Sailor In The Sky

By: Graham Jooste

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Synopsis: "He was the outstanding fighter pilot of the 1939-1945 war. His inspired leadership, added to his gunnery and implacable determination, made him second to none, a fact acknowledged by us all. Sailor was perhaps, a man more than any other, that could say in all truth: 'I Fear No Man'." Air Vice Marshall Johnnie Johnson, CBE DSO DFC, WW2 Fighter Ace Adolph Gysbert Malan, universally known as "Sailor", is regarded as one of the very greatest fighter pilots of the Second World War. As Graham Jooste's detailed, compelling and timely biography reveals, Sailor began life on a South African farm before joining the merchant navy. Even before the war, he quickly distinguished himself as a pilot. He would go on to play a vital part as one of the "Few" during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940, when the outcome of the whole war hung in the balance. While the bulk of the book rightly concentrates on Sailor's wartime experiences, Graham Jooste also details his political involvement in post-war South Africa, at a time when, to his horror, the ruling National Party had embraced an openly racist ideology and began to implement the country's notorious Apartheid system.