Page 281 - Airpower in 20th Century - Doctrines and Employment

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tHe soutH afriCan air forCe: HistoriCal notes and involvement in tHe korean war

Airfields used by 2 Squadron

On 23 April 1951, 2 Sqn missions took-off from K-9 airfield and landed at K-10
on their return. The Squadron had been operating from K-9 since 25 March under
the operational control of 35 Fighter-Interceptor Wing, while their normal base at
K-10 was being rebuilt. At K-10 they functioned under the operational control of
33
18 Fighter-Bomber Wing. On their return to K-10 the Squadron found all facilities
34
greatly improved and “...equivalent to any permanent air station in the Union.” The
great disadvantage of K-10 was its distance from the frontline, and as a result the
aircraft of 18 Fighter-Bomber Wing were instructed from 2 May onwards to re-arm
and re-fuel at the forward airfield K-13 (280km north of K-10). The three squadrons
of the wing, 67 and 12 Squadrons (USAF) and 2 Sqn (SAAF) were each instructed to
rotate their flights through K-13 in the following way: A flight of four aircraft had to
be dispatched from K-10 on an operational mission landing at K-13 on a daily basis;
they had to rearm and refuel at K-13 and fly two more missions from K-13 on the
same day, staying at overnight K-13; and fly one more mission from K-13 the next
day before returning to K-10. Twenty ground crewmembers formed the “rest and
recuperation (R and R) detachment for the squadron at K-13. On 7 May this detach-
ment was moved to K-16 where the same rotation procedure as for K-13 was applied
to the aircrews (see Map 1). 35
In practice the rotation procedure through the forward airfields became far more
demanding than the instructions contained in the original Frag Order indicated.
A typical example is that of a flight consisting of Captain (Capt) G. Kotze, and
Lieutenants A.B. de Wet, I. Gow, M. Frost and F.M. Bekker. Three of these pilots
flew 10 successive missions over a period of five days before returning to K-10. The
standard of the ground crews’ work can be assessed by the fact that the same four
aircraft, Nos. 334, 303, 329 and 306 were used on all these missions. In order to
illustrate the rotation process, the operations for the five days (flown by the above
pilots) are tabulated in Table 1 (next page).

33
SAMAD, War Diaries (Korea), Box 3 and 4, 2 Squadron War Diary, 25 March and 23 April 1951.
34
SAMAD, War Diaries (Korea), Box 4, 2 Squadron War Diary, 24 April 1951.
35
SAMAD, War Diaries (Korea), Box 4, 2 Squadron War Diary, Appendix “I”, Frag Order, 5-2 for 2
May 1951; and 2 Squadron War Diaries, 7 May 1951.