The 90th anniversary of the foundation of the SAAF was in fact one of three anniversaries celebrated at Swartkop. Other dates commemorated included the 75th Anniversary of the first flight of the DC-3 and the 60th anniversary of the introduction of the de Havilland Vampire, both very important types in the history of the SAAF.
In the run up to the airshow, I had been unable to find out much information about the participants, with a full program being published on the SAAF Museum website only the night before the airshow itself! The published line up certainly looked very interesting, but even then didn’t give everything away about what could be expected to be seen at the show; this was actually quite refreshing compared to UK airshows where one tends to know the exact details of all the expected attendees months in advance! What the program did indicate was that the flying display would commence at the early hour of 0930, and continue right the way through until approximately 1730 – a full eight hours of flying!
Prior to arriving at the airfield, I must admit I took the 0930 start with a pinch of salt, thinking that in fact the flying would not get underway properly until later in the morning, but with suggestions on one of the South African aviation forums that traffic tends to get very heavy for this event, I decided to get to Swartkop nice and early. Swartkop is located in the Centurion area, just to the south of Pretoria and approximately 40 mins drive from the centre of Johannesburg - the close proximity of these two population centres gives the airshow a large catchment area and a total of 50,000 visitors were expected to come through the gates during the day.
The drive up from Johannesburg to Swartkop was straightforward and I soon arrived at the airfield. The first surprise was the parking arrangements for the show. There was no space on base for parking, so those attending the show parked their cars on the verges surrounding the base – security guards were present to ensure that this arrangement was well organised and secure. With August being winter in the southern hemisphere and Swartkop being situated on a plateau approximately 6000 ft above sea level, there was actually frost on the ground when I arrived! The frost didn’t last too long though, and temperatures reached over 20 °C during the course of the day.
As I had arrived early, I managed to park very close to the main gate, and after queuing up briefly I paid my R40 admission charge (approximately £3) and R10 for a photocopied sheet giving the intended running order for the day. With plenty of time before the flying started, I had a chance to look around the small static display, consisting mainly of aircraft from the museum at Swartkop. These included a smart F-86 Sabre, which is nearing completion of a restoration program – it was hoped that the aircraft would be fully restored and able to fly at the airshow, but sadly this was not possible.
The modern SAAF was represented by examples of the Gripen, Hawk and PC-7, with the Gripen in particular attracting a lot of attention from the crowd. Both the static example and the aircraft which took part in the flying display were recently delivered single seat Gripen C aircraft – the SAAF has now received nine Gripen D two seaters and will eventually receive 17 Gripen Cs, with all the aircraft to be operated by 2 Sqn at AFB Makhado.
Despite the early hour, the smoke from the many braai, selling a variety of superb boerewors sausages and other delights, was hanging heavily in the still air. This added to the atmosphere of the event, which certainly had a different feel to a UK airshow. Although there was the familiar (if slightly alarming looking) fun fair and a few stalls selling random, non-aviation related items, it didn’t feel like these traders dominated the trade area and there was still plenty of space for the public to watch the flying display.
In spite of my scepticism, the flying display did indeed commence at 0930. In fact, just before the display proper began there was a parade of the emergency vehicles for the show, which included a pair of Bo105 helicopters operated as air ambulances by Netcare. The opening item in the display was the Golden Eagles Parachute Team from the SAAF. Their display was dedicated to the memory of Warrant Officer Brian Slade, a founding member of the team who was killed during a practice session in July. The aircraft being used as a jump ship for the team was a SAAF Cessna Caravan from 41 Sqn at nearby AFB Waterkloof – the Caravan was to make multiple appearances during the day as a jump ship, camera ship and indeed performing several displays in its own right.
After the Golden Eagles landed, there was a display by a group of motorised para-gliders (I counted 13 of them) before the first contribution from the SAAF, in the form of a Casa 212 from 44 Sqn, also based at Waterkloof. During the early part of the day, conditions were not ideal for photography – the crowd line was on the west side of a roughly north-south runway, meaning the sun was directly in front during the morning. This did of course improve as the day went on and most items in the flying display were actually repeated at least once during the course of the day, giving an opportunity to catch most of the aircraft in good light. The Casa however only flew early on, which was a shame as it is an unusual aircraft these days and the display was rather good.
During the course of the day, the flying program ran very close to schedule, with only a couple of items missing from the display. Sadly the most notable of these missing items was the de Havilland Vampire, which seemingly went tech for its own birthday party! The aircraft was certainly towed out of its hangar, but failed to fly, apparently due to a problem with the engine ignition system. This was a great shame, especially as it had been intended for it to take part in several unique mixed formations, including a coordinated display with the Gripen. Also flying early in the day was the aforementioned Gripen – the first of four appearances that the aircraft was to make during the display! As well as a starring role in the SAAF role demo, the aircraft was to later close the show in some considerable style, but more of that later.
The light began to come good around lunchtime, fortunately in time for the “Radial Engine Aircraft” section. This was the first real highlight of the day, with a stream takeoff from the SAAF Museum C-47, followed by a total of nine Harvards! Both types are hugely important within South Africa – the Harvard served the SAAF for almost 60 years and the C-47 still serves in the form of the turboprop engined C-47TP. The Harvards joined up to form a diamond nine formation behind the Dakota for a flypast over the heads of the crowd, before the Dakota flew a solo display, followed by a “Tora Tora Tora Style” demo from the Harvards, with the stream of nine aircraft sweeping along the crowdline in a simulated attack, complete with the sound of gunfire and bombs!
After the “attack”, most of the Harvards landed, but the four aircraft belonging to the Flying Lions Aerobatic Team remained airborne to perform their formation display. One of a number of civilian aerobatic teams with corporate sponsors, the Flying Lions flew a tight and dynamic display in their brightly painted aircraft, with the aircraft carrying the logos of sponsors BP and Academy Brushware, a manufacturer of decorating equipment!
There seems to be no shortage of sponsorship for teams such as the Flying Lions in South Africa –in addition to their display we were also treated to the Gabriel Wings Aerobatic Team whose Pitts Specials are sponsored by Gabriel which produces vehicle shock absorbers. Bizarrely, both teams appear to feature almost the same line-up of pilots but fly different aircraft and a different routine!
The best known formation team in South Africa is the SAAF display team, the Silver Falcons. The team flies five Pilatus Astra (PC-7) trainers, aircraft which are now painted in a smart team colour scheme – up until recently the team used aircraft carrying the normal SAAF red and white training colours. The Silver Falcons operated from an apron in front of the crowd, and their display was very well received by the local crowd, with the cross over manoeuvres being greeted with audible gasps from the spectators.
One of the highlights of the display came at the end when each aircraft in turn flew past the crowd while the pilot gave a personal greeting to the crowd. These greetings were delivered in the pilot’s native language, which was very well received by the respective segments of the crowd. However, soloist Maj Nico Frylinck’s rugby jibe in Afrikaans went down very well with some of the public, but not so well with others!
As well as organising the airshow, the SAAF Museum also provided a number of aircraft for the flying display. Unusually, the museum maintains many of its collection in airworthy condition and flies them on a reasonably regular basis. These aircraft include some fairly unusual types such as the P166 Albatross, formerly used as a maritime patrol aircraft. The museum also flew a formation of former SAAF helicopters, the Alouette II, Alouette III and the Puma. It certainly seemed strange to see a preserved Puma flying as a museum piece when the RAF plans to keep the aircraft in service for many years to come!
With the SAAF Museum Shackleton unlikely to fly again, perhaps the most exciting aircraft in the collection is the magnificent Mirage IIICZ, the only example of this first generation version of the Mirage still flying. The Mirage is based at Hoedspruit and is a regular airshow performer in the hands of Glen “Gringo” Warden. Painted in a beautiful gloss black and gold colour scheme, the aircraft has a wonderful pure delta wing, with none of the leading edge profile changes seen on later versions of the Mirage. Glen’s display leans heavily on the aircraft’s strengths – namely high speed and good rate of roll – and includes a touch and go, with the aircraft’s approach speed being incredibly fast due to the combination of a wing optimised for high speed and the high density altitude of the airfield at Swartkop.
The Mirage III fleet (along with former Israeli Nesher and Kfir airframes) was updated by Atlas Aircraft to produce the excellent Atlas Cheetah, and the last SAAF examples were retired just over two years ago. Atlas is now known as Denel, and Denel has kept several Cheetahs flying as part of a weapons integration program for the Gripen and also to provide support for examples exported to Ecuador. The SAAF Museum website had advertised a Cheetah flypast for the airshow, happily this materialised as virtually a full demo with several passes for the crowd. The aircraft in use was the former 2 Sqn 'special', painted in a very bright multi-coloured scheme and featuring a sharks mouth. These Denel aircraft are rarely seen in public, so the appearance at Swartkop represented something of a coup for the airshow.
The current SAAF was well represented with most of the current frontline types performing, the notable exception being the Denel Rooivalk attack helicopter which is apparently currently grounded and facing an uncertain future. As part of the deal which brought the Gripen into service, BAE Systems also supplied 24 Hawk Mk120 aircraft as lead-in fighter trainers. The aircraft are optimised to train pilots to move on to the Gripen, but are capable multi-role aircraft themselves. The Hawk display at Swartkop actually operated from Waterkloof and impressed with a very punchy demo. There are currently two aircraft painted in a spectacular (and very patriotic) “vlaggie” colour scheme based on the South African national flag and both were on display at Swartkop – one in the air, one on the ground.
As well as flying two solo demonstrations during the day, the Hawk also flew in two mixed formations, including a formation of jet trainers featuring an L-39 and an Atlas Impala, the type it replaced as the SAAF advanced trainer. Sadly the Vampire which had been scheduled to also take part in this formation remained on the ground. The L-39 and Impala also gave a graceful paired demo during the flying display. The L-39 is a fairly regular sight throughout the world these days, but the Impala is much more unusual and looked very smart, especially later in the day when sun was lower in the sky.
World attention was of course recently focused on South Africa for the FIFA World Cup, which fortunately passed without a serious incident. As part of the country’s preparations for hosting the event, the armed forces had to come up with strategies for dealing with a number of terrorist threats, including the threat from unauthorised aircraft entering the restricted areas around the match venues.
To demonstrate the responses to various threats, the armed forces put together a demonstration which was performed in front of President Joseph Zuma and other officials. As part of the SAAF 90 celebrations, this demonstration was repeated at Swartkop, and made for a very impressive sight. The scenario was that an unidentified, hostile aircraft (for the purposes of the demo a SAAF King Air) had penetrated restricted airspace, with a Gripen and Hawk being sent up to investigate, and force the aircraft to land.
After the hostile aircraft had been forced to land at Swartkop, a formation of SAAF helicopters arrived on scene to secure the aircraft and its occupants. A pair of A109s provided command and control and sniper support, while a pair of Oryx heavy-lift helicopters disgorged special forces troops via fast roping. Further troops and vehicles arrived in a C-130BZ Hercules. After simulating blowing the door on the King Air and disarming and subduing the occupants, the troops were extracted.
The demonstration was very impressive, and whilst a similar operation was fortunately not required during the tournament, it is worth pointing out that SAAF aircraft performed armed patrols throughout the competition and made 50 interceptions of unidentified intruders – fortunately none turned out to be hostile! The demo complete, a single A109 and an Oryx hung around to perform solo displays and a brief paired demo – both aircraft are operated by 17 Sqn at AFB Waterkloof. The Oryx demo included dropping water on a simulated fire – veldt fires are a major problem in South Africa, and the SAAF is often involved with fighting such wildfires.
The show reached its climax in late afternoon, which fortunately for the photographers coincided with the best light of the day. South African Airways are well known for providing their aircraft for airshow displays – past performances have taken place by the 747-400, A340 and even a pair of 737s! This year saw an A319 lead the Silver Falcons in a series of superb flypasts before giving a brief solo demo. The A319 display was very impressive – all graceful sweeping flypasts which were very well flown especially considering some of the manoeuvring limits imposed by the Airbus flight control computers. The demo finished with a max rate spiralling climb, something of an Airbus speciality.
After the Silver Falcons had performed their second display of the day, it was the turn of “Thunder Formation”. This was a mixed formation, led by the Impala and featuring the Mirage IIICZ, Hawk and Gripen – a wonderful sight and one that would not be possible anywhere else in the world, it spoke volumes of the “can do” attitude of the SAAF and the South Africa CAA, featuring two military aircraft and two former military, now civilian registered aircraft.
The formation broke and each aircraft did a flypast in turn, with the Mirage III heading home to Hoedspruit and the Hawk returning to Waterkloof. The Gripen and Impala landed, but the Gripen merely taxied back to the end of the runway to depart once again for a solo display to close the show.
With the sun slipping lower in the sky, the Gripen got airborne into beautiful golden light and performed a really dynamic and well received display. The Gripen is undoubtedly the most capable aircraft in sub-Saharan Africa and the people of South Africa seem proud that their air force is able to operate such an advanced aircraft. The display itself was far removed from the rather anaemic Swedish display seen this year at RIAT, and was flown by “Bassett”, a hugely experienced SAAF test pilot, heavily involved with the Gripen development at the TFDC.
As the Gripen taxied in from his display, the crowd broke into a spontaneous round of applause, as they had done for many of the other earlier acts, obviously very appreciative of the superb displays that they had seen throughout the day.
Heading for the exit, I was able to reflect on what had been a superb day of aviation. There really is no country in the world that does airshows quite like South Africa. Both shows I have attended in the country have been well organised and well attended and provided some unique moments. All the displays I have seen have been well flown, safe and seemingly with a pragmatic and sensible attitude towards regulations that is sometimes lacking in Europe.
Undoubtedly South Africa has many problems and difficulties facing it as a nation but also so many tremendous strengths and assets. The World Cup has helped the world see that South Africa has come a very long way in recent years and improved the image of the country in international circles, but also given a massive boost to national pride in this most beautiful of countries. This sense of national pride permeates the recognition of history in South Africa, and is also felt in events such as this SAAF 90th Anniversary Airshow.
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2010-08-27 - Jamie Ewan
Some Belting images there! I am very keen on the Hawk paint Scheme!
Great Report!
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