Peter Baxter - SAAFs Border War: The South African Air Force in Combat 1966-89

Also by Peter Baxter:
Rhodesia: Last Outpost of the British Empire
France in Centrafrique: From Bokassa and Operation Barracuda to the days of the EUFOR
Selous Scouts: Rhodesian Counter-Insurgency Specialists
Mau Mau: The Kenyan Emergency, 19521960

Co-published in 2012 by:

Helion & Company Limited
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and

30 South Publishers (Pty) Ltd.
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Pinetown 3610
South Africa
email:
website: www.30degreessouth.co.za

Text Peter Baxter, 2012
Photographs as individually credited
Diagrams and maps by Genevieve Edwards
Aircraft colour profiles by William Marshall

Designed & typeset by Kerrin Cocks
()
Printed in the UK by Henry Ling Limited, Dorchester, Dorset
and in South Africa by Pinetown Printers (Pty) Ltd, Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal

ISBN 978-1-920143-71-8 (South Africa)
ISBN 978-1-908916-23-5 (UK)
EPUB ISBN: 9781909384729

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Cover photo: A Buccaneer with an H2
bomb on the inner pylon and an EW
pod on the outer pylon under the port
wing. The H2 communications pod is
under the starboard wing.

CONTENTS

by Captain Charlie Wroth

GLOSSARY

AAA anti-aircraft artillery. Triple A was the overall term used to describe the anti-aircraft guns that were employed in limited numbers by SWAPO, but extensively by the Angolan defence force. These guns covered the complete spectrum of Soviet-supplied weaponry and included: 12.7mm, 14.5mm, 20mm, 23mm, 37mm,* 57mm (*This included the towed, twinbarrelled version that was probably the most widely employed and effective gun used in the entire campaign by either side, both in the ground-to-air and ground-to-ground mode. The four-barrelled, tracked version (Shilka) was also encountered. The 23mm cannons used by 32 Battalion, Koevoet and the SAAF were some of the many captured in operations over the years. Ironically, Angola probably became the biggest arms supplier to South Africa throughout the difficult years of arms boycotts. These radarguided guns were originally equipped with the Fire-can radar system and later updated with the flap-wheel version)

ACF Active Citizen Force (territorials)

ACM air combat manoeuvring, modern name for dogfighting

ACS Air Combat School

ADF automatic direction-finding navigational instrument which locks onto an NDB

AFB air force base

AFCP air force command post. The SAAF uses a system of command posts to efficiently command and control all the resources available to it. This includes aircraft, personnel, radars, air-defence systems and ground security squadron specialists with their dogs. An AFCP controls the air force involvement in its designated area of responsibility, which includes both ground and air battles. An FAC is subservient to an AFCP but handles all the equivalent operations, except it does not control the air battle

AGL above ground level, the height in feet that the aircraft flies above the ground

AI air interception

AK-47 Automat Kalashnikov type 47, a standard Soviet-designed automatic assault rifle

Alouette III single-engine light helicopter, the aerial workhorse of the Border War. In the trooper role it could carry a crew of two plus four soldiers, or two stretchers when used in the casevac role. In the offensive role as a gunship it carried a 20mm cannon firing out of the port side

alpha bomb circular-shaped anti-personnel bomb weighing 6kg that when dropped by the Canberra from level flight gave a natural dispersion pattern. The bomb would strike the surface, activating the fusing mechanism and then bounce into the air to detonate about 6m above ground. This bomb was an improved version of that used by the Rhodesian Air Force, and 300 of them could be loaded into the bomb bay of a Canberra

ANC African National Congress

ATC Air Traffic Control

ATCO Air Traffic Control Officer

avtur aviation turbine fuel used in helicopter and fixed-wing jet-turbine engines

bandit an aircraft identified as hostile

BDA bomb damaged area

beacon the cut-line designating the border between Angola and Owamboland stretched in a straight line 420km from the Cunene River in the west to the Kavango River in the east. Every 10km a concrete beacon was built to identify position in an otherwise featureless terrain. Beacon 16 was therefore 160km east of the Cunene River.

blue job anybody serving in the air force (slang)

BM-21 122mm 40-tube multiple-rocket launcher, mounted on a Ural 375 truck, with a maximum range of 20,000m

Boere a general-usage, normally derogatory term used by both SWAPO and the Angolans to describe the South African/SWATF security forces (from the Afrikaans boer meaning farmer)

bogey an unidentified aircraft

bombshell guerrilla tactic of splitting up during flight (slang)

Bosbok single-piston engine, high-wing reconnaissance aircraft flown by two crew seated in tandem. In the bush war it was utilized in many roles, including visual and photographic reconnaissance, skyshout, pamphletdropping and Telstar

brown job any soldier; variations were browns or the more commonly pongos (slang)

Buccaneer S-50 version of the British-built naval strike fighter; twinengine, subsonic two-seater that could carry the full range of bombs plus AS-30 air-to-ground missiles

C-130 four-engine turboprop heavy transport aircraft otherwise known as the Hercules. Used extensively throughout the bush war to support the actions of both ground-landing and air-dropping of personnel and freight (see Flossie)

C-160 twin-engine tactical transport aircraft. Although limited in payload when compared to the C-130, it had the decided advantage of a larger-dimensioned freight compartment, allowing easier and quicker transporting of helicopters to the battle area. Known by NATO as the Transall it had the dubious distinction of being probably the most difficult and expensive aircraft to maintain in the inventory of the SAAF owing to the extreme difficulties imposed by the international arms embargo

Canberra English Electric twin-engine, medium jet bomber, used as such and also in PR roles. Armament included alpha bombs, World War IIvintage 500lb and 1,000lb general-purpose bombs plus the South Africanmanufactured 120kg and 250kg GP and pre-fragmentation bombs

CAP combat air patrol, the armed mission air-defence fighters fly to ensure safety of own aircraft in the battle area

CAS close air support; aircraft supporting the ground forces in close proximity to the immediate battle line are termed to be giving CAS

casevac casualty evacuation

Casspir mine-protected, armoured personnel-carrier

CEP