Aviation in South Africa

[Bearcat SA]

We dont have too many warbirds in South Africa but I will from time to time post a couple of pics so that you can see some of the historic aircraft that do still fly in South Africa.
I am based at Rand Airport (FAGM), near Johanesburg, South Africa which is a very historic airfield dating back to the 1930's. The original terminal buildings & hangars are classed as National Monuments and as such retain much of their original appearance. For this reason, some of the filming for the Amelia Earhart movie was done at Rand.

Here is a pic of the oldest flying Tiger Moth in South Africa. ZS-DHR dating back to 1939.

[retroaviation]

Any pictures of the flying Shackleton down there?

Gary

[Bearcat SA]

Harvard ZU-AOZ photographed at Springs Airfield (FASI)
It is painted in its original target tug colour scheme

[Bearcat SA]

Any pictures of the flying Shackleton down there?

Gary

The Shack is not flying at the moment and it has very limited airframe hours left. The engines are still however run about once a month... which as you can imagine ...is music to a warbird fans ears

[Bearcat SA]

There are about 10 Harvards based at Rand, of which 5 belong to the Castrol Flying Lions Team who are active most weekends

Last edited by Bearcat SA on Tue Aug 04, 2009 2:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Bearcat SA]

Harvard flypast at Rand in May this year

[retroaviation]

Great pictures, Bearcat. I really like the target tug T-6!

By the way...check your PMs.

Gary

[Bearcat SA]

Any pictures of the flying Shackleton down there?

Gary

The Shack in flight at Ysterplaat (FAYP) in 2007

[Bearcat SA]

PBY under restoration at Rand

[Bearcat SA]

ZS-DIW at Rand

[the330thbg]

Well I must say for not having too many warbirds as you say.., the ones you have certainly are beautiful examples!

Very nicely done and thank you very much for sharing!!!

[Bearcat SA]

Yak-52 ZU-CWO at Rand

[Bearcat SA]

ZU-RXX at Parys (FAPY)

[Bearcat SA]

Many of South Africa's display pilots are based at Rand. It has become a tradition to do a formation fly past at Rand after returning from an airshow before landing.
Virtually every weekend one is likely to see at least one formation flypast, often with mixed types.

[Bearcat SA]

ZS-AFA (actually a CASA 352L) operated by the SAA Museum Flight