The SAAF Forum

I noticed from the Draken International Facebook page that they are busy readying and fright testing the 12 Cheetah's they purchased. What I did notice was the Vlaggie Cheetah that they just flight tested before shipment. It is now painted the standard grey but what I noticed is it is devoid of the old 2 Squadron marking on the tail yet it still sports the SAAF cookie cutter roundal on the front. Is there some sort of legal requirement that it must display the SAAF roundal when in SA airspace?

Can't upload picture.

Vlaggie was repainted quite a while ago back into SAAF colours. Used by Denel for various tests. Don't know why they kept Bandit but not Vlaggie in special colours.

As to the SAAF roundels, I have no idea why they are still present. They will most likely be removed in due time.

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MAMBA

Keep your feet on the ground, and reach for the skies!

It's a good question, but I don't think there is a legal requirement as such. Considering that the Bandit flies with no national markings, only mil reg.

Mirage 233 also flew with no national markings. 800 & 817 flew without national markings and were registered on the civil register. 800 eventually had castles applied, but curiously not cookie cutters.

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Confirmation 370 is leaving

https://www.facebook.com/drakenintl/videos/714271008929157/

https://www.facebook.com/drakenintl/photos/pcb.1266815380128166/1266815283461509/?type=3&theater


9k50 the real sound of freedom.

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370 is leaving, 861 it appears not.

I do have the full list of serials for Draken, but I’m not authorised to publish it yet.

Don’t be sad about any joining the Draken fleet, it means they’ll keep flying for some time to come.

The aircraft remain on the SAAF register and are flying under special military authorisation, hence the SAAF markings.

370 was repainted from its bandit ‘Vlaggie’ scheme because one of the test programmes required it to fly against IR seekers from Denel Dynamics, and it needed its operational paint to provide accurate measurements.

Hi Darren

Thanks for the info.

You are absolutely right about the cheetahs continuing to fly, they will be in the air where they belong. It will be interesting to see if they remain in the SAAF scheme or if aggressor type schemes will be adopted.

My concern, is that Cheetah related heritage gets lost along the way. I hope one or two air frames have been set aside for Museums.

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