South African Air Force

South African Air Force South African Air Force (SAAF)
Flag of the SAAF
Lineup	February 1, 1920
Country	South Africa
Armed forces	South African National Defense Force
Armed forces	air force
Strength	9250
headquarters	Pretoria
motto	" Per aspera ad astra " ( lat. "Through the rough to the stars")
management
Chief of the Air Force	Lieutenant General Fabian Zimpande (Zakes) Msimang
Deputy Chief of the Air Force	Major General Gerald Malinga
General Officer Commanding Air Command	Major General Wiseman Simo Mbambo
insignia
Aircraft cockade
National emblem ( vertical stabilizer )

The South African Air Force ( Engl. : South African Air Force , abbreviated SAAF ) is the air force of the Armed Forces of the Republic of South Africa and with the best equipped south of the Sahara .

history

Cockade from 1927 to 1947

Cockade from 1947 to 1957

Cockade from 1994 to 2003

The origins of today's South African Air Force go back to 1912, when an Aviation Corps was set up. During the First World War, however, South African flight personnel were mainly used in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) of what was then the British mother country. The most successful South African "ace" was Andrew Frederick Weatherby Beauchamp Proctor , one of the most successful pilots of the RFC at all.

Shortly after the fighting ended, the Air Force was renamed the South African Air Force on February 1, 1920 . Just two years after their founding, they were used operationally for the first time during unrest by white miners.

As part of the worsening general political weather situation from the mid-1930s, the armed forces were significantly expanded, but the outbreak of World War II in Europe hit the SAAF relatively unprepared.

Again, South Africa made a significant contribution to the war effort in all parts of the British Empire . As a result, South Africa, which is far from the theaters of war, saw a massive expansion, especially in training flight operations . In September 1941, shortly before the war expanded into the Pacific, there were 38 flight schools and almost 1,800 aircraft in total in the service of the SAAF. In addition to the defense of southern Africa (submarine warfare), the SAAF played an important role in the fighting in North Africa against the Africa Corps and was also mainly deployed in Europe.

The first missions after the war were the deployment of 20 crews to the RAF as part of the Berlin Airlift and shortly after its end the 2nd Squadron , which is still active in the Korean War, was subordinated to the 18th Fighter Bomber Wing of the US Air Force (USAF), where many of their pilots won American awards.

During this time, in 1951, a few years after the founding of the independent USAF, the SAAF became independent within the Union Defense Force (UDF) in South Africa . In 1958 the SAAF became part of the South African Defense Force . In the 1950s there was a downsizing and in the early 1960s, with the founding of the Republic of South Africa, a further reorganization into three task-specific groups , similar to the structure of the RAF, for missions over land and sea as well as maintenance.

In the meantime the apartheid policy was established and as a result of this South Africa became more and more politically isolated and finally found itself confronted with a UN arms embargo. From the mid-1960s to the end of the 1980s, the SAAF regularly supported the army in various wars and conflicts in Angola, which was initially Portuguese and what is now Namibia, which was then administered by South Africa . Due to the embargo imposed on South Africa, aircraft and helicopters (e.g. Atlas Cheetah , Atlas Oryx or Denel AH-2 Rooivalk ) had to be further developed or redeveloped from models already in use.

After the end of apartheid and the first general elections in 1994, the SAAF became part of the South African National Defense Force and significantly restricted both in terms of equipment and manpower. Now, however, new modern equipment came back into the country.

Current equipment

Planes

Gripen the SAAF in Cape Town

PC-7 Mk II of the SAAF Silver Falcons aerobatic team

Status: end of 2013

Aircraft	origin	use	version	active	Ordered	Remarks
Warplanes
Saab JAS 39 Gripen	Sweden	Multipurpose attack aircraft trainer	Gripen C Gripen D	17 9
Transport, mission and training aircraft
Cessna 208	United States	Electronic warfare transport aircraft		1 9
Douglas DC-3	United States	Electronic warfare maritime patrol transport aircraft		1 4 3
Lockheed C-130 Hercules	United States	Transport plane	C-130B	6th
CASA C-212 Aviocar	Spain	Transport plane		3
King Air	United States	Liaison aircraft	King Air 200 King Air 300	4th
Pilatus PC-12	Switzerland	VIP transport machine		1
BAE Hawk	United Kingdom	Trainer aircraft	Hawk 120	24
Pilatus PC-7	Switzerland	Trainer aircraft	PC-7 MkII Turbo Traine	35

helicopter

Rooivalk the SAAF

Status: end of 2013

Aircraft	origin	use	version	active	Ordered	Remarks
Agusta A109	Italy	Light multipurpose helicopter	A109 LUH	28
MBB / Kawasaki BK 117	Germany	Liaison helicopter		6th
Atlas Oryx	South Africa	medium transport helicopter		46
Denel AH-2 Rooivalk	South Africa	Attack helicopter		12
AugustaWestland Lynx	United Kingdom	Board helicopter	Super Lynx 300	4th		Operated by the South African Navy

Missiles

• Kentron V3 - short-range heat-seeking air-to-air missiles
• Kentron V4 R-Darter - medium-range radar-guided air-to-air missile

Air bases

AFB Overberg with C-212

AFB Swartkop with C-160

The SAAF calls the larger military airfields Air Force Base (AFB), and there are also the smaller Air Force Stations. As a rule, only the active flying units and their operational patterns are listed for the following positions.

• AFB Bloemspruit , Bloemfontein , Free State Province , base for combat and training helicopters at the 16th Squadron (Rooivalk) and the 87th Helicopter Flying School (various types)
• AFB Durban , Durban , KwaZulu-Natal Province , base of two SAR helicopters ( Atlas Oryx ) with the 15th Squadron (to be downgraded from an Air Force Base to an Air Force Station)
• AFB Hoedspruit, Hoedspruit , Limpopo Province , base of liaison helicopters in the 19th Squadron (Alouette III, Oryx)
• AFB Langebaanweg, Langebaan, Western Cape Province , training base with the Central Flying School (PC-7)
• AFB Makhado, Louis Trichardt, Limpopo Province, main base for combat aircraft in the 2nd Squadron (Gripen) and the 85th Combat Flying School (Hawk)
• AFB Overberg, Bredasdorp , Western Cape Province , test and development center, international Gripen Fighter Weapon School (from 2013)
• AFB Swartkop, Pretoria (managed from AFB Waterkloof), u. a. a location of the SAAF museum (see photo)
• AFB Waterkloof , Pretoria, Gauteng Province, main base of operations for the transport aircraft with the 21st, 28th, 41st, 44th and 60th Squadron (VIP aircraft, C-130, liaison aircraft, C-212 / CN-235, 707)
• AFB Ysterplaat, Cape Town , Western Cape Province, transport helicopters and patrol, transport and early warning aircraft in the 22nd and 35th Squadron (Oryx / Lynx, C-47) as well as another location of the SAAF Museum
• AFS Port Elizabeth , Port Elizabeth , Eastern Cape Province , base of a unit of the 15th Squadron deploying four SAR helicopters ( BK 117 ) and home to the Territorial Reserve Squadron 108 Squadron, which serves various civil light aircraft in the role of supply transport.

Web links

Commons : South African Air Force  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official site of the South African Air Force (English)
• The South African Air Force at GlobalSecurity.org (English)
• Overview of the armed forces of the South African National Defense Force at GlobalDefence.net

Individual evidence

1. ↑ World Air Forces 2014. (PDF; 3.9 MB) In: Flightglobal Insight. 2014, archived from the original on December 25, 2013 ; accessed on March 26, 2014 (English). 
2. ↑ World Air Forces 2014. (PDF; 3.9 MB) In: Flightglobal Insight. 2014, archived from the original on December 25, 2013 ; accessed on March 26, 2014 (English).