Malloch and his sanctions-busting activities in May 1976. The following year, in January 1977, Malloch flew French mercenary Bob Denard and a team of mercenaries into Cotonou, Benin in a failed coup attempt. In May 1978, Malloch's Canadair CL-44 was intercepted by two MiG 21s over Angola and was forced to escape through the mountains. In July of the same year, he flew a 30 kg coelacanth from the Comoro Islands back to Salisbury. His CL-44 was destroyed by fire at Salisbury airport in February 1982. Rhodesian operations In January 1970 Malloch was called up as a reservist to the Rhodesian Air Force. He and his DC-7 aircraft become heavily involved in various Rhodesian military operations. He piloted the Rhodesians' largest SAS HALO paratroop drop over Mozambique in October 1977, and in November of the same year was involved with both the Rhodesian Army and the Rhodesian Air Force in Operation Dingo, a major raid conducted against the ZANLA headquarters in Chimoio, Mozambique. In 1978, he was the final recipient of the Independence Commemorative Decoration for services rendered to Rhodesia. Malloch was heavily involved in the SAS operation in north-eastern Zambia to blow up a bridge, known as Operation Cheese, in September 1979. Mark 22 Spitfire In 1978, Malloch persuaded a Rhodesian Air Force base to part with the Mk 22 Spitfire which had been sitting on a plinth outside the air base for over 20 years. He began renovating it the same year, which process included having a five-bladed variable-pitch propeller custom-built by a German firm. In March 1980, he made the first flight in the newly renovated aircraft and it was featured at air shows in Zimbabwe at the time. Malloch was killed in his Mk 22 on the last day of filming the documentary Pursuit of a Dream on 26 March 1982 when he flew the aircraft into a thunderstorm. References ; pp. 131–135 Rhodesian mercenaries Rhodesian aviators Southern Rhodesian military personnel of World War II Rhodesian military personnel of the Bush War 1920 births 1982 deaths People from Durban South African emigrants to Rhodesia