James R. A. Bailey

James Richard Abe Bailey, CBE, DFC (23 October 1919 – 29 February 2000), often known as Jim Bailey, was an Anglo-South African World War II fighter pilot, writer/poet and publisher.

Biography

Born in London,[1] the son of Sir Abe Bailey and pioneer aviator Lady Mary Bailey, Jim Bailey was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church Oxford. At the outbreak of war, he was called up from the Oxford University Air Squadron[2] and joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot in September 1939. He served with 264 and 85 Squadrons, flying Defiants, Hurricanes and Beaufighters.[3]

Drum and Golden City Post

In 1951 he provide financial backing to Bob Crisp to start a magazine African Drum based in Cape Town, and aimed at a Black readership, but as readership dropped, he took full control. The magazine was renamed to simply Drum and the head office moved to Johannesburg. Anthony Sampson was appointed editor.[1]

The God-Kings and Titans

His book The God-Kings and the Titans: The New World Ascendancy in Ancient Times (1973) was a controversial work on pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact, which claimed thousands of years before Columbus Mediterranean sea voyagers among other peoples from the Old World landed on both the Atlantic and Pacific shores of America.[4] The book has been referenced by many pseudohistoric writers.

Death

Bailey died in 2000, aged 80, from colon cancer, survived by his second wife, Barbara, and four surviving children.

Writing

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Jim Bailey profile". South African History Online. Retrieved 2013-05-17.
  2. ↑ "Jim Bailey, A good man in Africa", The Guardian obituary (2000)
  3. ↑ J. R. Bailey, pilot entry, The South East Echo
  4. ↑ Dore Ashton. (1993). Noguchi East and West. University of California Press, p. 17. ISBN 978-0520083400
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "The Sky Suspended: A Fighter Pilot's Story", review in The Guardian