One-Armed Mac

by Cull, Brian; Symons, Roland

• ISBN13: 9781904010463
• ISBN10: 1904010466
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Grub Street

Summary

James Archibald Findlay MacLachlan is a truly great hero of World War 11. Having lost his arm following combat over Malta, he was fitted with an artificial limb and continued the fight--way beyond the call of duty. Mac flew Fairey Battle light bombers during the Battle of France, winning his first DFC. He then flew Hurricanes towards the end of the Battle of Britain. Having volunteered to go overseas, he led a formation of six Hurricanes from the deck of HMS "Argus to Malta. Here, following several weeks of intense air combat during which he accounted for eight Italian and German aircraft, he was shot down by one of the Luftwaffe's top fighter aces, Oblt Joachim Muncheberg. Severely wounded in the left arm, he was rushed to hospital. The arm could not be saved. However, within sixteen days of the amputation, he persuaded his CO to allow him to fly a Magister two-seater, initially accompanied by another pilot, before going solo! On his return to England, where he was fitted with an artificial arm, Mac was soon given command of No.1 Squadron equipped with Hurrica

Table of Contents

Introduction & Acknowledgements	4	(2)
Foreword	6	(2)
Mac Remembered	8	(5)
Chapter I Early Life	13	(3)
Chapter II Training Begins	16	(6)
Chapter III A Peacetime Bomber Squadron	22	(5)
Chapter IV Into Battle in a Battle	27	(10)
Chapter V Fighter Pilot	37	(9)
Chapter VI Malta	46	(47)
Chapter VII African Safari	93	(36)
Chapter VIII Newly Armed	129	(4)
Chapter IX In Omnibus Princeps - No. 1 Squadron	133	(29)
Chapter X An American Interlude	162	(5)
Chapter XI The End of the Beginning	167	(7)
Appendix I Radio Broadcast by NBC's Robert St John, 23 July 1943	174	(3)
Appendix II Combat Claims	177	(1)
Appendix III Awards	178	(2)
Appendix IV From the Logbook	180	(8)
Appendix V Press Reports	188	(2)
Index	190