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Urs Schnyder |
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Urs Schnyder |
Opening
This years SAAF Museum airshow took place in September due to the elections that were held in May. All the weeks before the airshow there was perfect weather without any clouds. On Thursday however the weather changed and became cloudy. On Saturday after sunrise the clouds closed in completely and it became cold. I was immediately reminded of most European airshows this year that suffered from bad weather. As a result the number of people who turned up was rather low compared with previous years.
As usual, the show was opened by a parade of all the emergency vehicles. Then the SAAF band marched in. An Alouette III helicopter from the museums historic flight brought the Chief of the South African Air Force, Lieutenant General Fabian Msimang who held the traditional opening speech and reflected on the collective heritage of South Africa and the SAAF. He then took off the salutary flypast of the silver Falcons and the airshow could begin.
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Museum Aircraft
The first few hours of the day were rather grey and cold, so unfortunately the museums aircraft suffered from these conditions as they were the first to feature in the program.
First off were two of the museums Alouette II and Alouette III as well as a Puma helicopter. The Vampire was next in line and it also suffered from the low cloud base and the grey sky. Unfortunately it flew only once during the day.
One set piece is the so called mini war where the museum fixed wing aircraft and helicopters stage the rescue of a downed pilot from hostile territory. The whole thing is supported by pyrotechnics to the amazement of the audience.
Museum Helicopter (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Museum Helicopter (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Museum Helicopter (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Museum Helicopter (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland Vampire T.11 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland Vampire T.11 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland Vampire T.11 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland Vampire T.11 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland Vampire T.11 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Paradrop to mark landing zone (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Alouette III gunship with 20mm (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Cessna observation plane (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Alouette III support (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Puma evacuating the troops again (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Heritage
The North American P-51 Mustang was used by the SAAF in the Korean War where they fought together with other UN forces. Menno Parsons brought his P-51 named Mustang Sally to the show. During his display the clouds started to lift and the sun took a chance to say hello. By this time also the crowd had increased considerably and approached the size of previous years.
Although not a flying item, but nevertheless interesting was the demonstration of a Rolls Royce Griffon engine that was test run in front of the tower. It once belonged to an Avro Shackleton, but was found on a scrapyard and then completely restored over a time of 3 years.
North American P-51D Mustang (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
North American P-51D Mustang (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
North American P-51D Mustang (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
North American P-51D Mustang (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
North American P-51D Mustang (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Audience (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Griffon engine (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Griffon engine (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aerobatics
The Flying Lions with their Harvard’s were next to take the attention of the crowd. Led by Scully Levin, who has more than 29’000 flying hours on over 190 different aircraft.
Solo aerobatics were flown by Andrew Blackwood-Murray in his Extra 300. Having learnt to fly aerobatics on the Harvard while training to become an Air Force pilot, he is now flying for South African Airways.
Nigel Hopkins has just about 20’000 flying hours and is flying his Extra 300SC in a solo routine.
The Pumas (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Pumas (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Pumas (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Pumas (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Pumas (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Pumas (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Extra 300 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Extra 300 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Extra 300 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Extra 300 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Extra 300SC (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Extra 300SC (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Extra 300SC (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Extra 300SC (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Colourful Hawk
Flying the Hawk Mk120 of 85 Combat Flying School was Lieutenant Colonel Craig 'Shark' Leeson. Having been painted in the colours of the South African Flag, this Hawk looks equally good on the ground and in the air.
Hawk Mk120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Hawk Mk120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Hawk Mk120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Hawk Mk120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Hawk Mk120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Hawk Mk120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Hawk Mk120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Hawk Mk120 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Czech connection
It is not very often that you can see an aircraft and its successor model at the same airshow. Here it was however, with the Aero L-29 Delphin flown by Capt. Glen Warden. The Aero L-39 Albatros is one of several aircraft owned by Menno Parsons.
Aero L-29 Delphin (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aero L-29 Delphin (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aero L-29 Delphin (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aero L-29 Delphin (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aero L-39 Albatros (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aero L-39 Albatros (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aero L-39 Albatros (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aero L-39 Albatros (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aero L-39 Albatros (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
De Havilland classics
During the war the primary trainer De Havilland Tiger Moth was a common sight in the flying schools that were part of the Empire Air Training scheme. The Chipmunk never flew with the SAAF but there are a few of them flying in South Africa. As a trainer it is an important type, as it marks the step from fabric covered trainers to all metal monoplane.
Aero L-29 Delphin (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Current Air Force Types
No. 41 Squadron was formed at Waterkloof in 1940 on Hawker Hartbees. It is currently a light transport squadron flying the Cessna Caravan, the Beech Super King Air and the Pilatus PC-12. At the airshow they were displaying in a formation of two caravans and one PC-12.
The Oryx is a development of the Puma helicopter. It appeared first in service in 1991 and about 35 of them still serve the air force in several squadrons. It showed how troops are deployed and retrieved by helicopters.
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Abseil on individual ropes (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Abseil on the big rope (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Rescue using the whinch (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Interesting underside view with all the different openings seldom seen (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Extracting troops on the long rope (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)