OSLER, Malcolm

Stats:

rank: Maj
status: survived
airforce: SAAF    (no: 102677V )
born: 1919-03-19 Benoni South Africa

added by: Kevin Charles

601 Squadron Pilot and Commanding Officer

Malcolm Stephen (Bennie) Osler DFC & Bar was a South African flying ace of the Second World War, credited with 12 aerial victories. (Wikipedia).

He flew Hurricanes with 1 Squadron SAAF in the Western Desert. After a spell back in South Africa he joined 145 Squadron as a Flight commander in October 1943 but only for 2 weeks before taking command of 601 Squadron in Italy.

He shared a Fw 190 on his first active patrol in a Spitfire with 145 Squadron. While with 601 he added to his score.

The South African Military History Journal records his last combat with 601 as “On 15th February 1944 he attacked an observation balloon guarded by two Bf 109s, and shot down all three. He was hit by flak and had to put down on the beach-head landing strip, which was shelled by German artillery. He went into a crater, somersaulting three times, but escaped with minor cuts and bruises, and after 10 days in hospital, (much against his will) he was sent to Sorrento on 14 days leave.” The ORB is different in that though two aircraft were dispatched from the patrol to attack an observation balloon, no balloon was seen and they were intercepted by the Bf 109s that Bennie duly destroyed. The crash landing, according to the ORB, occurred during an otherwise uneventful sortie the following day and Bennie was landing at Nettuno following engine trouble.while the landing ground was being shelled. Finally the ORB notes that despite his injuries he returned to duty, though he does not fly again with 601 and is posted to Advanced HQ DAF on 13th March.

On 29th April 1944 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and received a bar to his DFC.

He died in 1971 at the age of 52.