop , in this friendly fire incident , which became known as the Battle of Barking Creek . At the subsequent courts - martial , Malan denied responsibility for the attack . He testified for the prosecution against his own pilots stating that Freeborn had been irresponsible , impetuous , and had not taken proper heed of vital communications . This prompted Freeborn ' s counsel , Sir Patrick Hastings to call Malan a bare - faced liar . The court ruled the entire incident was an unfortunate error and acquitted both pilots . Dunkirk . Events soon overtook the squadron . After fierce fighting over Dunkirk during the evacuation of Dunkirk on 28 June 1940 , Malan was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross having achieved five ' kills ' . During this battle he first exhibited his fearless and implacable fighting spirit . In one incident he was able to coolly change the light bulb in his gunsight while in combat and then quickly return to the fray . During the night of 19 / 20 June Malan flew a night sortie in bright moonlight and shot down two Heinkel He - 111 bombers , a then unique feat for which a bar to his DFC was awarded . On 6 July , he was promoted to the permanent rank of Flight Lieutenant . Malan and his senior pilots also decided to abandon the " vic " formation used by the RAF , and turned to a looser formation ( the " finger - four " ) similar to the four aircraft Schwarm the " Luftwaffe " had developed during the Spanish Civil War . Legend has it that on 28 July he met Werner Mölders in combat , damaging his plane and wounding him , but failing to bring him down . Recent research has suggested however that Mölders was wounded in a fight with No . 41 Squadron RAF . Squadron Leader – 74 Squadron . On 8 August , Malan was given command of 74 Squadron and promoted to Acting Squadron Leader . This was at the height of the Battle of Britain . Three days later , on 11 August , action started at 7 am when 74 was sent to intercept a raid near Dover , but this was followed by another three raids , lasting all day . At the end of the day , 74 had claimed to have shot down 38 aircraft , and was known from then on as " Sailor ' s August the Eleventh " . Malan himself simply commented , " " thus ended a very successful morning of combat " . " He received a bar to his DFC on 13 August . On the ground , Malan was remembered as an inveterate gambler and often owed his subordinates money . Malan was older than most of his charges and although sociable and relaxed off - duty , he spent most of his time with his wife and family living near Biggin Hill . He would soon develop a routine of flying the first sortie of the day and then handing the squadron to a subordinate while he stayed on the ground to do paperwork . Despite frosty relations after the Battle of Barking Creek he would often give command of the squadron to John Freeborn ( himself an ace of note ) , showing Malan ' s ability to keep the personal and professional separate . Malan commanded 74 Squadron with strict discipline and did not suffer fools gladly , and could be high - handed with sergeant pilots ( many non - commissioned pilots were joining the RAF at this time ) . He could also be reluctant to hand out decorations , and he had a strict yardstick by which he would make recommendations for medals : six kills confirmed for a DFC , twelve for a bar to the DFC ; eighteen for a DSO . On 29 December 1941 Malan was added to the select list of airmen who had sat for one of Cuthbert Orde ' s iconic charcoal portraits . He also had the far rarer honour of having Orde paint a full colour painting . Wing Commander – Biggin Hill . On 24 December , Malan received the Distinguished Service Order , and on 22 July 1941 , a bar to the Order . On 10 March 1941 he was appointed as one of the first Wing Leaders for the offensive operations that spring and summer , leading the Biggin Hill Wing until mid August , when he was rested from operations . He finished his active fighter career in 1941 with 27 kills destroyed , 7 shared destroyed and 2 unconfirmed , 3 probables and 16 damaged , at the time the RAF ' s leading ace , and one of the highest scoring pilots to have served wholly with Fighter Command during World War II . He was transferred to the reserve as a Squadron Leader on 6 January 1942 . After tours to the USA and the Central Gunnery School , Malan was promoted to temporary Wing Commander on 1 September 1942 and became Station Commander at Biggin Hill , receiving a promotion to war substantive Wing Commander on 1 July 1943 . Malan remained keen to fly on operations , often ignoring standing orders for Station Commanders not to risk getting shot down . In October 1943 he became Officer Commanding 19 Fighter Wing , RAF Second Tactical Air Force , then commander of the 145 ( Free French ) Fighter Wing in time for D - day , leading a section of the wing over the beaches during the late afternoon . Rules of Air Fighting . Although not an instinctive , gifted pilot Malan was an exceptional shot and a very aggressive air fighter , and above all a superb tactician who instilled the methods and techniques he had honed in 1940 into successive generations of young fighter pilots who followed him . Malan developed a set of simple rules for fighter pilots , to be disseminated throughout RAF Fighter Command , which eventually could be found tacked to the wall of most airbases : TEN OF MY RULES FOR AIR FIGHTING Later life . On 5 April 1946 , Malan resigned his RAF commission , retaining the rank of Group Captain and returned to South Africa where he joined the " Torch Commando " a joint project of the anti - fascist ex - servicemen ' s organisation , the " Springbok Legion " and the " War Veterans Action committee " . Sailor Malan became the president of that new organization . In Malan ' s words , it was " established to oppose the police state , abuse of state power , censorship , racism , the removal of the Coloured vote and other oppressive manifestations of the creeping fascism of the National Party regime " . Amongst the leading members of the Springbok Legion were many ex - servicemen who would later join the African National Congress and Umkhonto we Sizwe under the leadership of Nelson Mandela . Amongst these were Joe Slovo , Jack Hodgson , Wolfie Kodesh , Brian Bunting and Fred Carneson . After the National Party came to power and began to implement its policies , many found the Springbok Legion , founded in 1941 , ( see Torch commando ) to be too left orientated and too radical . In 1950 members of the Springbok Legion began to work with other more liberal organizations and even the United Party official opposition , to find new ways to mobilise protest support against a string of Apartheid laws . In 1951 the Springbok Legion , formed a protest group together with the War Veterans Action Committee , to appeal to a broader base of ex - servicemen , which they called the ' Torch Commando ' , as a tactic to fight the National Party ' s plans to remove Cape ' s " coloured " voters from the roll . Harry Schwarz , an ex - serviceman and later a leading figure in the anti - apartheid movement was one of the founders of the organization . The Torch Commando fought a battle for more than five years , and at its height had 250 , 000 members . The government was alarmed by the number of judges , public servants and military officers joining the organisation that a new law was passed to ban anyone in public service or the military from joining . The National Party ensured that the memory of the Springbok Legion , Torch Commando and of Sailor Malan was purged from history because there was a fear particularly that young Afrikaners might want to emulate Malan . At its largest Torch Commando protest rally , the Springbok Legion attracted 75 , 000 people . In a speech at a rally outside City Hall in Johannesburg , Malan made reference to the ideals for which the Second World War was fought : “ The strength of this gathering is evidence that the men and women who fought in the war for freedom still cherish what they fought for . We are determined not to be denied the fruits of that victory . ” Malan died in 1963 from Parkinson ' s Disease , at the time a rare and essentially mysterious malady . A considerable sum of money was raised in his name to further study the disease , a fund that continues to this day . He is survived by his wife , Lynda , son Jonathan , and daughter Valerie . In the 1969 war film " Battle of Britain " , the Robert Shaw character ' Squadron Leader Skipper ' was explicitly based on Malan , as recounted by director Guy Hamilton in the documentary ' A Film for the Few ' , which was included with the 2004 Special Edition DVD release . At one point early in the film , Skipper gives advanced air combat maneuvering training to an inexperienced pilot , and angrily barks " Never fly straight and level for more than 30 seconds in the combat area ! " — quoting one of Malan ' s rules .