Wasp #93 and website author at AFB Ysterplaat in 2002. He served on the SAS President Kruger, which operated Wasp helicopters in an anti-submarine role. Taken by the website author in 1981 from the helicopter deck of the SA Navy Flagship SAS President Kruger, SAS President Pretorius and WASP HAS. MK1 operate south of Cape…
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The S-55 was introduced into the SAAF in 1956, with further airframes arriving in 1956 and 1957. These were assembled at Ysterplaat, and joined an S-51 as the Helicopter flight at AFS Langebaanweg. This flight was later re-established as 17SQN. WV 224 HISTORY 1953 – Built by Kaiser Corporation and delivered to Sikorsky on…
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Serial Number 44-72202 was delivered to the USAAF in September 1945 12/21/46: Delivered RSwAF 26112 F4, later F16 1952 Dec: Delivered Dominican AF FAD 1917 1984: (Johnson Av.) 1987: SAAF Historic Flight -restoration 1993: SAAF Museum -restoration 1998: Flying again as SAAF 325 2001: suffered a wheels up landing (repairs began) The airframe was acquired…
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An Italian design, the South African versions are known as Impalas. The dual seat prototype first flew in 1957, with the single seat version’s first flight occurring in 1970. The power plant is a Rolls Royce Viper Mk 540 turbojet offering 1547kg’s of static thrust. The principal dimensions include a wingspan of 10,56 metres, a…
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The first prototype flew in 1937, the T6G had a top speed of 341 kmh at sea level with an operational ceiling of 6500m. A batch of 9 Mk I’s were delivered between 1940 and 1942, and the SAAF took delivery of their first batch of Harvard Mk II’s in 1942, with deliveries continuing until…
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The first prototype flew on December 7th, 1962, and the first production model flew on November 11th, 1965. This French aircraft was powered by three Turbomeca Turmo IIIC turbo shaft engines rated at 1320 shp (985Kw) each. The fuselage is 19.4 metres and the rotor diameter is 18.9 metres. The gross mass is 13 000…
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The first prototype flew in 1936, and the aircraft became one of the greatest recconaissance aircraft of all time. Powered by an Argus AS 10-C eight cylinder air-cooled piston engine of 176 kW, the aircraft has a wingspan of 14.22 meters, a height of 3 meters and a length of 10 meters. The maximum speed…
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The first production F.1 flew in 1973, with South Africa receiving it’s first delivery in 1975. Powered by a Snecma-Atar 09k-50 turbojet rated at 5035 kg (7166 kg on afterburner) the Mirage is capable of Mach 2.2 The length is 15 meters, the height is 4.5 meters and the wingspan is 8.4 meters.
The C47 prototype first flew in 1935. One of the most famous aircraft of all time, the ‘Dakota’ was powered with two Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 radial piston engines of 1200 hp (882 kw) With a length of 19,66 meters, height of 5,16 meters and wingspan of 28,96 meters. The maximum speed at sea level…
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The Atlas (later Denel) Cheetah was built as an upgrade of the Dassault Mirage III, and served between 1986 and 2008. There were three variants, the dual seat Cheetah D, and the single seat E and C. The Cheetah was replaced by the SAAB Gripens. The Cheetah is 15.5 m in length, with a wingspan…
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