24 JANUARY ... 1941 A Hurricane, piloted by Lt J Howiston (fatally wounded), was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery during operations. It was reported to have been serial 282.
1942 An Airspeed Oxford, 3359, was involved in a fatal accident, caused by structural failure. The accident occurred in the Kimberly area.
Maj Osler became the first SA Air Force pilot to fly a captured Bf-109F (“Friedrich”), he was a member of 1 Squadron. This mission was flown by him to celebrate the DFC that had been awarded to him on 7 January 1942.
The Bf-109 had been made serviceable to fly by the Squadron’s ground crew. His comment after the flights: "Give me a Hurricane any day", was his loyal comment to the old Hurribus. He found the view from the Bf109 poor, and flew it to Heliopolis on the first stage of its journey to England. Bennie, therefore became the first Commonwealth pilot in the desert to fly the Bf109, and 1 Squadron was pleased at this distinction. The aircraft “Yellow 2” was operated by the Luftwaffe’s III/JG27. The aircraft was captured during the Allied occupation which took place at ‘Derna’ airfield, when 1 Squadron, SA Air Force arrived there.
1944 A De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth, serial 546, crashed (location unknown). The cause was reported to be a ‘stall turn at low altitude, struck ground’.
1945 A De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth, serial 2445 crashed whilst landing; apparently the aircraft struck a fence.
A Ventura, 6438, was written-off at Rabat airfield, the under carriage collapsed during landing.
An Avro Anson (4356) was written-off during an attempted forced landing at Beaufort West.
1950 A Ventura crashed at Bloemfontein, serial reported to be 6024.
1980 An Impala Mk II (serial 1056), piloted by Captain Leon Burger, was tasked to conduct a tactical Armed Reconnaissance (ARMRECCE) sortie in Southern Angola. During the mission, enemy forces launched a SA-7 (NATO Code Name: “GRAIL”) shoulder launched infra-red surface to air missile at the aircraft.
The missile struck the aircraft, and in the process when it detonated, the entire ventral fin of the aircraft was lost. Captain Burger continued to fly the aircraft to Air Force Base Ondangwa, and arrived overhead the airfield at night, he was then ordered to eject, rather than risk landing the Impala at an operational base, where a large number of aircraft were parked, in which the Impala might have crashed on landing, by loosing all directional control once on the runway.
Other Aviation Related Information:1945: The first static live ejection was made by Martin Baker from an aircraft. Most of the South African Air Force aircraft have been equipped with ejection seats from Martin Baker.