The mad Englishman and the Black Shadow
Brendan McAleer
27 August 2020



In July of 1955, locals in the southwest of England were somewhat bemused to see a large, burly figure unloading a sixteen-foot plank from the side of a dangerous-looking motorcycle, on the banks of the River Severn. Home to one of the largest tidal bores in the world, the Severn is England’s longest river, and flowed fast here, in the narrows. To the onlookers’ consternation, the man appeared to be preparing to enter the swift-moving current.
They protested. The man merely laughed. Then he went surfing.
John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, better known as Mad Jack Churchill, thus found himself adding yet another footnote to a life that defied reason: He became the first person to surf the Severn tidal bore. He rode the waves for roughly a mile and a half, then walked back to his motorcycle, which was, at the time, the fastest road-going vehicle on the planet. (Of course it was.)

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In 1940, as the British Expeditionary Force retreated towards Dunkirk in northern France, Churchill’s men found themselves facing down a German charge. Mad Jack readied his troops, then sprang to his feet and killed a German sergeant with an arrow from his longbow. He then led a charge with his sword and revolver, slashing and firing. He was spotted later in the campaign at the helm of a captured French Motobécane moped with its panniers stuffed with arrows and ammunition.

Doohan attended high school at Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical School, where he excelled in mathematics and science. He enrolled in the 102nd Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps in 1938.

Military service

At the beginning of the Second World War, Doohan joined the Royal Canadian Artillery and was a member of the 14th (Midland) Field Battery, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. He was commissioned a Lieutenant in the 14th Field Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. He was sent to England in 1940 for training. He first saw combat landing at Juno Beach on D-Day. Shooting two snipers, Doohan led his men to higher ground through a field of anti-tank mines, where they took defensive positions for the night. Crossing between command posts at 11:30 that night, Doohan was hit by six rounds fired from a Bren Gun by a nervous Canadian sentry: four in his leg, one in the chest, and one through his right middle finger. The bullet to his chest was stopped by a silver cigarette case given to him by his brother. His right middle finger had to be amputated, something he would conceal on-screen during most of his career as an actor.

Doohan graduated from Air Observation Pilot Course 40 with eleven other Canadian artillery officers and flew Taylorcraft Auster Mark V aircraft for 666 (AOP) Squadron, RCAF as a Royal Canadian Artillery officer in support of 1st Army Group Royal Artillery. All three Canadian (AOP) RCAF squadrons were manned by artillery officer-pilots and accompanied by non-commissioned RCA and RCAF personnel serving as observers.

Although he was never actually a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Doohan was once labelled the "craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Force". In the late spring of 1945, on Salisbury Plain north of RAF Andover, he slalomed a plane between telegraph poles "to prove it could be done"—earning himself a serious reprimand. (Various accounts cite the plane as a Hurricane or a jet trainer; however, it was a Mark IV Auster.)

On May 22, 2012, a small urn containing some of Doohan's remains in ash form was flown into space aboard the Falcon 9 rocket as part of COTS Demo Flight 2.

Legacy

Scotty's exploits as the Enterprise's redoubtable chief engineer inspired many students to pursue careers in engineering. Because of this, the Milwaukee School of Engineering presented Doohan with an honorary degree in engineering. Doohan was immortalized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 31, 2004. Despite his ill health, he was present at the ceremony, which was his final public appearance.