2 Squadron SAAF
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2 Squadron is a squadron in the
South African Air Force The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...
which was formed in 1940. The squadron has a long history, having been involved in every single combat action in which the SAAF has taken part. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
it made a name for itself in the battles for East Africa, before distinguishing itself in North Africa as part of the
Desert Air Force The Desert Air Force (DAF), also known chronologically as Air Headquarters Western Desert, Air Headquarters Libya, the Western Desert Air Force, and the First Tactical Air Force (1TAF), was an Allies of World War II, Allied tactical air force ...
, and later in Italy.


World War II

The squadron was established on 1 October 1940, when the two
flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...
s of 1 Squadron SAAF that were operating in
Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
against the Italians in the East African campaign, were formed into a new squadron. The Kenya-based flights had operated independently from the remainder of 1 Squadron, based in the
Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
for several months, and two shootdowns of Italian aircraft made by the Kenya-based flights were retrospectively credited to the new squadron. Initial equipment of the new squadron was nine
Hawker Fury The Hawker Fury is a British biplane fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s. It was a fast, agile aircraft, and the first interceptor in RAF service faster than in level flight. It was the fighter counterpart to the Hawke ...
s fighters, nine
Gloster Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed privat ...
s and five
Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...
s. In November, the Squadron's Gladiators were transferred to 1 Squadron SAAF, and on 3 January 1941, its Hurricanes were also passed to 1 Squadron SAAF, leaving 2 Squadron equipped with Furys, supplemented by three old
Gloster Gauntlet The Gloster Gauntlet was a single-seat biplane fighter designed and produced by the British aeroplane manufacturer Gloster Aircraft in the 1930s. It was the last fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to have an open cockpit, and ...
s inherited from 430 Flight RAF. In March 1941, the squadron was planned to re-equip with Curtiss Mohawk IV fighters, but when the new aircraft were delivered to
Mombassa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital status in 1907. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...
their engines proved to be faulty, and had to be sent to Britain for repair. On 17 April the squadron's pilots were sent off to Egypt where the squadron would be re-equipped for service in the
Western Desert campaign The Western Desert campaign (Desert War) took place in the Sahara Desert, deserts of Egypt and Libya and was the main Theater (warfare), theatre in the North African campaign of the Second World War. Military operations began in June 1940 with ...
. The squadron claimed eight Italian aircraft shot down during the East African campaign. On arrival in Egypt, the squadron received Hurricanes as temporary equipment until it could convert to its planned equipment of Curtiss Tomahawks. A detachment of the squadron's Hurricanes operated over the front from Sidi Haneish Airfield from the end of May while the rest of the squadron continued to work up on Tomahawks. By July 1941, it had fully converted to and was operational on the Tomahawk. During the initial years of the war, 2 Squadron served as part of 1 Bomber Brigade in the East African campaign and the
North African campaign The North African campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943, fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers. It included campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, Desert Wa ...
. After August 1943, it also saw action in
Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
, Italy and
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
. During the Second World War the squadron operated the following aircraft: *
Hawker Hart The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircraf ...
ebeest * Hawker Fury I *
Gloster Gauntlet The Gloster Gauntlet was a single-seat biplane fighter designed and produced by the British aeroplane manufacturer Gloster Aircraft in the 1930s. It was the last fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to have an open cockpit, and ...
* Gloster Gladiator II *
Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...
* Tomahawk IIB June 1941 – May 1942 * Kittyhawk I April 1942 – June 1943 * Kittyhawk III June 1943 – July 1943 * Supermarine Spitfire Vc July 1943 – March 1944 * Supermarine Spitfire IX February 1944 – July 1945


Korean War

The squadron was South Africa's contribution to the United Nations war effort during the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
from November 1950 to December 1953. 2 Squadron was attached to the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing U.S. Air Force for the duration of the war. Initially flying the
P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter aircraft, fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by a team headed ...
, the squadron re-equipped with the
F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...
in February 1953. During the war the squadron flew a total of 12,067 sorties, most being dangerous ground attack missions. 74 of the 94 Mustangs and 4 out of the 22 Sabres were lost, along with 33 pilots (14 killed in action, 11 missing in action, 8 killed in accidents). * * For its actions, the squadron received the
Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
Presidential Unit Citation,
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
Presidential Unit Citation, and numerous other awards and decorations. The
Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...
of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing, issued a directive at the end of the war that: Eleven Korean War SAAF casualties are buried at the
United Nations Memorial Cemetery The United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea (UNMCK; ), located at Tanggok in the Nam District, Busan, Nam District,; also seeKorea 1:50,000 Pusan Sheet 7019 III (1947) an of Busan,As a transliteration from Korean, the city name 부산 () was ...
,
Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...
, South Korea. After the Korean War 2 Squadron, based at Waterkloof AFB, was equipped with Canadair CL-13 Sabres. For a period the squadron was stationed at AFB Pietersburg.


The Border War and post 2000

Conversion to the new Mirage III occurred in 1963 and the squadron moved to AFB Hoedspruit at the end of 1978. The squadron fought in several engagements during the
South-West Africa South West Africa was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. South West Africa bordered Angola ( a Portu ...
/
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
Border War. They continued to fly the Mirages until October 1990. They later re-equipped with the Atlas Cheetah C and D, but remained 'on the books' during the hiatus between Mirage and Cheetah, not being officially disbanded at that point. Reconnaissance was also performed using Vinten Vicon 18 Series 601 pod. Regular night flying was performed and the aircrew also performed air-to-air refuelling operations with the
Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...
aircraft of 60 Squadron, until these were retired in 2007. The squadron participated in the annual SANDF force preparation exercises which includes using live weapons. During joint exercises with the
German Air Force The German Air Force (, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ) was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces of West Ger ...
in 2006, 40 live V3S "Snake" short-range air-to-air missiles were fired at the Denel Overberg Test Range. Moving to Louis Trichardt (now
AFB Makhado Air Force Base Makhado , formerly Air Force Base Louis Trichardt, is an military airbase, airbase of the South African Air Force. It is the SAAF's northernmost base, situated at Louis Trichardt near the border with Zimbabwe, as well as being it ...
) in January 1993, 2 Squadron became the sole front line combat jet squadron in the SAAF. Till 2 April 2008 the squadron operated the Cheetah C/D fighter aircraft and was equipped with 28 examples. The squadron flew 1010 hours in 2004. The last of the Cheetahs were retired on 2 April 2008, later that month the first new
JAS 39 Gripen The Saab JAS 39 Gripen ( ; English: ''Griffin'') is a light single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab AB. The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with rela ...
arrived. The SAAF accepted its first Gripen D in April 2008 and the final two Gripen D aircraft arrived in South Africa in July 2009. The first two Gripen Cs arrived on 11 February 2010 with deliveries ongoing as at October 2011. The squadron operates all the SAAF's Gripens except for the first Gripen D, which is assigned to the Test Flight and Development Centre at AFB Overberg.


Aircraft operated 1945–present

* North American F-51D Mustang July 1945 – 1953 * North American F-86F Sabre 1953 *
de Havilland Vampire The de Havilland DH100 Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteo ...
1953–56 * Canadair Sabre Mk.6 1956–63 *
Dassault Mirage III The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizont ...
1963–89 * Atlas Cheetah C and D 1988–2008 *
JAS 39 Gripen The Saab JAS 39 Gripen ( ; English: ''Griffin'') is a light single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab AB. The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with rela ...
2008–present


See also

*
United Nations Forces in the Korean War After the outbreak of Korean War on 25 June 1950, 16 countries (deploying / arrival order): United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Netherlands, Canada, France, New Zealand, Philippines, Turkey, Thailand, South Africa, Greece, Belgium, Luxembour ...
* Medical support in the Korean War


References


Bibliography

* * *


External links


Unofficial South African Air Force website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2 Squadron Saaf Anti-communism in South Africa Squadrons of the South African Air Force Fighter aircraft units and formations 2 Squadron SAAF United Nations Forces in the Korean War SAAF2 Military units and formations established in 1940 South Africa–South Korea relations