Douglas-Hamilton Malcolm

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Biografie:
Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton (1909-1964)
Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton, O.B.E., D.F.C., was killed at the age of fifty-four in an aeroplane crash in the Cameroons in July, 1964, while ferrying a plane to the Sabena services, the catastrophe having been apparently caused by a heretofore uncharted magnetic anomaly. He was elected to the Alpine Club in 1938, served on its Committee in 1946 and was elected to the American Alpine Club in 1954.
Born on November 12, 1909, at Strathaven, Lanarkshire, Lord Malcolm was at Eton, and in 1930 graduated from the R.A.F. College, Cranwell, where he won the middleweight R.A.F. boxing championship. Active at all times in flying, he had the good fortune, through wide assignments, to do much varied climbing from the Alps to the Coolin and New Zealand. He was able as a leader on rock, but was at his best on long and strenuous snow and ice climbs, where his great endurance and his never-failing cheerfulness in times of discouragement will always be remembered by his friends.
He was with the R.A.F. throughout the War. No. 540 Squadron, which he commanded, was the first to photograph the German rocket base at Peenemünde and, later, all the V I bases in France; for these services he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Standing for Inverness-shire, he was elected to the House of Commons in 1950.
After founding the Highland Fund in Edinburgh for rehabilitation of the Scottish Highlands, Lord Malcolm moved to the United States in 1954, where he continued his activities on behalf of his beloved Highland rehabilitation. Continuously active in aviation, he also directed American Boy Scout groups towards mountain climbing. We in the States will always bear witness to this unique transfer, across the seas, into American climbing circles, of the best of British mountaineering tradition. His tragic and sudden death will be a deep loss to his many friends, around the entire world.
Lord Malcolm is survived by his American-born widow, the former Natalie Wales Paine, his son Niall having been lost with him.
Joele Fisher.
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 70, 1965, Seite 366-367


Geboren am:
1909
Gestorben am:
07.1964