SOUTH AFRICAN PILOTS MADE A VITAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE DESERT WAR. STEVE MCLEAN RELATES 4 SQUADRON’S EXPLOITS
WAR IN THE DESERT SOUTH AFRICAN TOMAHAWKS
Having been based in East Africa, personnel of 4 Squadron South African Air Force embarked in the SS Ascanius at Mombasa, Kenya, on September 3, 1941 bound for combat in the Western Desert. After a 13-day voyage via the Suez Canal, the SAAF unit settled at Amiriya, near Alexandria, where its first Curtiss Tomahawk IIs arrived on October 2.
In an effort to hasten acclimatisation, senior pilots were sent forward to 1 and 2 Squadrons SAAF to experience operational flying over the desert. They re-joined the unit on the 27th, by then based at Landing Ground 101 (LG 101) near Qasaba, further west along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.
Canadian Battle of Britain veteran Flt Lt Beverley Christmas was attached to bolster experience on November 5 and six days later the unit was on the move again, to LG 110 south of Sidi Barrani, also in Egypt. The first sorties were flown on the 12th, providing top cover to a 2 Squadron escort formation. The following day 4 Squadron experienced combat and found it a sobering lesson. Scrambled to intercept a Messerschmitt Bf 109 sweep,…
