Jack Malloch

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John "Jack" McIvor Malloch
Born(1920-10-08)8 October 1920
Durban, Natal, Union of South Africa
Died26 March 1982(1982-03-26) (aged 61)
Salisbury, Zimbabwe
Cause of deathAir accident
Known forSanctions busting after UDI in Rhodesia; renovated and flew Mk 22 Spitfire until fatal crash
SpouseZoe (née Coventry)
AwardsIndependence Commemorative Decoration (civil award)
Aviation career
Air forceRoyal Air Force; Rhodesian Air Force
Websitewww.jackmalloch.com

John McVicar Malloch

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.[1] In 1978, he was the final recipient of the Rhodesian civil Independence Commemorative Decoration
for services rendered to the country.

Early life

Jack Malloch was born in Durban, Natal, South Africa on 8 October 1920. In 1925, his family moved to Umtali (now Mutare) in the eastern highlands of Southern Rhodesia. He was sent back to South Africa in 1933 to attend a boarding school in Somerset West in the Cape Province, but was withdrawn from the school in 1935 to begin working as a garage mechanic. In 1936 he earned a driver's licence and began driving for the railways.[1]

World War II

In 1943 Malloch was accepted into the

pilot's wings and was sent to an operational squadron where he saw service as a fighter pilot. In February 1945 he was shot down behind enemy lines and wounded. He was kept safe from German capture by local partisans, who found a hiding place for him in the mountains. In April 1945, he was flown out and was able to rejoin his squadron.[1]

Post-War career

After the War, Malloch returned to Southern Rhodesia. He married his wife Zoe (née Coventry) in Salisbury (now Harare) in January 1948. He kept flying, and in March 1951 was one of the pilots who participated in the first Spitfire ferry of new aircraft from the UK out to Southern Rhodesia for use in the Rhodesian Air Force. A year later, in March 1952, he formed Fish Air with Jamie Marshall. Later, in October 1955, they sold the company to Hunting Clan; Malloch was retained as a pilot.[1]

The 1960s

In 1960, Malloch formed a new company named

British Commonwealth and became Rhodesia. In response, the United Kingdom applied strict sanctions, and ATA became involved in various sanctions-busting operations from 1966 to 1967.[1]

The Congo

In 1960 the Republic of Congo (later

Mike Hoare against the Congolese rebels. Later, in 1967, the Mercenaries Revolt in the Congo was launched with the news that Tshombe had been kidnapped. Malloch flew re-supply missions for Jean "Black Jack" Schramme and his mercenaries from July–November 1967.[1]

Biafra

In May 1967,

DC-7 were jailed on landing in Togo with a cargo of 9 tons of Nigerian banknotes. By January 1970, the Biafran rebellion had been defeated and the civil war thus came to an end.[1]

The 1970s & 1980s

Former Afro-Continental Airways Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, Charles Prince Airport, Mount Hampden, 1975

In January 1970 Malloch formed a new company, this one named

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

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.[1]

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 Comoro Islands back to Salisbury. His CL-44 was destroyed by fire at Salisbury airport in February 1982.[1]

Rhodesian operations

Independence Commemorative Decoration ribbon bar

In January 1970 Malloch was called up as a reservist to the

Rhodesian Army and the Rhodesian Air Force in Operation Dingo, a major raid conducted against the ZANLA headquarters in Chimoio, Mozambique. In 1978, he was the final recipient of the Independence Commemorative Decoration for services rendered to Rhodesia. Malloch was heavily involved in the SAS operation in north-eastern Zambia to blow up a bridge, known as Operation Cheese, in September 1979.[1]

Mark 22 Spitfire

In 1978, Malloch persuaded a Rhodesian Air Force base to part with the Mk 22 Spitfire which had been sitting on a plinth outside the air base for over 20 years. He began renovating it the same year, which process included having a five-bladed variable-pitch propeller custom-built by a German firm. In March 1980, he made the first flight in the newly renovated aircraft and it was featured at air shows in Zimbabwe at the time. Malloch was killed in his Mk 22 on the last day of filming the documentary Pursuit of a Dream on 26 March 1982 when he flew the aircraft into a thunderstorm.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Jack Malloch Timeline". A Biography on the Life and Times of Jack Malloch. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
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