The SAAF Forum

Yes, Laerskool Langebaanweg is still there. There must be at least 15 SAAF pilots (serving or ex) that have married the teachers of the school.

Yeah, my Std. 3 teacher (if memory is correct) was married to a Silver Falcon member. I think it was Capt. Van Zyl. Memory is fading a bit, but I am sure that was his surname. In those days I think it was customary that the OC of the base was the lead No.1 in the team normaly a Lt.Col or Col. I see that they have done away with that custom.

I've asked this question before and got no replies. What is this building? It stands between the Middle Mess and the Officers Mess and was erected post 1978.

Is it not a indoor braai area? If I remember (could be wrong).

I am talking the whole complex of buildings - which are quite large and have a fairly large undercover parking area.

It is the female Pupes Domestic Quarters. The male Pupes Domestic Quarters is behind the Squash Courts on the hospital side which was the old Maternity Quarters befor the hospital was built. The male Pupes Mess was renovated and utilised for this purpose in 1973, just after the new hospital was completed. The female Pupes Mess was built in 1996 if I remember correctly

I am almost sure its a semi-VIP accommodation block, the block in the middle is the entrance and TV room, with single bed rooms on the wings.

Mmmm. The old maternity quarters (I was born there) was incorporated into the hospital. Unless you mean the old nurse's home - which would have been way to small to accommodate an intake - behind the officers mess. In 1973 weren't the COs still staying in the officers mess?

@Eugene, well, we will have to puzzle this one out.

I was a pupe in 1973 after finishing at the Mil Acad and we all stayed in the traditional pupes wing at the back of the Officers Mess, the one towards the squash courts. Halfway through our pupes course, about half of us moved across to the complex behind the squash courts which I always thought was the old maternity home.

I've always been under the impression that the nurses quarters are today the VIP Complex of the Officers Mess on the south-eastern side of the hospital (with its own maternity wing, constructed with the hospital, my daughter was almost born there in 1977, but was delivered at 2 Mil after complications). Incidentally, my wife was a teacher at Laerskool Langebaanweg in the days of Karel Pauw, making me one of about 15 pilots married to teachers from Langebaanweg.

I could be wrong that the VIP Complex of the Off Mess could be the new nurses quarters that were constructed with the hospital.

OK, it is now 1 hour later and I have just come off the AOBNW (Afgetrede Old Boys Network). You are quite right Eugene, you were born in the right place and the male pupes stay in the old nurses home. When the old maternity quarters were incorporated into the the new hospital in the early 70s, it was renovated/altered/revamped to such an extent that it actually disappeared.

The VIP Complex of the Officers Mess was constructed during the time the present CAF was OC LBWG (97/97)

Thank you for your participation on this topic, it got the old grey matter working again.

Wow, that surname rings a bell. A certain Mr. Pauw was my pricipal at Laerskool Langebaanweg back in the day. I wonder if he is still around?

Pauw was my Std 4 teacher and not yet the principal - that was a guy called van Zyl who lived in a wooden building next to the Q stores. Part of which back then was still the PGI/SADFI. Pauw married, when I was in Std 3, my Std 3 teacher. We all went to the wedding in Paarl at the time. As Anton suggests single eligible females at Langebaanweg were a scarce commodity back in those days and the teachers were much prized and sought after! Back in the early sixties my sister, then at varsity, spent entire holidays going to dances with the pupil pilots and academy boys.

For quite a long time the single female teachers shared the nurse's quarters and the place was a hotbed of interest for the pupil pilots - it being right next door to where they were housed. There were never more than about 5 teachers and about 6 nurses. The nurses were ruled by a formidable lady - Sister (major) de Witt who even scared the fearsome Colonel Piet Letly witless. That took some doing - nothing more pathetic than a nursing sister armed with a syringe chasing after a rapidly retreating colonel. Later the houses were built next to the schoolground entrance and the teachers all decamped there and the new nurses quarters at the hospital completed - so the building Anton talks of would have become vacant - and as he says only half the pupes moved there which makes sense as it was not really big enough to take the entire COs course.

I was almost also born at 2 Mil - or even better aboard the Dak flying my mother to 2 Mil. I missed a great opportunity there. But just prior to my labouring old lady being transferred to the Dak I decided to make an appearance. I shared a room with Alan Lamb - the future England cricketer - as a newborn. One of my snotty nosed classmates at Langebaanweg, lightie with the name of David King, had been born aboard a Dak taking his mother to 2 Mil. At that time Langebaanweg did not even have a doctor - Dr Liebenberg from Vredenburg having to be summoned whenever there was need and making a weekly visit to the sickbay for sick reports. The health of the SAAF in the fifties at Langebaanweg was in the capable hands of Sgt Wally Jerd and the aforementioned Sister de Witt. It is amazing what those old medics could do. Most doctors of today would be horrified at the things Jerd tackled - essentially a sketchily trained medic.

Oom Hennie van Zyl was the Headmaster before Karel Pauw, also on the teaching staff in those days was Whatney Traut

Had long since departed the LBW primary school by then! Pauw, as I said earlier, married Ria Slabbert who was also a teacher there - must have been around 1965/66. BTW all us grotty little schoolkiddies always called van Zyl "Fishface" - although I don't know if he was aware of his nickname!
Last saw him in 1977 when I returned from Israel. Took him a set of Israeli coins - he collected coins.
Funny how one sees ones old teachers differently when you meets them on an adult footing!

Again off an EAA talk show CD interview of Scully Levin , he mentioned a few stories about the feared Colonel Piet Letly - it sounded like he was in fact a terror - can you tell us any stories about him , antonkr/ Eugene ?