Page 289 - Airpower in 20th Century - Doctrines and Employment

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

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pilot, but he landed safely after being escorted to K-18. On 1 June Gotze was lead-
ing a flight of four aircraft on a low-level reconnaissance (about 15m) when his No
2, Lt H. MacDonald reported that his aircraft was burning and he had to bale out. A
30 minute search revealed the wreckage of an aircraft spread over about an area of
roughly 180m and across a railway line, 12km south of Pyongyang and the pilot was
listed as M.I.A. MacDonald was not heard of again until a Voice of India broadcast
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later reported his arrival in a P.O.W. camp. 65
On 2 June two aircraft were damaged when two pilots in training, 2Lts T.
Liebenberg and R.V. Sherwood suffered mishaps on landing at K-10. These in-
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cidents were attributed to the poor visibility at K-10 for the transitional training of
relatively inexperienced pilots. After this, authority was sought and received from
the Officer Commanding 18 Fighter-Bomber Wing for transitional training to take
place at the nearby K-1 airfield, which was considered to be far more suitable. On
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9 June Liebenberg, in No 4 position on a flight led by Lt F.M. Bekker and carrying a
load of 500lb bombs, rockets and .50 ammunition, crashed on take-off. The aircraft
exploded and the pilot was killed. While on an early morning interdiction mission
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on 13 June, Bekker’s aircraft was hit in the starboard main plane wing root by an
explosive bullet. He had to land at K-16 without brakes as the bullet damaged his
hydraulics. 69
The final casualty of the period occurred on 22 June. Lt A.G. Frisby led a flight
consisting of Commandant R.F. Armstrong, Lts D. Marchand, and C. de Jongh from
K-16 to interdict supplies north-west of Namchonjam. To the west of Sibyonni (at
600m) the leader was hit by ground fire and had to bale out. At roughly 250m a
brown object was seen to leave the aircraft, which then crashed into the side of a
river bed and broke up. No parachute was seen and there was no sign of the pilot.
Armstrong led four aircraft to search the scene, but they found no sign of the pilot.
They concluded that he baled out at 250m and that his parachute failed to open. 70

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SAMAD, War Dairies (Korea), Box 15, Debriefing Forms SAAF220, 24 May 1951.
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SAMAD, War Dairies (Korea), Box 4, 2 Squadron War Diary, 1 June 1951; Box 16, Debriefing
Forms SAAF220, 1 June 1951.
65 H. Parker, Out of the Sky into the Bag, Outspan, Vol 51, No 1352, p. 24.
66 SAMAD, War Dairies (Korea), Box 4, 2 Squadron War Diary, 2 June 1951.
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SAMAD, War Dairies (Korea), Box 4, 2 Squadron War Diary, 8 and 18 June 1951.
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SAMAD, War Dairies (Korea), Box 4, 2 Squadron War Diary, 9 June 1951; and Box 16, Debriefing
Forms SAAF220, 9 June 1951.
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SAMAD, War Dairies (Korea), Box 16, Debriefing Forms SAAF220, 13 June 1951.
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SAMAD, War Dairies (Korea), Box 4, 2 Squadron War Diary, 22 June 1951; and Box 16, Debriefing
Forms SAAF220, 22 June 1951.