Port Elizabeth of Yore: Where would pilots from 42 Air School Celebrate?

By Dean McCleland in Alexander Road High SChool, Financial Matters, Port Elizabeth of Yore 3 Comments

During WW2, South Africa was requested to train Allied aircrew in the Union. In terms of the JATS – the Joint Air Training Scheme – South Africa would train 33,347 aircrew which included 12,221 SAAF personnel. Amongst the 37 South African based air schools, No. 42 was based in Port Elizabeth, south of the main civilian airport.

Included amongst the 21,126 foreigners who were trained in South Africa over the 5 years of WW2, was one who came from Tasmania in Australia, Pierce Joseph Keating.

Main picture: Sergeant PJ Keating

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Airfields, Airports & Aerodromes

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 7 Comments

During the age of biplanes, aerodromes, airfields and airports were intimate places where family and their friends could view the passengers boarding while standing beside the plane. Today their signature features are formality, impersonality and huge scale, the very antithesis of the personal touch. This impersonality is exacerbated by the hub-and-spoke approach of air flight today.

Without radar, navigational aids such as ILS or concrete runways, these aerodromes served these fragile midget planes.

Main picture: Avro Anson F1 1143 based at 42 Air School

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Japanese warplanes over PE during WW2

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

In 1942, Port Elizabeth had some unwelcome aerial visitors. During the period 20-27th April, unidentified aircraft flew over South African ports, including Port Elizabeth. Fighters were scrambled but they never made any contact with the intruders. It was only after the war that researchers and historians found out more about these mysterious visitors. 

Main picture: The Yokosuka E14Y “Glen” Scout Plane painted by Ron Belling

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Mission: Destroy U-Boat 240 Miles South of Cape Recife

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

These are the reminiscences of Denis Glendinning, one of the first pilots posted to 6 Squadron RAF based at 42 Air School, Port Elizabeth. Denis is well known in Port Elizabeth having served as a City Councillor. Apart from being a war story, it highlights the fundamental difference in the martial activities of the Allies and their German opponents whereby the SAAF placed its members in extreme danger in order to rescue the crew of a U-Boat after it had been sunk. 

This depiction of a flight in atrocious weather encapsulates the pathos of the situation. This his personal story in Glendinning’s own words.

 Main picture: Avro Anson over Cape Recife in November 1942

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