Mariepskop
Compiled by the South African Air Force Museum and information lifted mostly from the Sweeping Circles.
In November 1965, 1 Satellite Radar Station was officially opened and declared operational by the Prime Minister, Dr Hendrik Verwoerd. The Prime Minister was flanked by Minsters of Defence, Jim Fouche; Post and Communications, Albert Hertzog; Secretary for Defence, Mr. Vladimyr Steyn; Head of the SABC, Mr. Piet Meyer; Commandant-General of the SADF, General Rudolph Hiemstra, as well as the Chief of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Henry “Kalfie” Martin.
Although the official operational date is recorded as November 1965, the country's utilisation of airspace control radar system had already received greater attention in the aftermath of World War Two. Already in 1964, the Northern Air Defence Sector located in Devon started testing the Air Defence System using the mobile units like Mariepskop (before permanent structures were installed), Ellisras and Klippan. However, it should be noted that prior to this, the focus was mostly on the defence or security of the country’s coastal economy.
Always watchful – the Air Force's eyes on the mountain top
Author: Maj Ntokozo Ntshangase, Acting OC SAAF
“South Africa requires a responsive and agile air defence capability to deliver airpower to defend and protect the integrity of South Africa's airspace and…..”. Also, “the air defence capability must provide deterrence and powerful interdiction during joint operations, specifically through comprehensive air domain awareness…” (Defence Review 2015: 10-11).
SAAF Museum celebrates International Museum Day
The South African Air Force Museum joined the global community in the celebration of International Museum Day on 18 May 2021 amid the persistent COVID-19 pandemic. In order to allow for more participation and whilst adhering to COVID-19 social distancing protocol, celebrations were extended from 17 to 23 May 2021.
This year’s theme was The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine. With this theme, the SAAF Museum provided a platform where members of the public could “create, imagine and share new practices of creation of common values and innovative solutions for the social and environmental challenges of the present”.
Embracing Our Collective Heritage: Attaining Excellence through effective education
Author: Major Ntokozo Ntshangase, SAAF Museum; Photos:
In pursuit of social justice and self-determination, is it generally expected that “nothing is achieved without toil". The struggle against dehumanization and degradation of black South Africans at the hands of colonial apartheid ignited a fierce determination amongst many youngsters of the 1970s to equip and prepare themselves for the unknown future.
Kimberley: the birthplace of South African military aviation
Author: WO2 Alan Taylor, SAAF Museum historian
At Alexandersfontein, just outside Kimberley’s city centre and adjacent to the local airport stands a simple corrugated building.
Few realise that the building is a reconstruction of an early 1900s aircraft hangar and that the site is where our first military pilots received their basic flying training.
Inside the building is an exact full-size replica of an aircraft known as the Paterson Biplane no. 2 – the aircraft used 108 years ago to train those men and Africa’s first qualified female pilot, Ann Maria Bocciarelli.
Embracing Our Collective Heritage: The SAAF’s First Black Fighter Pilot
Author: Major Ntokozo Ntshangase, SAAF Museum; Photos: Maj Gen Tsoku Khumalo
When uncertainties and doubts preoccupied every other conversation about whether or not former adversaries could coexist, others took to the skies to rewrite history and to profess that “no human is limited". The common denominator amongst almost all the 1970s youngsters who later became prominent public figures and military commanders was the inescapable brutality of the apartheid security forces as well as their desire to live in a democratic society. These youngsters, teenagers and their households knew neither any privacy nor human dignity. They witnessed their parents being constantly harassed and dragged into “Kwelakwela".
Major General Tsoku Mooipati Khumalo was born on 26 August 1964, in Orlando West, Soweto. He completed his elementary education at Mzamo Junior Secondary School in Newcastle and later moved to Matseke High School in Orlando West. As a teenager and unlike many who claim struggle credentials even before they were forced into exile, he did what every other youngster enjoyed doing. “I got involved with every nonsensical things that young boys get entangled in", he recalled. He played around the streets of Soweto, took a train to the Johannesburg CBD, tried to avoid pavements as directed by the city laws and stood his ground when white children insulted him. The strong hand of the apartheid government forced his parents to shield him from political involvement.