Mission Aviation Fellowship - History

History

MAF began with several WWII pilots who had a vision for how aviation could be used to spread the Gospel. After WWII, Jim Truxton of the U.S., Murray Kendon in the United Kingdom, and Edwin Hartwig of Australia, with the support of like-minded Christians, founded missionary aviation agencies in their respective countries.

The U.S. organization was the first to take to the air, under the name Christian Airmen’s Missionary Fellowship (CAMF), later known as Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). In 1946, pilot Betty Greene flew the first MAF plane on its inaugural flight, transporting two missionaries from Wycliffe Bible Translators to a remote jungle location in Mexico. In addition to Truxton and Greene, other early members of CAMF include Charlie Mellis, Nate Saint, Larry Montgomery, Grady Parrott, George Fisk, Clarence Soderberg, and Jim Buyers. The earliest MAF fields of service were Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador. Over the years, the organization expanded to serve many countries of Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Eurasia.

In the U.K., Missionary Aviation Fellowship was initially organized as a wing of the Mildmay Movement (a Christian outreach organization), though it later became an independent organization. Murray Kendon was instrumental in the agency’s founding, as were Jack Hemmings, Stuart King, and Tom Banham. MAF-UK conducted a survey of Central Africa in 1948, followed by service in Sudan in 1950. In subsequent years, the U.K. organization expanded service to other African countries.

The organizational meeting for an Australian MAF (AMAF) organization was held on June 30, 1947. Early members included Edwin “Harry” Hartwig, Leonard Buck, John Nimmo, Bruce Morton and Ken Cooper. After the purchase of a de Havilland “Tiger Moth” aircraft in 1949, Hartwig and Alex Friend undertook a survey of northern Australia. Hartwig then completed a needs assessment survey in New Guinea. In 1951 Hartwig, along with Bob and Betty Hutchins of MAF-US, established service in New Guinea, based at Madang. On August 6, 1951, Hartwig was killed when his aircraft crashed in the Asaroka Pass in the Central Highlands. In the years following, work in Papua New Guinea and Dutch New Guinea (later called Irian Jaya, now Papua, Indonesia) continued through the joint efforts of the Australian and U.S. MAF organizations. Later, AMAF established service in central and north Australia (Arnhem Land), Borneo, and Bougainville.

MAF came to worldwide attention when, in 1956, MAF-US pilot Nate Saint and four other missionaries were martyred on a beach in Ecuador by Auca Indians. Family members of those martyred returned to Ecuador and ministered to the tribe, and some of the men who killed the missionaries eventually turned to Christ. The story was featured in Life magazine, and several feature films have been made about the life and death of these missionaries, including End of the Spear in 2005.

In later years, MAF agencies were established in other countries, including New Zealand, South Africa, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Brazil, Mexico, and Canada.

MAF Learning Technologies (MAF LT) developed in a similar way to the aviation support. MAF staff saw the needs of isolated church leaders which could be met with the use of various educational technologies including the internet, computers, MP3 players and other communication devices. MAF Learning Technologies is providing support to many other ministries seeking to provide leadership training, education and community development training to people in isolated areas.