Aces high: Passing of co-founder MAF Jack Hemmings, 1921-2025
During World War II Jack Hemmings AFC, who joined the RAF in 1941, had the dubious distinction of being seriously hit by enemy fire.
As Jack later recalled,
There was a loud bang behind my head as something in the radio exploded. I was knocked flat out. I don’t recall the rest, but the chaps kindly pulled me out.
The incident occurred while the young Squadron Leader was based in Calcutta, protecting the Bay of Bengal from Japanese invasion. He later received the Air Force Cross ‘for exemplary
gallantry while flying’.
Having risked his life serving King and country, Jack felt a post-war call to use his skills to serve God’s Kingdom. So, along with former RAF Flight Lieutenant Stuart King and various others, he joined the Mildmay Movement and helped found Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).
‘During wartime,’ Jack said, ‘aircraft were used for destruction, but it was always my desire that they be used for good. And that’s exactly what MAF does. Every flight makes a difference!’
Jack, one of MAF’s early pioneers, worked in the missionary air service’s Operations Room in Islington, London, where he singled out the Miles Gemini as being the most suitable and affordable plane for their needs.
By 1947, with enough money having been raised to buy the wooden plane, Jack and Stuart left Croydon Airport on 13 January 1948 for a six-month survey flight across Africa to assess the
Gospel and humanitarian needs of isolated communities.
All went well until 10 June 1948 when their sleek little aircraft was caught by a downdraft and crashed in the Burundi foothills. Though Stuart and Jack escaped unharmed, the plane was a total wreck.
Forced to complete the survey overland, the two best friends concluded that Sudan would benefit most from aerial support. So, having returned to London to explain what had happened
to their Miles Gemini, they were given permission to begin operating there in 1950.
With Stuart leading the work as General Director, the aviation charity’s ministry gradually developed across Africa. Although the failure of an eye test meant that Jack was unable to obtain a commercial pilot licence to fly passengers for MAF, he remained one of its greatest cheerleaders, offering logistical help along with moral and financial support.
Today, 115 light aircraft now serve in more than 25 low-income countries, including Angola, Chad, the DRC, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
After Stuart went to be with the Lord in August 2020 at the age of 98, Jack flew a 1947 Miles Gemini in his best friend’s honour. The plane, which the 100-year-old hadn’t flown for more
than 70 years, brought back many happy memories.
A year later, on 6 November 2023, Jack was reunited with a Lockheed Hudson – one of the planes he’d piloted during the war – at the RAF Museum in London.
Then, in February 2024, he flew an iconic Spitfire warplane from RAF Biggin Hill, London. Not only was it an exciting experience for Jack, his flight raised valuable funds for MAF.
In June the same year, Jack went to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings and to honour Stuart’s role as an RAF Engineer Officer who’d provided air support for Allied troops on the Normandy beaches.
Before his death on 24 January 2025, Jack commented, ‘MAF is more than a bright idea that stayed in someone’s head, it has grown exponentially to become the Good Samaritan of the air.
We could have imagined having half a dozen aircraft in Africa, but MAF has expanded beyond anyone’s expectations.’
For 80 years now, the Christian aviation charity has helped distribute Bibles and life-saving vaccines, transported church workers and Bible translators, evacuated Christians in times of
conflict, provided food for the famished and airlifted ill and injured patients to hospital.
Saving precious lives and valuable time, MAF’s 1,400 personnel enable humanitarian agencies such as Oxfam, the Red Cross, UN, UNICEF and the World Health Organisation to respond promptly to the needs of people affected by cyclones, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and tsunamis.
For a man who was born in 1921 and who lived until 103, Jack’s energy and enthusiasm for anything to do with aircraft was astonishing. His commitment to Stuart and to MAF, for which
he raised more than £50,000 in old age, ceased only when Jack’s summons came from our heavenly King.
Gary Clayton works for Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). To learn how MAF planes bring Christ’s love to the areas of Africa and the Asia-Pacific region that need it most, visit www.maf-uk.org
