South African Air Force - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia World War II
Despite the expansions, the start of
World War II in 1939 caught the SAAF unprepared. This caused the establishment of the
Joint Air Training Scheme (JATS) in order to train Royal Air Force, SAAF and other allied air and ground crews at 38 South African-based air schools. This expanded the number of military aircraft in the SAAF to 1,709 by September 1941, with a personnel strength of 31,204 (956 pilots).
- Home defence (1939-45): Patrols of South African waters, where German U-boats and Japanese submarines were active.
- East Africa (1940-41): 2 Wing fought in British-led operations against Italian Somaliland and Italian-occupied Ethiopia.
- North Africa (1941-43): 3 and 7 Wings fought as part of the Desert Air Force, in operations in Egypt, Libya and Tunis.
- Madagascar (1942): A detachment took part in the British-led occupation of this French-ruled island.
- Atlantic (1943-45): Two squadrons patrolled convoy routes off West Africa and Gibraltar.
- Sicily(1943): 3 Wing provided air support during the Allied seizure of the island.
- Italy (1943-45): 2, 3 and 7 Wings fought in operations to liberate Italy from German occupation.
March/April 1942, Landing Ground 121,
Egypt. Lieutenant Robin Pare (left), Major
John "Jack" Frost (centre) and Captain Andrew Duncan (right) of
5 Squadron SAAF, part of the
Desert Air Force. All three had been killed in action by the end of June. Frost, the squadron commander, was the highest scoring
ace in an SAAF unit during World War II.
In particular, the SAAF played a major role in
North Africa, where its fighter, bomber and reconnaissance squadrons enabled the Allied
Desert Air Force to attain air superiority over the
Axis air forces by the beginning of 1942. Between April 1941 and May 1943 the eleven squadrons of the SAAF flew 33,991 sorties and destroyed 342 enemy aircraft, producing a number of
SAAF WWII air aces in the process.