Calling Mach Plus Club members
Date: 23 March 2011
By Kim Helfrich
When the SA Air Force's Mach Plus club meets on April 1 at AFB Swartkop it will be a more than memorable occasion.
For the first time since its inception in 1978 this elite band of aviators, who have all broken the sound barrier while in SAAF service, will welcome a new aircraft type into their ranks.
The first time a SAAF pilot hit transonic speed was way back in September 1956 when an unauthorised Sabre flight at the then home of the SAAF's jet squadrons - AFB Waterkloof - with now retired Colonel John Inglesby at the controls broke the sound barrier above the largely agricultural landscape that is now Centurion.
His achievement became part of SAAF history when the Mach Plus club was formed in 1978. This after the airborne arm of the then SA Defence Force was operating supersonic French Mirages jets.
This year's Mach Plus function will see the admission of the new Swedish Gripen jets and the first nine pilots to qualify on them to the members' ranks.
Included is also the first woman to become a Mach Plus member, Major Catherine Labuschagne. She qualified on the Gripen last year and will join Lieutenant Colonel Musa Mbhokota, 2 Squadron Officer Commanding, and another seven Gripen pilots at the function on AFB Swartkop's number five hangar.
The club officially has 548 members, many of whom have left the SAAF, but make the effort to attend this special function.
In addition to those retired and those flying commercially in South Africa a number of Mach Plus Club members are flying for airlines based in the Asia, the Far and Middle East and other parts of the globe.
If they have not yet received details of the April 1 gathering they are asked to e-mail personal details to machplusclub@gmail.com.
