Page 21 - World Airnews September 2020 Edition

FEATURE

bombers and Ju-52 transports.
Once the campaign in the Western Desert wound down, the SAAF

regrouped for the campaign in Sicily and Italy. SAAF squadrons flew

reconnaissance, spotter, fighter-bomber, bomber and escort missions,
now also with Mustangs, Mosquitos, Marauders and Liberators. The
Mosquitos flew reconnaissance missions over the Ploesti oil fields

in Romania, and the Liberators dangerous 2 750 km supply missions

during the 1944 Warsaw uprising. Three squadrons with Beaufighters
and Marauders flew with the Balkan Air Force to support partisans in

Greece and Yugoslavia. By the end of the war the SAAF had flown 82

401 sorties in this theatre.
At war’s end the SAAF had 35 operational squadrons, 29 in Italy,

one at Gibralter and one in West Africa. Most of the aircraft were

left behind, while transport squadrons, by now flying Dakotas, fer- Kittyhawk P-40
ried troops home.

The tight fist of Treasury again closed on the SAAF, and it quickly

shrank to just four squadrons, Nos 1 and 2 with Spitfires, 28 with Da-

kotas and 35 with Sunderlands. The Berlin Airlift in 1948 saw 20 SAAF

crews fly RAF Dakotas taking supplies into Berlin, and then in July 1950

the government made a fighter squadron available to the UN forces
in Korea. 2 Squadron deployed to Japan in September to convert to
Mustangs and then to Korea as part of the USAF’s 18th Fighter-Bomb-

er Wing. 2 squadron flew 10 373 close support and armed recon-
naissance sorties with its Mustangs, losing 74 of 95 shot down and

12 pilots killed and 30 missing, before converting to the Sabre, with

which it flew fighter sweeps and close support, adding more than 2
000 sorties by war end.

After the Korean War came an expansion of the Citizen Force

element, with seven reserve squadrons established with Harvards
and two with Dakotas for maritime and transport tasks, but sev-

eral closed in 1957 due to budget cuts. The 1950s brought some
positive developments, with Vampires (1950/53) and Canadair Sikorsky S-55

Sabres (1956) replacing the Spitfires and Shackletons replacing the

Sunderlands in 1957. The SAAF also received its first helicopters, 3

Sikorsky S-55s and one S-51, in 1957.

The 1960s brought expansion, 26 aircraft types entering service
over 16 years: Alouette IIs and IIIs, Mirage IIICZs, BZs, EZs, DZs and

RZs, Canberra B(1)12s and T4s, Buccaneers, Mirage F1AZs and F1CZs,

Mirage D2Zs and R2Zs, Impala Mk 1 jet trainers and Mk 2 light attack
aircraft, Piaggio P-166 Albatross for coastal patrol, Super Frelons and

Pumas, Wasps for the Navy’s destroyers and frigates, C-130 and C-160
transports, Cessna 185 (ex Army) and Bosbok spotters and Kudu light

utility aircraft, as well as VIP types. The SAAF had become by far the

most modern and powerful air force in the region.

The first operations of the border war era saw Alouette IIIs

and Cessna 185s the Police in northern Namibia and Alouette IIIs
support Portuguese forces in Angola and the Rhodesian forces. In
1973 the Defence Force took over security in the north of Namibia
from the Police, which brought expanded SAAF deployment. Air
bases were established at Ondangwa, Ruacana, Rundu and Mpa-

cha, and a major air base and logistic base at Grootfontein, with C-130BZ Hercules 28 Squadron

Alouette IIIs, Pumas and Impalas being deployed on a permanent

basis, and others as required.
Operations within Namibia SWA involved mainly Alouette III gun-

ships in support of Army and Police patrols, Pumas for reaction force

and casualty evacuation tasks and spotters flying day and night mis-

sions. Transalls and Hercules flew transport missions to Grootfontein

and to Ondangwa; Dakotas and Transalls within the border area.
Two Dakotas were armed with 20 mm cannon (Dragon Dak), and a

Dakota and a DC4 were fitted as communications/electronic intelli-

gence aircraft. Among the more interesting concepts were moonlit

night operations with Bosbok spotters, Dakotas carrying paratroops
and Pumas to deploy follow up forces or simply to recover the
paratroops. Meanwhile Impala Mk 2s began flying day and later also

night interdiction against Swapo logistics in southern Angola.

The first major operation into Angola was Operation Savannah in

1975/76 in support of Unita and the FNLA. This did not receive much

air support other than supply flights by Dakotas and Hercules. There
was some use of spotter aircraft, one being shot down, and of Pumas

World Airnews | September 2020
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