Goodbye to Stuart King, cofounder of Mission Aviation Fellowship

Stuart King, cofounder of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) that supports humanitarian missions across Africa, passes away.  Image MAF

MAF-UK began in 1948, when King, a Royal Air Force Engineer whom fought for Britain in World War 11, and former RAF squadron leader Jack Hemmings flew across Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, over six months in a small Miles Gemini surveying how aircraft could help humanitarian needs across Africa.

In 1950, King launched a MAF site in Sudan.

Over decades, King helped the organisation expand across the world, modernising MAF’s aircraft and increasing its capacity.

King himself co-piloted other survey trips to Kenya, Ethiopia, Chad, and Tanzania. After more than a dozen years in Sudan, in 1973, King returned to the UK to lead MAF-UK and became the president emeritus in 1987.

Today MAF serves in 26 underdeveloped countries in more than 1,400 remotes locations supporting 2,000 missionary and humanitarian aid organisations.