One Armed Mac by Cull & Symons 1st Edt World War Two Aviation VG+

ONE ARMED MAC 

by

CULL & SYMONS

PUBLISHED ; GRUB STREET

1st EDITION 2003

]ames Archibald Findlay MacLachlan — known as ‘Jay’  to his family, ‘Mac’ to his friends and tagged ‘One-  Armed Mac’ by the press — is a truly great hero of  World War II. 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. It  was perhaps inevitable that he would lose his life in  action but along the way this modest man inspired  other amputees who wanted to get back into the war.  Mac flew Fairey Battle light bombers during the Battle  of France, winning his first DFC. He then retrained on  fighters and 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 the  aircraft carrier HMS Argus to the besieged island of  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 ]oachim Miincheberg.  Severely wounded in the left arm, he nonetheless  parachuted over the island and 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 Hurricane IICs for night  intruder operations. By the end of 1942 he had  accounted for five German night bombers and had  been awarded the DSQ and a Bar to his DFC, plus the  Czech Military Cross. Following a six-month goodwill  trip to the United States, where he was feted as a  fighter pilot hero wherever he went, he returned to  operations with the Air Fighting Development Unit. In  company with Geoffrey Page, he participated in the  destruction of six Luftwaffe training aircraft in one  single sortie; but, on his next mission, his Mustang was  hit by ground fire when crossing the French coast and  crash-landed, with Mac critically injured. Taken  prisoner, he died in captivity on 31 ]uly 1943. Based  on his diaries and letters, this is Mac’s story, mainly  told in his own words.   

ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS   

CONDITION V GOOD + ,WITH DUST JACKET 

BINDING TIGHT .CLEAN INTERIOR

DUST JACKET COVERED IN REMOVABLE MYLAR COVER