Nothing like a bout of flu to make me doodle in front of the pc ...
Mirage IIICZ #811, piloted by Capt. Rynier Keet during the attack on Ongiva, Ops Protea, 1981.On 27th August 1981, during OPS KONYN (the SAAF air plan for OPS PROTEA), this aircraft of N° 2 squadron "The Flying Cheetahs", was hit by a shoulder launched SA-7 "Strela" IR missile. N°811 was piloted by Capt. Rynier Keet, with a Mirage IIID2Z, piloted by Major Ben Arnoldi and Lt. Frans Vermaak, as his wingman. They were flying a close-air support mission in support of Task Force Alpha, who were to attack the town of Ongiva. The town was defended by a combined force of SWAPO / FAPLA, and was headquarters to the 11th FAPLA Brigade. The target for the Mirages was a 23mm AAA site on the Northern side of the Ongiva airfield, west of the town and some 35 km's into Southern Angola. Accordingly they were each armed with 68mm rockets in two pods of 18 each. The Mirage III CZ also carried 2 x V3B AAM's. The approach to the target took them past the Northern side of the runway, which gave the enemy time to prepare for the coming attack. After rolling in and firing his 36 rockets, Capt. Keet applied his afterburner and made a 6G turn to exit the area.Looking back to see the impact of his rockets and to check his tail, he noticed a red dot which was growing in size. Realising it was a missile, he immediately cut his afterburner and turned towards the threat. Itwas too late and the missile struck the tail of his aircraft. Major Arnoldi, after having launched his own 68mm rockets,brought his aircraft into close formation with that of Capt. Keet, and Lt. Vermaak in the back-seat of the D2Z, was able to assess the damage. Keet found that after reducing speed, the aircraft was still flyable and hecould still control it. The pair of Mirages then turned and headed for AFB Ondangwa.Covering the 96 km's and in what seemed an eternity, they arrived at Ondangwa 15 minutes later. The damaged Mirage was instructed by ATC to orbit until all twelve aircraft involved in the strike had landed. They were fearful that his damaged aircraft might block the runway & prevent other aircraft from landing.Thankfully on touchdown, his drag chute deployed correctly, and Capt. Keet applied aerodynamic braking, by keeping the nose very high to further reduce speed. Without any further damage to the aircraft, it came to a stop on the runway. The emergency services were on standby and following his landing, replaced the pins in his ejection seat and he was able to exit the aircraft. Thereafter it was towed to the hardstand. Capt. Keet had returned a valuable and irreplaceble aircraft. In what is testimony to the fantastic work carried out by the 2 sqdn ground crew, °811 was operational just three days later, after the ground crews had replaced the engine and tail section of the aircraft.
I've given #806 a coat of "future" to better depict the earlier glossy colour scheme.
Anybody have a timeline on the Mirage III colour schemes
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