President

Currently vacant

Vice-President Yvonne Malan DPhil (Oxon)

Yvonne Malan was born in South Africa and educated at New College, University of Oxford. Her research interests include post-conflict reconstruction and transitional justice. She is the founder of the prestigious Bram Fischer Memorial Lecture at the University of Oxford. A former Oxford ‘Blue’, she is a keen runner, cricketer and boxer.

Yvonne will as part of her role be raising the profile of her relative, the late Group Captain Adolph Gysbert 'Sailor' Malan, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar.  'Sailor' Malan was one of the most outstanding Spitfire pilots and leaders within the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

ROYAL AIR FORCE: 2ND TACTICAL AIR FORCE, 1943-1945. © IWM (CH 12859)

Paul Beaver FRAeS VR

Paul Beaver is very much a hands-on historian with a pilot’s log book which includes the Spitfire, Harvard and Mustang. He regulars flies the family Cessna and coordinates the flying at the Chalke Valley History Festival as an authorised civilian and military flying display director. He is a licenced battlefield guide and an acknowledged expert on the Battle of Britain, the Dambuster raid, naval aviation and current operations.

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Paul launched a series of heritage posters and a Flypast Guidebook which led to him being
the historical advisor to Channel 4’s presentation of the Battle of Britain at Goodwood. His latest book, SPITFIRE EVOLUTION was published on 5th March 2016 to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the maiden flight of the Type 300 which became the Spitfire.

Well qualified as a pilot and historian, Paul spent 15 years directly linked to Jane’s including Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of Jane’s Defence Weekly. He made JDW into a household name in 1990 through his broadcasting during the Liberation of Kuwait and eventually became a freelance war correspondent for Sky News and a studio ‘expert’ for BBC News and CNN International, for whom he jointly presented the 50th Anniversary of D-Day (from Normandy), VE-Day (from Moscow) and the Hong Kong Handover. During this time, Paul wrote more than 50 books on naval and aviation history.

He is also Chairman of Trustees of the Barnes Wallis Foundation, a former Trustee of the International Bomber Command Centre, as well as a committee member of the Air Power Association, a member of the Royal Air Force Historical Society and the Battle of Britain Historical Society. In June 2014, he delivered a sell-out lecture at the Chalke Valley History Festival, taking the people, places and politics of the Spitfire as his theme, which led to SPITFIRE PEOPLE published in June 2015 with a foreword by the late Captain Eric (Winkle) Brown CBE DSC AFC RN. Paul is now writing Winkle’s biography for publication by Penguin-Random House in 2019.

Paul is a Member of No 601 Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force which traces its history back to before the Battle of Britain. Previously, he had been an
army aviation reservist, retiring in 2013 with the rank of Colonel. From 2014-16, he was Chairman of No 1010 (City of Salisbury) Squadron of the Air Cadet Organisation and retains a strong interest in education, advising the Aviation Skills Partnership on armed forces-related STEM. He lectures regularly at the Museum of Army Flying and for the Royal Aeronautical Society of which he is a fellow.