SAAF Association Port Alfred News P.O. Box 296, Port Alfred, 6170 Tel: 073 231 1773 Email: [email protected] Website: www.saafa.co.za NPO: 083-072 PBO: 18/11/13/4374 Volume 27 Issue 10 TALE DRAGGER NEXT MONTHLY MEETING AND LUNCH, MONDAY OCTOBER 6TH RSBC, 12H00 FOR 12H30 Please diarise and remember to check your diary, our meetings are the FIRST MONDAY of every month, same time, same place, unless you are notified of any change. Also remember to enter in your diary for the Friday before the lunch, to notify Hugh 046 624 1589 or Wally 046 624 1861, of your plans to attend or apologize. Thank you kindly. WELFARE OF MEMBERS To all our members feeling poorly, we wish you all the best to get better soon; in particular special thoughts and prayers are much appreciated for Myrna Keet, James Hoyle, Norman Abbott, Val Human, Gaye le Roux, Eileen Moody and Helen Somers. Cecil Jones-Philipson is recovering well from his recent knee replacement. We would love to see our sick Bay list drop to zero and have all our members hale and hearty again. OBITUARY Your editor is sad to announce the call to Higher Office of Frank Eksteen WW2 SAAF Aircrew and long standing SAAFA Member of West Rand Branch closed down two years ago. Frank and I had a long innings together and I am October 2014 concerned that very few SAAFA members will know or remember him well enough to do the SAAFA Ritual for him at the Service. As an exceptionally enterprising young man, please allow me to mention the following. Frank saw the first light of day on the 9th September 1922, went to school at Oudtshoorn Boys High and St. Aidens Grahamstown. He joined the SAAF in 1940 and saw service in the Western desert and Italy, as a navigator, being discharged in 1945, when he went mining. He became an Estate agent in Krugersdorp in 1948 and a Manager in 1955. He spent 25 years on the Golf course committee, Club Captain for 2 years and President for 14 years. Frank was chairman of the Red Cross cerebral Palsy School for 20 years and an active Rotarian for 43 years. He became chairman of the Krugersdorp Permanent Building Society since 1961, member of the Institute of Valuers and Town Valuer. Played golf internationally as a single figure golfer, a member of the Society of Senior Golfers as well as of Western Transvaal Veterans. He played rugby, hockey and cricket for Krugersdorp and travelled extensively; 1964 Olympics, World Senior Golf Tournament, Colorado Springs 1982, and World Rotary Golf Tournament Gleneagles Scotland in 1984. As I reported earlier on, Chairman of SAAFA West Rand Branch for several years. REST IN PEACE OLD FRIEND. Those of us who read this may remember you! Editor MERYL BAKER NEXT MONTH IS NOVEMBER, believe it or not!? Meryl Baker who resides in Bathurst, is a professional ballet piano accompanist. She is a brilliant musician playing classics, for ballet, and jazz, and is constantly in demand by welfare organizations for fundraising functions (Hospice, SPCA, Benevolent, Old Age Homes….). For the last few years she has spent more time overseas in England as carer, and will be returning there early August for a further few months. Her link with the Air Force is interesting: To me, the year has just started and here we are, almost Christmas time again!? AND importantly, in November, we pay tribute to our deceased colleagues who put their live on the line in Two World Wars, Korea, Angola coupled with Rescue operations for fire, floods and starvation. Let us once again please remember Armistice Day – Poppy Day – 11th November. Her father was George Peter Gouge (French). He flew Lysanders in the RAF in England during World War II. He was then sent to Potchefstroom as an instructor for the 42nd Squadron – in the early 40s. His great-great-grandfather was Sir Arther Gouge an engineer on Sunderland flying boats. To our SAAFA members reading this; did anyone have service at Potch and if so, we would welcome news of your knowledge of meeting George Peter Gouge at the time? Thank you. Wally – Editor 073 231 1723 BIRTHDAYS FOR OCTOBER 2014 Percy le Roux Rosemarie Human Du Toit Coetzee Dean Samuel Gerald Spilken Sybil van der Bank Derrick Page Philip Smit Hermann Heim Lana Venter Natie Ferreira Stcks Stiglingh Rob Taylor Lorraine Samuel Allan Stephen Peter Scales 3rd 6th 15th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 29th 30th Many Happy returns on your special day and many, many more ….. Happy Birthday! IN FLANDERS’ FIELD THE POPPIES BLOW In Flanders' field the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie in Flanders' Field. Take up our quarrel with the foe; To you from failing hands we throw The torch: be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders' Field. January 1918 Col McRae was injured and he told the doctor in charge of his case, "Tell them this, if ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep." He died that same night Moina Michael, an American lady, read the poem and wrote this poem in reply: Oh! You who sleep in Flanders' Fields, Sleep sweet -to rise anew; We caught the torch you threw And holding high we kept The faith with those who died. 2 We cherish, too, the poppy red, That grows on fields where valour ied, In Flanders' Field. And now the torch and Poppy Red Wear in honour of our dead. Fear not that ye have died for naught; We've learned the lesson that ye taught In Flanders' Fields. It seems to signal to the skies That blood of heroes never dies, But lends a lustre to the red Of the flower that blooms above the dead LEST WE FORGET. WE WILL REMEMBER THEM Please wear your poppies in remembrance of the Army, Navy, Air Force men and women who rose to Higher Office that we, who survived/remained, may live in “Peace”. “SPAM CAN” ANNIVERSARY becoming A52-1054. This OH-98 was one of four T43s purchased by the RNZAF in June1947, and as NZ2308 it was disposed of in 1955. Ending its days on a farm at Riwaka, in the north of the South Island, it was acquired by restorer Glyn Powell. He began its rebuild alongside his other fuselage projects - the Mosquito Bomber Group at Windsor Ontario's, static (TA661, CF-HMR) and Gerry Yagen’s flying Mosquito FB Mk 26 KA114. This rare and exiting T43 project is approximately 90% complete and currently In the care of Mosquito Aircraft Restoration Ltd (MAR), Auckland, NZ. Now, with time moving on, the owner has elected to offer the Mosquito for sale with an additional contract to have MAR complete the restoration to flying and airworthy standard. The aircraft is structurally complete with tail and wings mated to the fuselage, along with various systems and components overhauled. It is estimated that it will take approximately 3 years to complete. SAAF SABRE MK VI SAVED IN WA On November 1st please raise your glasses and drink a toast to the much loved WWII training airplane, the “notorious” but celebrated Harvard, will be 76 years old!! Congratulations and keep on flying; there are thousands who know you, love you and respect you. No doubt the Harvard Club at Swartkop AFB will be celebrating your grand “young age” on Saturday November 1st. Well done indeed! MOSQUITO BUZZ The Glyn Powell/Mosquito Aircraft Restoration Ltd.’s Mossie is up for sate with Platinum fighter Sales. The ex RAAF Mosquito A5220 was built on the Bankstown, NSW assembly line, initially as a FB Mk 40, it was converted on the line to T48 (trainer) status, Someone once said that if you’re looking for diamonds, first look to your own back yard. This adage rang true last November when the Aviation Heritage Museum of Western Australia received, a message from one of their volunteers. “She said there was an F-86 in a local salvage yard, just two kilometres from the Museum,“ commented the museum’s administrator John Park. A quick phone call, a short trip and the amount of scrap was indeed a jet fighter, but it turned out to be an ex-South African Canadair CL-13B Mk.VI F-86, which had belonged to the late Bill Wyllie. “It was laying on the ground in pieces, just waiting to be made into beer cans later that week. A bit of negotiation followed and the F-86 belong to us, and on Friday November 29 the F-86 was safe and secure at the museum thanks to Perth Metal Recyclers, our great CEO John Murray and Goldstar Transport” The aircraft is incomplete, as some parts 3 were scrapped, and the museum is now searching for numerous missing items. layer upon layer of clothing, how or where to relieve all calls of nature, (into a pipe, into the aeroplane or into your clothing?), is it my time to die?, family and dear-ones at home, not an inspiring or motivational situation, but every crew member had a job to do, and was committed to do their best, with distinction. Combat missions were hardly ever aborted and ony for serious reasons would the pilot turn back to base, always keeping the safety of his crew in mind. Editorial research. The last production version of the Canadair Sabre was the CL-13B Sabre Mk VI, it had the more powerful two-stage Orenda 14 with 7275 pounds of thrust. In 1955, 34 Sabre Mk VIs were ordered for the South African Air Force (SAAF). South Africa had previously operated a squadron of “loaned” Sabres during the Korean War and their new Sabre Mk VIs arrived in South Africa beginning in 1956. Seventeen of them were marked in Afrikaans and issued to No. 1 Squadron, and the other 17 were marked in English and issued to No, 2 Squadron. SAAF serials were 350 to 383 (RCAF serials were 23669/23702). The last of the CL-13Bs were retired from No. 1 Squadron in 1976. DEADLY SKY by John McManus This is a very interesting read of the air crews and aircraft of the “USA Air Forces” flying combat sorties in the Pacific, Europe and Japan theatres, during WW2; we should all have a debt of deep gratitude to the veterans, the young men of yesteryear, who jumped into their airplanes and flew the missions that ensured freedom for untold generations. You notice I say USA Air “Forces”, because as you know, America did not just have one Air Force like the RAF and SAAF, they had Navy, Marine and Army Air Force bomber and fighter crews, independent of each other, going into combat against the enemy. Be they fighter pilots or bomber crews they all had their own private thoughts to wrestle with, covering cruising at 30 000 feet, severe cold at 50 degrees below zero, flak intensity, enemy fighter attacks, unpressurized aircraft, CLOSURE  A true friend is a work of heart!  Ladies – please remember, a layer of dust protects the wood.  A house becomes a home when you can write “I love you” on the furniture.  Dust if you must; life is short, enjoy it!!  In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom; in water there is bacteria! KULULA (Fun) Pilot – “Ladies and Gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing….. if you can light ‘em, you can smoke ‘em!” A smooth landing in the SAAF is said “To be like a cat piddling on grass”. “Your seat cushion can be used for an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments”. BYE FOR NOW    Snap, crackle and Pork. Keep calm and fly on. Keep calm and keep your altitude. Best wishes and take care. Kind regards. Ed NOTE The Editor extends his thanks for all contributions received. Opinions expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or SAAFA National Executive. The Editor reserves the right to amend or reject any editorial matter submitted for publication. 4