Bush Pilots Do It In Fours - Roy Watson

"Bush Pilots Do It In Fours" chronicles Roy Watson's aviation journey and his passion for all things related to flying. It starts with his initial steps and the restoration of a Tiger Moth, Aeronca, and Zlin, along with some experiences in aerobatics with these vintage aircraft. The story then transitions to larger planes, highlighting his work on Hawker Siddley 748's. Roy played a significant role in founding an airline focused on delivering food to impoverished areas in Africa and had close interactions with Russian Aircraft and Douglas DC4's. He then experiences true 'bush flying,' sparking a deep affection for the DC-4, which inspired the book's title. The narrative concludes with the demanding repair and eventual transition to flying the Boeing 707. His flying adventures range from amusing incidents with his old light aircraft to major commercial airline expeditions spanning from Antarctica to the northernmost regions of Africa. Roy shares numerous stories from the air, on the ground, and with local communities in a humorous and engaging manner that is sure to bring a smile.

Pilot in the Wild - John Bassi

John Bassi has devoted much of his life to addressing the challenges faced by wildlife in Africa. Growing up in northeastern Zimbabwe, he was inspired by a life immersed in the wilderness across sub-Saharan Africa. Confronted with the harsh realities of war and human greed, he pledged to dedicate his life to nature conservation. Driven by his love for the wilderness and aviation, John embarked on a demanding and intriguing journey through the evolution of South Africa's game capture industry. His involvement in translocation projects, wildlife research, and veterinary and breeding initiatives allows him to engage daily with the diverse aspects of African wildlife. Specializing in helicopter operations, John has become a leading game capture pilot and conservationist in the country. He has played a pivotal role in the industry, amassing over sixteen thousand flying hours throughout Southern Africa. However, he has also witnessed the misuse of conservation for commercial gain and the deterioration of some of South Africa's pristine wilderness areas, reminiscent of the decline he observed in Zimbabwe. John has leveraged his vast expertise to offer a distinctive helicopter platform for wildlife research projects, large-scale anthrax vaccinations, aerial game censuses, radio tracking, ecological surveys, helicopter safaris, conservation education, and more. His deep connection with African wildlife is evident in his dynamic wildlife bronze sculptures. John has authored published articles on aviation, expeditions, and conservation, and since February 2002, he has been contributing to the monthly aviation magazine SA Flyer. John Bassi's impact on our natural heritage is profound, made all the more remarkable by the rarity of individuals possessing the passion, skill, and empathy necessary to excel as a wildlife helicopter pilot.

Open Skies for Africa (eBook) - Charles E. Schlumberger

In Africa, where inadequate roads, ports, and railways often hinder efficient transportation, air transport presents significant potential for economic growth and development. However, Africa has experienced decades of inefficient air services. Uncompetitive national airlines, established by newly independent African nations, primarily offered intercontinental flights, while the domestic air service market remained underdeveloped and underserved. The 1999 pan-African treaty on the liberalization of air transport markets, known as the Yamoussoukro Decision, aimed to address these issues. Yet, a decade later, only partial liberalization has been achieved. 'Open Skies for Africa: Implementing the Yamoussoukro Decision' examines the progress made in implementing the treaty and proposes ways to encourage the liberalization process. The book analyzes the completed and pending steps toward the Yamoussoukro Decision's implementation both at a pan-African level and within various regions. It places special emphasis on the challenges posed by inadequate aviation safety and security standards in most African countries. Finally, the book assesses the impact of certain policy measures of the Yamoussoukro Decision and evaluates the economic importance of air transportation and its complete liberalization in Africa. The book concludes that the liberalization of African air services must continue and offers policy recommendations for the future.

African Sky (eBook) – Tony Park

In 1943 Rhodesia, the body of Felicity Langham, a parachute instructor and local celebrity, is discovered brutally raped and murdered. The police have apprehended the most apparent suspect, a black man named Innocent, but he is, in fact, innocent. WPC Pip Lovejoy is certain that there's more to this case than it seems and is resolute in seeking justice for the slain woman.

Paul Bryant, the Squadron Leader in charge of training RAF pilots, must investigate the reasons behind three aircraft crashes within three weeks. One pilot was found dead, killed by poisoned arrows, yet his plane is missing.

When Pip and Bryant's investigations collide, a much more serious crime becomes apparent. The man behind it, Reitz, believes that if Hitler can cull the Jews, he can cull the blacks. Reitz and his team have discovered a poison so deadly that a single drop of it can kill a man in less than a minute. Their plan is to detonate this poison bomb during an RAF passing out parade, killing a thousand pilots. This in turn would likely lead to civil war in South Africa. Reitz's aim is to create an independent Afrikaner-controlled South Africa, and he doesn't care what lengths he has to go to achieve it.

Self-Flying Southern Africa – Nancy Myers Smith

Catch a Bird's-Eye View of Africa from the Cockpit of a Cessna The ponds shimmered in the afternoon sun, dotting the outback of Botswana's Chobe National Park, remnants of the rainy season already past. Andrea, my co-pilot and partner, shouted over the sweetly consistent drone of our Cessna's four-cylinder engine. Look, elephants... Watching herds of elephants frolic from a low-flying Cessna is a dream adventure, combining the technical challenge of aviation with the romance of entering a literal no-man's-land. In Self-Flying Southern Africa: Women Pilots on Safari, author Nancy Myers Smith combines the travel adventure of women piloting a single-engine plane over the wilds of Africa with inspiration for travelers and fellow pilots alike, detailing a journey of challenge and inner strength. Ms. Smith takes a journey of the spirit from its conception through moments when giving up seemed the only option. Self-Flying Southern Africa is as much about making dreams come true as it is about flying a plane or going on safari. In this delightful and inspiring work, Ms. Smith demonstrates that growing older doesn't have to mean growing up.

Malloch's Spitfire – Nick Meikle

This is the story of the pursuit of a dream. Spitfire PK350 is the only late-mark Spitfire, an F Mk 22, to have ever been restored to full flying status. She had no restrictions on her airframe and with four fully serviceable 20mm cannons, she was as good as the day she came off the production line in July 1945 near Birmingham, England.She first flew as a restored aircraft on 29 March 1980 at the hands of one John McVicar Jack Malloch. By then a legend in his adopted country, Rhodesia, Malloch had in 1977 been entrusted by the hierarchy of the Rhodesian Air Force to restore SR64, as she was then known. In two and half years, Jack Malloch and his trusted engineers, with critical help from the Rhodesian and South African air forces, completely restored SR64 to flying condition. The fact that she was fitted with a propeller made by a German company added a sweet irony to a project that had to contend with sanctions imposed by Britain, the original country of manufacture, and highlighted the enterprising spirit of the team. This was possible because Malloch, with the backing of the Rhodesian government, had built up a successful charter airfreight company that assumed different guises, depending on where it was operating, to bypass sanctions. Malloch's network thus facilitated his quest to restore and once again fly a Spitfire such as he had flown in the RAF during the Second World War.Some fascinating insights are revealed in this account. From the test pilot who first flew her as PK350 on 25 July 1945, the reader is taken on a journey through the aircraft's complete life, with the project's lead engineer and most of the surviving pilots who flew her gracing the story with their memories. For two years PK350 delighted those fortunate enough to see her fly, mostly around Salisbury (Harare) airport. Then, on what was planned to be its last flight, Malloch's Spitfire never returned to base.

Fields of air, triumphs, tragedies and mysteries of civil aviation in Southern Africa - James Byrom

Man is both awed and terrified by the concept of flying. In this book James Byrom chronicles the disasters and mysteries surrounding many aviation calamities. As well as the numerous triumphs and heady days of early South African flight. The most sensational account is his investigation of the SAA Helderberg crash, just off the Mauritian coast, which is again a topic of great news value at the moment.

Open Cockpit Over Africa

This intimate account of what it was like to fly open-cockpit, single engined aircraft over the length and breadth of primitive Africa in the early 1930’s has been written by one of the pioneers of the African air-routes, Victor Smith.

Tumult in the clouds - Dean Wingrin

By his own admission Dean Wingrin is a military aviation junkie and his love of the subject has manifested itself in a 340 page book filled with personal memories and reminiscences of the SA Air Force (SAAF).

“Tumult in the clouds: Stories from the SAAF” is the result of personal interviews and contacts with each and every one of the serving and retired SAAF personnel whose stories go from the formative days of the air force through to its involvement in the World War Two, the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, the airborne arm of the then SA Defence Force’s involvement in what was Rhodesia, the Bush War, the SAAF in democratic South Africa and display flying.

All told there are 158 contributions ranging from Vincent van Ryneveld, great-grandson of SAAF founder Sir Pierre, to names that have become legendary as a result of exploits in various theatres and will resonate with those either still serving or retired.

The compiler’s decision to publish his interviews in the first person “as unvarnished, unabbreviated and intensely immediate and personal recollections” does, for this reviewer, not always work. But this does not detract in any way from what individuals did while serving in the SAAF.

There are tales or bravery and heroism, many rewarded by the Honoris Crux, and there are also interesting recollections of different bases, different places and the humorous side of life, be it in theatre during conflict or on base in peacetime.

It will become part of South Africa’s military aviation history because in the words of retired SAAF Chief Lieutenant General Dennis Earp “people should write down their personal memories of their time in the SAAF. Sadly, one day they will not be around to tell them”.

This in a way was one of the drivers that saw Wingrin get a move on with the project.

“The death of Porky Rich, just days after I interviewed him forcibly brought home to me that many of those who had stories to tell wouldn’t be around forever.”

For those who have a passion for military aviation and its exponents “Tumult” is a must. Not only to read and bring back memories but also as a reference work on the exploits of the many who have, over the years, proudly worn the blue uniform.

Open cockpit over Africa - Victor Smith

Smith is actually the final member of that fearless group of pilots who, with unparalleled bravery and unwavering determination, risked not only their lives but also their machines in a resolute effort to explore the enigmatic and often perilous regions of the "Darkest Continent." This term, historically used to describe Africa due to its vast, uncharted territories and the mysteries that lay within, represents not just a geographical challenge but also a cultural and historical one. These daring aviators faced numerous obstacles, including unpredictable weather patterns, treacherous landscapes, and the inherent dangers of early aviation technology. Their mission was not merely to traverse the skies but to forge new paths that would significantly shorten travel times between Africa and Europe, facilitating not only trade and commerce but also cultural exchange and interaction between diverse peoples. Smith, as the last of this courageous cohort, embodies the spirit of exploration and adventure that characterized this pivotal era in aviation history. His experiences and stories serve as a testament to the indomitable human spirit and the relentless pursuit of knowledge and connection across continents.

Lockheed Blackbird: Beyond the Secret Missions - Paul Crickmore

In this book, expert author Paul Crickmore leads the reader deeper than ever before into the 'Black World' of the A-12 and SR-71 top-secret reconnaissance mission. For the first time, detailed first-hand accounts from CIA and USAF pilots bring to life the experience of flying highly classified missions in the Blackbird, whilst Allied and former Warsaw Pact fighter pilots describe their efforts to intercept the spy-plane. Travelling more than a mile every 2 seconds and flying fifteen miles above the earth's surface, the SR-71's performance capacities were truly awesome. This book draws on hundreds of newly declassified Top Secret documents and the experiences of the author's key military contacts to provide the most detailed information available on the SR-71.

The Millionaires’ Squadron – Tom Moulson

The Remarkable Story of 601 Squadron and the Flying Sword Tom Moulson ... He employed a faithful ex-member of his RFC squadron at the substantial sum of £2 a day to be on call, day and night, to drive him wherever he wanted in an upright Morris taxi. ... No pilot saw the back of his head for longer than a few seconds as his eye constantly roved over the other aircraft, and anybody deemed guilty of poor station keeping would be certain of an uncomfortable review on landing.

From Fledgling to Eagle - Brigadier-General Dick Lord

"From Fledgling to Eagle" chronicles the evolution of the SAAF in the ‘Border War’ that raged in Angola and South West Africa (Namibia) from 1966 to 1989, covering all the major South African Defence Force (SADF) operations from Ongulumbashe to the ‘April Fool’s Day war’ in 1989. Dick Lord, who writes in a ‘from the cockpit’ style, has drawn on his own first-hand operational reports and diaries, incorporating anecdotes from dozens of aviators from a wide variety of squadrons—Buccaneers, Canberras, Mirages, Impapas, Bosboks, C-160s and130s and helicopters. He also expands on the close relationship the SAAF had with the ground troops in a variety of operations— such units as the Parabats, Recces and Koevoet.

However, Lord studies the broader ramifications of the conflict in that it was not a simple black–white war. Angola was really just a sideshow for the Soviets who wanted to bleed the SAAF in a war of attrition before attempting total domination of South Africa—their ultimate goal. Although he gives credit to the enemy when they put up a stiff fight, he clearly outlines the overwhelming South African successes and dispels, in accurate detail, all enemy claims by giving an accurate account of each battle.