SAAFM Airshow 2025 – Exposing the Sad Truth

By Garth Calitz

Photos by Garth Calitz and Esias Riecket

Anyone living in Pretoria will know that the week before the annual SAAF Museum Airshow is either exciting or frustrating, depending on whether you love the “Sound of Thundering Jets” or not. Sadly, this year, there were no jets in the sky, and as a result, the SAAF Museum lost its best advertising vehicle, drawing people to the show. This showed in the gate takings.

Well, that’s enough negativity. If one discounts the lack of SAAF participation, then it was not a bad airshow. It was a bit lacking in momentum, but as usual, the civilian displays were brilliant.

The gates opened to the public at 7:00 and the rather short queues quickly reduced to a trickle. The show started with a display flight by a gaggle of powered paragliders that made the short hop from the nearby Grasslands Airfield, which is widely accepted as the capital of PPG flying in South Africa.

While the PPGs were clearing the airspace, a cavalcade of all the emergency service vehicles that were on duty took to the runway, five SAAF fire vehicles were joined by three military health services ambulances and many private security and VIP protection vehicles. While the cavalcade made their way along the taxiway, a South African Police Service Pilatus PC-6 Porter climbed for altitude with a load of skydivers.

Once all the emergency services had taken their places for the day, the skydivers exited the Porter. The skydivers were from the Police Taskforce, Airforce 500 squadron commandos and 7 Med operators. All the skydivers showed their skill by landing bang on target before handing over the ceremonial scroll to Major General Sipiwo Dlomo, who, in turn, presented it to Major General Lancelot Mathebula, who took to the podium to welcome everyone to the airshow.

With the formalities out of the way, it was time for the first actual flying display of the show, which has customary belonged to the SAAF Museum Historic Flight, also known as 200 Squadron. The flypast consisted of an Aermacchi AM.3 Bosbok followed by a Cessna C185 and two Harvard T6 trainers.

The rotor wing component of the SAAF Museum flight was made up of two Aérospatiale Alouette IIIs led by an Alouette II, the helicopters then performed a short display showing off the skill of these retired SAAF pilots.

Tristan Eeles then took to the air in his Extra 330SC in a show of aerobatic competition flying, followed by some impressive gyroscopic manoeuvres. Tristan is the current South African Advanced Aerobatics Champion, his display was well explained on commentary by his father, Barrie, who is the current Unlimited Aerobatics National Champion.

Henley Air, the largest operator of Bell 222 helicopters in the world, brought a fleet of seven aircraft to the Air Force Mobile Deployment Wing, which was known as AFB Swatrkop until recently. Dr Andre Coetzee, Executive Chairman and founder of the Henley Group, displayed the newest addition to the 222 fleet. Throughout the day, Henley Air took airshow visitors for scenic flights over the centurion area, It has been reported that they did over 400 flips on the day.

Grant Timms and Steve Brown slowed things down a bit with a masterful display of formation flying in two 1930s de Havilland Tiger Moths. The aircraft are part of the Classic Flying Collection, based at Springs Airfield.

Once Grant and Steve landed, South Africa’s latest helicopter airshow act took to the skies. Leading the formation was a Bell UH-1 Huey flown by Jan Botma, followed by an Aérospatiale Alouette II and an Aérospatiale Gazelle.

Andre van Zyl then ran in to wow the crowd with his signature display in his Magni Gyro. Andre continued to impress people who often can't believe the manoeuvres he manages to do with this recreational aircraft. Andre was then joined by Juba Joubert for a series of flypasts. Seeing these two very oddly matched aircraft flying in tight formation is always a treat.

When Andre landed, Juba remained airborne and displayed the capabilities of the ex-SAAF Alouette III. Andre quickly dismounted his Gyro and jumped in his Mercedes AMG C-63 to race against the Alouette. On the initial straight the AMG managed to pull away from the helicopter but on the first turn the Alo managed to close the gap for the eventual win.

Sticking with rotor-wings, Alistair Brown displayed the flying Tiger Bell Huey from the Master Power Aviation stable. The Huey was flown to “Ride of the Valkyries”, which has become synonymous with the mighty Huey as a result of a scene from the 1970s movie “Apocalypse Now”. Once again, the Capital Sounds team prove that the right music for the right display is essential for an entertaining airshow.

The Aermacchi AM.3 Bosbok was extensively used in the SAAF during the bush war as a spotter due to its incredible field of view from the cockpit. Grant Timms skilfully put this historic aircraft through manoeuvres that would have any Officer Commanding pulling out his hair in frustration.

Grants display was then followed by yet another mainstay of the SAAF, none other than the North American T-6 Harvard, this time in the colours of Puma Energy. The formation was led by Ellis Levin, joined by the owner of the team Arnie Meneghelli and Sean Thackwray. Arnie and Ellis performed the formation and Sean did all the solo work.

Finally, the first of the operational SAAF aircraft took to the sky, a lone Agusta A-109 from 17 Squadron, under the control of Lt Colonel Mikateko Branny Maluleke, who is also the officer commanding 17 Squadron. 17 Squadron has a long and illustrious history stretching back all the way to September 1939 when they operated ex-SAA Junkers Ju-52/3m's. After his display, the aircraft suffered a wheels-up landing, Fortunately, not much damage was done as Lt Col Maluleke managed to lift off before the full-weight aircraft came to rest.

Grant Timms once again took to the sky, this time in the Master Power Aero L-39 Albatros, for all the spectators who longed for some jet action; sadly, this is the closest they would come. No SAAF Jets were displayed at the show, which just adds to the speculation in the mainstream media that the SAAF is in a terrible state, with very few aircraft capable of fulfilling their mandate to secure South Africa’s airspace.

The morning segment of the show was closed off by another skydive display by the Police Task Force, 7 Med and 500 Squadron once again jumping from a Police Pilatus PC-6 Porter. It is rather sad seeing military skydivers having to hitch a ride with the police to do their duty.

After a fairly long lunch break, two SAAF MBB/Kawasaki BK 117 from 15 Squadron Charlie Flight displayed Cargo slinging and hoisting. The "BK-117 Charlie Flight" refers to a specific unit within the SAAF, specifically a flight within 15 Squadron. Charlie Flight is based at AFS Port Elizabeth while the parent, 15 Squadron, is based in Durban.

The SAAF Museum once again took to the air this time in two Harvards flown by Martin “Marlow” Louw and Daan “Spur” Conradie, both retired SAAF pilots. The Harvard served the SAAF graciously as the primary trainer aircraft from 1942 until 1991, when they were withdrawn from service to make way for the Pilatus PC-7 Astra.

The pace of the show then picked up significantly with a high-energy display by Jason Beamish in his Extra 330LX, Jason’s regular “partner in crime”, Nigel Hopkins sadly had to leave our shores to find employment elsewhere for and couldn’t be at the show this time. Just when we thought Jason was complete, he surprised us all by joining Menno Parsons, who was flying the much-loved Mustang P-51 “Mustang Sally” for a few flypasts.

Jason broke off and landed, then Menno did his highly missed, high-speed Mustang display. The P-51 Mustang holds a very special place in the history of the SAAF, although they were never operated within our borders. 2 Squadron was attached to the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing US Air Force for the duration of the Korean War. Initially flying the P-51 Mustang, the squadron re-equipped with the F-86 Sabre in February 1953.

The tempo dropped significantly when Steve Brown and Ryan Briggs got airborne in two de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunks, these magnificent aircraft are also part of the Classic Flying Collection. The SAAF never operated the Chipmunk the SAAFM does, however, have one on strength, which came from our northern neighbours, Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), who operated them in the 1950s.

Another WWII trainer, this time from the other side of the Atlantic, the mighty Boeing Stearman flown by Ivan van der Schaar was joined in the air by his son Jeandre flying a large-scale radio-controlled Extra. An RC aircraft sharing airspace with a full-size aircraft takes remarkable skill from both pilots, a feat that Ivan and Jeandre make look simple.

Tristan Eeles then took to the air for a repeat display in his Extra 330SC. The Extra range of aircraft has won eight world championships and managed twenty-one podiums in the past fourteen years alone, making it the most successful aerobatic aircraft in history.

With such a poor show from active SAAF aircraft, it was great to see the SAAF Museum taking a major role in the airshow, this time with three Alouettes, Two Alo IIIs and an Alo II. The three aircraft preformed a beautiful display of aerial ballet followed by breathtaking crossovers by the Alo IIIs.

Aérospatiale stayed front and centre as the Alouttes landed and Juba Joubert brought in the Gazelle. Juba performed his unique display, throwing the French helicopter around the sky effortlessly, that was before Andre van Zyl arrived in his Aston Martin to avenge his earlier loss in the Mercedes. Juba, this time, had to concede as the Aston made the U-turns much quicker.

Grant Timms then did a repeat display in the Master Power L-39, as he cleared the airspace, the Goodyear Eagles ran in for an amazing Pitts Special display. Jason Beamish took the lead for what I believe to be the first time at an airshow. Jason was joined by Gareth Gill and Sally Fleck. The Goodyear Eagles have been performing at airshows both here at home and internationally for well over 30 years, originally with other sponsors, but since 2009, they have proudly flown for the aviation tyre supplier.

As darkness started descending, due to the cloud that had rolled in during the day, the BK-117 entered from stage right, for yet another dose of helicopter skill. Despite the sad state of the Airfroce one can not fault the quality of the pilots as proven by these two experts from Charlie Flight 15 Squadron.

Just when the hard-line airshow enthusiasts were packing up to leave, they were rewarded with a beautiful series of flypasts by a rarely seen 21 Squadron Dassault Falcon 50. The Falcon 50 is generally used for VVIP transport, so it's not surprising that it will be in perfect flying order; it's all about priorities.

After a farewell message from the soon-to-retire Major General Sipiwo Dlomo, the show was closed with a mass Harvard flypast consisting of two SAAF Museum, two Harvard Club, three Puma Energy and one Master Power Harvard. The Puma Energy Flying Lions remained airborne for their signature sunset display while the other Harvards parked in front of the flight line to perform a mass shutdown.

As I said before, the Airshow wasn’t bad, even with the stop-start nature of the show, which can be attributed to not letting aircraft get airborne and hold while another display was in progress; this is commonplace at most civilian airshows. But! And it's a big but, it was an Airforce Airshow and the public at least deserves to see the Airforce aircraft that are paid for and maintained by their tax money. Sadly, all they were shown was two helicopter types and a VVIP aircraft, despite the official poster displaying much more.

As always, Brian Emmenis and his team from Capital Sounds did a remarkable job, filling the awkward pauses in the programme with meaningful information, which to some extent kept the crowd entertained. Hopefully, the SAAF will get a reprieve from the cabal in Cape Town that approves the budget, well, sometimes they do, and they can return to a position of respect in the public view.

Please Browse our Gallery of this Event