Malta was a hectic station, with frequent, large scale raids by Germans and Italians. But the AA gunners on Malta quickly became the most proficient in the world with the constant practice they had. Many Axis aircraft were knocked down by the islands ground defences, as well as the Spitfires. By July 11 he had shot down two Bf109s, three Macchi 202s, had a probable kill on a Bf109 and damaged a Junkers.

His markmanship had become a legend. He once reported he had fired 5 cannon shells into the cockpit of an enemy plane. Allied soldiers found the plane with 5 cannon holes in the cockpit. A fellow Spitfire pilot said of Beurling,

"he was so successful for many reasons, but the two most important were his eyesight and his knack for deflection shooting. He used to report sighting of aircraft many seconds before others saw them, and he knew whether he hit them in the front, centre or rear of their airplane and he usually used minimum ammunition." Lucas stated,

"He had an instinctive feel for an aircraft. He quickly got to know its characteristics and extremes - and the importance of doing so. He wasn't a wild pilot who went in for all sorts of hair-raising manoeuvres, throwing his aircraft all over the sky. Not at all. George Beurling was one of the most accurate pilots I ever saw. A pair of sensitive hands gave his flying a smoothness unusual in a wartime fighter pilot ... This acute sensitivity told him that a Spitfire was only a fine gun platform if it was flown precisely. He therefore set out to make himself the master of the airplane. He never let it fly him."

He never shot haphazardly at an aircraft that was too far away. He liked to fire from about 250 yards with several short, hard bursts. That was usually enough.

"Fox in the Henhouse" original painting by Rich Thistle.

On July 14 he ended up on the receiving end of more German lead. Three Bf109s and 2 Italian Reggiane 2001 fighter/bombers jumped him. He turned towards the Italians figuring they could do less damage to him, as they were not equipped with cannons, but his aircraft was shot up pretty bad. Back at base he counted 23 holes in his aircraft. He got even a while later downing his first Reggiane and damaging a Junkers 88.

Beurling waxed hot and cold on his Italian opponents. In a 1943 interview he referred to the Italians as "ice-cream merchants", saying

"The Eyeties are comparatively easy to shoot down. Oh, they're brave enough. In fact, I think the Eyeties have more courage than the Germans, but their tactics aren't so good. They are very good gliders, but they try to do clever acrobatics and looping. But they will stick it even if things are going against them, whereas the Jerries will run."

On July 27 Beurling dealt the Italians a hard blow by killing their leading ace, Captain Furio Niclot and shooting down his wingman, Faliero Gelli. Together they had knocked down 8 Spitfires over Malta. Gelli never saw him coming, he hit the wingman's radiator and engine sending him down to crash on an island. He was captured and made a prisoner. Niclot was killed outright seconds later.

Beurling was lining up on a third Macchi when two Bf109s came up after him. He peeled off and attacked the Germans, hitting the leader in the fuel tanks and sending him down in flames. He was on a roll. He landed, refueled and went back up to attack four Bf109s. He shot down one in flames and received credit for a damaged plane that limped out of the fight smoking badly. For his amazing day's work he received the Distinguished Flying Medal.

Near the end of July he shot down another Bf109, and his superior officers finally had to promote him to an officer and ordered him to accept. The press were anxious to interview him, and it wouldn't do to have the top fighter pilot in Malta to be a Sergeant.

He, and many of the surviving pilots, were exhausted by the physical demands of fighter combat, stress, heat, poor nutrition and a disease they called "the Dog". Beurling had lost 50 lbs since arriving in Malta, the Germans and Italians were close to shutting down the island by cutting off it's food supplies. He was bed ridden for a week, but managed to drag himself into the air to battle the Messerschmitts that circled Malta.

Several flights of Bf109s jumped him. He managed a short burst that brought down a German, but his comrades shot Beurling's plane to pieces. He crash landed in a field because his parachute was too loose for him to jump out. By the end of August he collected a shared victory over a Ju88 that had been separated from it's fighter escort.

Valleta Harbour

He was again bed-ridden for several weeks due to weakness from the poor quality food. In the middle of September he took a plane up but got it badly shot up by a German. He took revenge a few days later when he attacked 18 German fighters. One blew up when he hit the oxygen bottles, another fell away smoking and a third went down in flames.

Then came October. The Axis powers pulled out all of the stops to kill Malta. It was a vicious battle, half of Beurling's squad was shot down in one week. His only close friend, a fellow Quebecer, was killed. After that he had no more friends, it was easier that way.

The air war over Malta became a real grudge match. Pilots on both sides were shot in the air while they hung from their parachuts, or while they floated in the water. Several Italians who landed on Malta were tortured and killed before the British troops could capture them. Little sympathy was shown by either side towards their opponents.

By the 14th of October Beurling had shot down 5 more German planes, three in one day. He should have been awarded the VC for that effort. Three flights of Spitfires scrambled to intercept 95 Axis planes. Beurling spotted them first, but his radio died and he couldn't contact the others. He piled into the Axis formations, damaging a Junkers 88, and downing 2 Bf109s. Going home he came across a damaged Ju88 and shot it down.

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Actually the huge enemy formations worked in his favour, as the large number of German and Italian fighters couldn't attack him all at once. So no one attacked him. Like Bishop he adopted the fast sneak attack and a quick withdrawal method. He could usually count on damaging or downing the first aircraft he attacked, and he got out with the resulting confusion. Then he could circle and pick off stragglers or wait for a favourable chance to attack again.

His last fight over Malta was, as usual, spectacular. He led 8 Spitfires in an attack on 8 Ju88 bombers and 50 fighters. He cut out a bomber and shot it down, but the rear gunner hit him in a finger and forearm. He attacked and damaged a 109 in front of him, but two behind him shredded his tail and wings with cannon fire. He dove fast for the water, losing the Germans.

Coming out of the dive he spotted a 109 below him and shot it down. But that attracted attention from more Germans. A cannon shell sliced open the bottom of his foot, the controls were shot out and the engine caught on fire. He scrambled out of the cockpit and jumped over the side 1,000 ft above the water. He just had time to kick off his boots when he hit the water.

He managed to open his raft and climb in with his wounds bleeding profusely. He was rescued shortly after by a launch from shore, when they got there he was floating in blood-stained water babbling about the bible that his mother had given him. He was patched up as well as they could on Malta and spent some time in hospital before being sent back to Britain. The flight back was in a Liberator bomber converted to a transport, along with fellow Canadian aces "Billy the Kid" Williams, Wally McLeod and Buck McNair.

The aircraft had engine problems en route due to a thunder storm. At least one engine died and the pilot couldn't control the plane well enough on descent into Gibralter. The aircraft touched down too late and slid off the runway into the Mediterranean. Beurling could tell the pilot was in trouble so he edged over so he was closest to the door. Once the plane stopped he managed to get out and swim 160 yds to shore, despite a heavy cast on his foot. Several other pilots drowned in the incident, although McNair and McLeod survived to continue their careers in Europe.

He was sent home to help sell war bonds, but he was a poor public speaker and had a bad attitude about the boring work. When asked by a reporter about it he snapped "if I were ever asked to do that again I'd tell them to go to hell or else ask for a commission on the bonds I sold". After a short stint at sales, he was sent back to England and made a gunnery instructor.

Unfortunately, he had no patience to teach others what he was so good at. He continually requested the RAF to post him to an operational squadron, but they turned him down. He then applied to join the RCAF, and they snapped him up hoping to make amends for turning him down initially. He was posted to 403 Squadron RCAF in northern France, headed by English ace Johnny Johnston.

It turned out that the continental air battles were a piece of cake compared to Malta, with flights of 50 or more Spitfires flying over German territory at once. Bored with massive fighter sweeps, he began to break formation and go off alone, leaving his wingman exposed. He soon got into trouble with his commanding officers for this irresponsible behaviour. But he still shot down aircraft.

In September and December he downed two FW190s, raising his total to 32. But the RCAF finally tired of his antics and they grounded him. They were trying to develop a system based on teamwork and were discouraging the lone wolf tactics of WWI. Most pilots were not as good as Beurling and could not survive on their own for long in battles against the Germans.

Johnny Johnston had discussed the merits of the long range American P 51 Mustang IIfighter with him, noting that it could fly to Berlin and back from England. Beurling simply responded "can it now" and got a far-away look in his eyes. Johnston figured that in a P51 Beurling would have roamed all over Europe looking for fights and would "either finally get himself killed, or down more aircraft than any of us". He never got to try a Mustang. He was granted an honourable discharge and sent home. He applied to the USAAF but they rejected him too.

George Beurling was lost without the excitement of combat and the fame it gave him. Commercial airlines turned him down for fear he would wreck a plane or drive off customers. He was reduced to begging on Montreal street corners. In 1944 his marriage came to an end. In 1948, with the middle east heating up he applied to the new Israeli Air Force, but he never made it past Rome.

Reports on what happened are varied. One report stated that Beurling and a group of four or five equally desperate former Luftwaffe pilots rented an aircraft in Rome to fly to Tel Aviv. They apparently elected Beurling to fly. An engine died shortly after takeoff, and rather than crash into the slums off the end of the runway, Beurling tried to bank around for a landing.

The plane did not have sufficient airspeed and it stalled, crashing before the runway. All on board were killed. A second report stated that on a familiarization flight in a Norduuyn Norseman, he didn't have enough power (perhaps an engine died) so he circled the airport for a landing, but the plane stalled and he crashed alone in the airplane. Another report suspected that a bomb crippled the aircraft, but this has never been substantiated.

With 32 confirmed planes shot down, George Beurling was one of the top Allied aces of WWII. He was not a conventional kind of guy, some could say paradoxical. He flew with a bible his mother had given him, yet he had an un-Christian attitude in killing opponents. He craved attention and fame, caring only for his standing as an ace, not for promotions or leadership.

His love for attention was shallow, he couldn't form stable relationships with men or women. Many opposing words can be used to describe him. Rebel, irresponsible, ace, blood-thirsty, lone wolf, unfriendly, opinionated, rude. But he gave his all to a war that did not really concern him. He excelled at flying a heavily armed warplane at great speeds with precision and great effect. Despite his many shortcomings, the Allies got a bargain when they hired George Beurling.

Images From: "Fox in the Henhouse" and "Falcon of Malta" by permission of the artist, Rich Thistle.
Beurling - History of the RCAF
Udet - http://www.cris.com/~kurtz/udet.html
HMS Eagle, Valleta Harbour, Malta - Marshal Cavendish Encyclopedia and B. Pitt (Ed.). World War II An Illustrated History.
Quotes From: D. McCaffery, Air Aces