The Airmen's Stories - F/O F D S Scott-Malden

Air Vice-Marshal (Flying Officer during the Battle) David Scott-Malden, who has died aged 80, was a Battle of Britain fighter pilot, a leader of the highly successful wartime Norwegian Fighter Wing and commander of a fighter sector station by the age of 23. He later recalled:

Twelve months before Dunkirk I was receiving Cambridge's Gold Medal for Greek verse - an unusual qualification for a fighter pilot. A well trained mind is an asset, but in the skies of Britain in 1940 to be too academic was not a recipe for survival. I was lucky to come through. Many of my university friends did not.

In early October 1940, Scott-Malden joined No 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron at Hornchurch, Essex as a replacement Spitfire pilot in the autumn stage of the Battle of Britain over the South-East. The squadron had been much depleted by losses that summer as was only too apparent in an action over Kent on October 12th .

Eight aircraft were directed into a large gaggle of Me109 fighters, we split up individually and passed head-on through the enemy formation. There was a sense of shock as a distant series of silhouettes suddenly became rough metal with grey-green paint and yellow noses, passing head-on on either side. At the far end I had a few minutes dog fight with the last 109, scoring hits leaving a trail of black smoke. Then we were alone at 20,000 feet, the German gliding down with an engine which coughed and barely turned over, I with very little ammunition and very little petrol. He glided towards the Channel. I looked for an airfield before my petrol ran out. Strangely, I felt inclined to wave to him as I left. But then I was only 20.

It was Scott-Malden's first probable "kill": his two years of fighter combat would yield five confirmed and as many as seven probables. Francis David Stephen Scott-Malden was born at Portslade, Sussex on December 26 1919, the son of a prep school master at Windlesham House. From Winchester, where David was a Goddard Scholar and won the Ashburton Shield at Bisley, he went up to King's College, Cambridge winning the Sir William Browne Medal for Greek Verse and taking a First in his preliminary examinations.

After training in the Cambridge University Air Squadron, Scott-Malden was selected for an Army Co-Operation course as a pilot officer. He was thrilled when in late May 1940 the chief instructor announced that he had "a severe disappointment" to communicate: "Gentlemen," he said, "you are to be transferred immediately to fighters". Scott-Malden joined in "the wild whoop as the classroom emptied, leaving the chief instructor standing alone beside the blackboard ".

In June 1940 he was posted to fly Spitfires with No 611 (West Lancashire) Squadron at Digby, Lincolnshire before being transferred to No 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron at Hornchurch in early October. In the New Year of 1941 Scott-Malden flew offensive sweeps with 603 over northern France. He was promoted to flight commander and in September received command of No 54 Squadron. Bearing the initials "S-M" below the cockpit and the legend "Bahrain", Scott-Malden's Spitfire W3632 - built at the Supermarine factory at Woolston, Hampshire - was a gift from the people of Bahrain, who had raised £15,000 to buy it. Moving in November to headquarters No 14 Group in Scotland, Scott-Malden had the task of helping to bring to operational readiness the first Free Norwegian fighter squadrons, with pilots who had escaped from Norway. When they were ready Scott-Malden was appointed, in March 1942, to command the Norwegian Fighter Wing of three squadrons at North Weald in Essex. In the summer, the wing built a magnificent reputation and covered itself in glory during the disastrous Dieppe raid of August 20. Operating from the Kent coastal airfield at Manston, Scott-Malden led Nos 242, 331 and 332 squadrons in three separate sorties on the day, seeking, against great odds, to protect the mostly Canadian troops as they attempted to land and then to withdraw. Scott-Malden was awarded a DSO and was also decorated by King Haakon of Norway with the Norwegian War Cross, lunching with the King afterwards at Claridge's.

Rested from operations, Scott-Malden was sent on a lecture tour of American universities. He returned to Britain in November, to the day operations staff at Fighter Command headquarters. From July to October 1943, Scott-Malden was liaison officer with the US 8th Bomber Command. He was then, aged 23, given command of Hornchurch, a station of 1,000 airmen and 600 WAAF's.

In New Year 1944, in preparation for the Normandy invasion, he joined a mobile group control unit camped in tents on Goodwood racecourse. After D-Day June 6, the unit moved to Normandy to control fighter support. During the summer, Scott-Malden was promoted acting group captain and given command of No 125, a Spitfire wing covering the Allied advance through North-West Europe from nine different points.

After the war, reverting to squadron leader, Scott-Malden took a permanent commission and had the customary sequence of staff and command appointments, including assistance with initial plans for the Suez campaign of 1956. He was happiest, he said, under the air ace Johnnie Johnson while building the first Nato airfield beyond the Rhine, at Wildenrath.

Scott-Malden was invalided out of the service in 1966 and joined the Ministry of Transport as an administrator. He finally retired to Norfolk in 1978.

In addition to his DSO he was awarded a DFC in 1941 and a Bar to it in 1942. He also held the Order of Orange Nassau.

David Scott-Malden married, in 1955, Anne Elizabeth Watson; they had two sons and two daughters.

With acknowledgments to the Daily Telegraph