List of British Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities in South Africa

This article contains a list of the facilities of the Joint Air Training Scheme which was a major programme for training South African Air Force, Royal Air Force and Allied air crews during World War II.

An Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) gave a recruit 50 hours of basic aviation instruction on a simple trainer like the Tiger Moth. Pilots who showed promise went on to training at a Service Flying Training School (STFS). The Service Flying Training School provided advanced training for pilots, including fighter and multi-engined aircraft. Other trainees went on to different specialties, such as wireless, navigation or bombing and gunnery. In South Africa, the Elementary Flying Training School and Service Flying Training School were renamed Air Schools.

Training Schools

Air School	Base	Major types of aircraft	Training	Established	Opened	Disbanded	Motto	Unit publication	Comment
1 Air School	Baragwanath	Tiger Moth	Elementary flying	11 Nov 40 (ex 1 EFTS)	30 Apr 44	29 Feb 44	”Start Well, Finish Well”
2 Air School	Randfontein	Tiger Moth	Elementary flying	11 Nov 40 (ex 2 EFTS)		2 Oct 44	”Knowledge is Light”
3 Air School	Wonderboom	Tiger Moth	Elementary flying	11 Nov 40 (ex 3 EFTS)	16 Feb 41	25 Sep 44	”Tertius Primus Erit”
4 Air School	Benoni	Tiger Moth	Elementary flying	11 Nov 40 (ex 4 EFTS)	1 Sep 41	24 Jun 45	”Vier sal eerste wees”	”Big Ben”
5 Air School	Witbank	Tiger Moth	Elementary flying	11 Nov 40 (ex 5 EFTS)	13 Oct 41	15 Dec 44	”Wings for Victory”	”Tiger Rag”
6 Air School	Potchefstroom	Tiger Moth	Elementary flying	11 Nov 40 (ex 6 EFTS)	4 Aug 41	6 Aug 46	”Eendrag en Vryheid”	”Hotchpotch”
7 Air School	Kroonstad	Tiger Moth	Elementary flying	22 Dec 41	Jul 42	16 Jan 45	”Nil Sine Labore”	”The Dust Sheet	Buildings taken over by SA Army
21 Air School	Kimberley	Hind, Hart, Oxford	Service flying	11 Nov 40	30 Apr 41	1 Feb 45	”Pro Patria”	”21”	Now Kimberley Airport
22 Air School	Vereeniging	Hind, Hart	Service flying	11 Nov 40 (ex 2 SFTS)			”Ad Unum Ad Astra”	”Clamp”
23 Air School	Zwartkop Air Station	Hind, Hart	Service flying	11 Nov 40 (ex 3 SFTS)			”Superna Petimus”	”Tale-Spin”
24 Air School	Nigel (Dunnottar)	Hind, Hart	Service flying	11 Nov 40			”Per Artem Ad Astra”
25 Air School	Standerton	Hind, Hart	Service flying	11 Nov 40 (ex 5 SFTS)			”Ex Unite Ad Victoria”
26 Air School	Pietersburg	Hind, Hart	Service flying	11 Nov 40			”Nemo Mortalium Omnibus Hors Sarit”
27 Air School	Bloemspruit, Bloemfontein	Hind, Hart	Service flying	11 Nov 40			”Finis Coronat Opus"		Now AFB Bloemspruit/Bloemfontein Airport
44 Air School	Grahamstown	Oxford, Anson, Battle	Navigation & bombing	11 Nov 40	12 Jan 42		"All For The Same Cause"		Taken over by SA Army, now 6 SA Inf Bn
45 Air School	Oudtshoorn	Oxford, Anson, Battle	Air Observer (Type B)	11 Nov 40		20 Aug 45	"Primus Inter Pares"	"Sprog"	Civil airfield & SA Army
47 Air School	Queenstown	Anson, Oxford	Air Observer (Type B)	11 Nov 40 (ex 7 AONS)	30 Apr 41	7 Apr 45		"The Signal"	Civil airfield & SA Army
48 Air School	Woodbridge East London	Tiger Moth, Tutor	Elementary navigation	14 July 42	1 Sep 42	1 May 45	"Sic itur ad astra" and "Bobaas"	"B.O.N."	Now industrial area and Army base
61 Air School	George	Anson	General Reconnaissance	11 Nov 40 (ex 1 S of GR)	30 Apr 41	14 Jun 45		"Duff Gen"	Civil airfield until replaced by George Airport
62 Air School	Tempe Bloemfontein	All types	Flying Instructor Training	11 Nov 40 (ex CFS)		19/24 Feb 45	"Facta Nostra Vivent"
63 Air School	Tempe Bloemfontein		Ground Instruction	11 Nov 40		Jan 41		Absorbed into 75 Air School Lyttelton
64 Air School	Tempe Bloemfontein	Dominie, Anson	Electrical & Wireless Operator		5 Feb 41	20 Dec 45	"Ut Servient Discimus"	"Sparks"
65 Air School	Youngsfield Cape Town	Oxford, Anson, Wapiti	Air Armament	11 Nov 40	30 Apr 41	13 Apr 44			Resurrected 1 Jun 44 – 10 Sep 45
66 Air School	Youngsfield Cape Town	Anson, Valentia, Harvard Oxford	Navigation & bombing	11 Nov 40	30 Apr 41	1 Apr 45			Became SA Army base. Latterly used to house refugees from xenophobic violence.
67 Air School	Zwartkop	DH Dragon, Envoy	Photography & Photographic Training	11 Nov 40					Currently SAAF AFB Swartkop
68 Air School	Voortrekkerhoogte		Technical Training	11 Nov 40 (1 STT)		1 Oct 62			Currently an SAAF base
69 Air School	Germiston		Technical Training (Airframes & Engines)	11 Nov 40 (ex 2 STT)		Dec 44			Absorbed into 68 Air School
70 Air School	Alexanderfontein Kimberley		Technical Training	11 Nov 40 (ex 3 STT)		Sep 43
71 Air School	Milner Park Johannesburg		Basic Workshop Training	11 Nov 40 (ex 1 Basic Training Centre)		1 Feb 45		"The Fledgling"	Now part of University of Witwatersrand campus
72 Air School	St George's Park Port Elizabeth		WAAF Basic Training	11 Nov 40 (ex 2 Basic Training Centre)					Situated at Park Lane junction with Park Drive, last remaining bungalow from camp now home to Sea Scouts Group
73 Air School	Wonderboom Pretoria		WAAF Technical Training	11 Nov 40 (ex 3 Basic Training Centre)
75 Air School	Lyttelton Pretoria
77 Air School	Pretoria		WAAF Basic Training	15 Jul 42 (ex WAAF Basic Training Centre)		30 Jan 43
100 Air School	Voortrekkerhoogte	Regimental training
11 Operational Training Unit	Fighter Operational Training	Zwartkop, Reunion Natal, St Albans Port Elizabeth	Kittyhawk, Hurricane	1 July 43		September 45	"Learn and Live"	"Tale-Spin" (ex 23 Air School)
29 Operational Training Unit	Twin Engine Conversion	Nigel & Darling	Ventura, Lodestar, Oxford, Anson		July 43	June 44
4 Wing	Gliding Training	Quaggaspoort Pretoria	Grunau Baby, Slingsby Kirby Cadet, Minimoa	1940		1943			Gliding field after the war. Later became SA Police Dog School

Training aircraft

The JATS used the following types of aircraft for training:

• Airspeed AS.10 Oxford I & II
• Avro 621 Tutor
• Avro 652a Anson
• Curtiss P.40E/N Kittyhawk I, III & IV
• DH 82a Tiger Moth
• DH.89a Dominie
• Fairey Battle
• Hawker Hart (variants)
• Hawker Hurricane IIb & IIc
• Lockheed L.37 Ventura I and II
• Miles M.19 Master II
• North American Harvard I, IIa and III
• Northrop 8-A5 Nomad I

Minor aircraft types used in any significant numbers included the Curtiss H-75A-4 Mohawk IV, Hawker Hartbees, Hawker Fury, Martin167F Maryland and Westland Wapiti.

Glossary

• AFB — Air Force Base
• CFS — Central Flying School
• EFTS — Elementary Flying Training School
• SAAF — South African Air Force
• SFTS — Service Flying Training School
• WAAF —Women's Auxiliary Air Force

See also

• List of British Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities in Australia
• List of British Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities in Canada
• List of British Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities in Southern Rhodesia
• Aircrew brevet