Pilot Training in South Africa in WW2

Does anyone have information about pilot training in South Africa? My dad was firstly at 7 Air School, Kroonstad in December 1943 to early 1944, and then at 21 Air School, Kimberley from March 1944 until August 1944 when he qualified for his wings. He left Cape Town by troopship, possibly the Nieuwe Amsterdam, on 26th August 1944 bound for the UK arriving on 14th September 1944.

The following picture was taken at his wings parade at 21 AS. Some names appear on the reverse which have tried to decipher as best I can. Feel free to correct me. Date is either Saturday 19th August or Saturday 26th August 1944.

(Left to right)
Front Row: Smit, Callaghan, McCulloch, Pomine, Cronin, Haskins, Makin, Nicholson

2nd Row: F/Lt MacGill, Air Vice Marshall M.B. Frew, Batchelor, Col J.D. Pretorius, S/Ldr Kennedy, Cpt Carrgarty, W/O Marcus plus four others who are unnamed

3rd Row: Naylor, Wheatley, Boalton, Du Plessis, Becker, Schonfeld, Lotz, Nimow, Vidsler, Oakenfall, Darber, Richards, Simpson

4th Row: P.Williams, Harding, Dimerg, Sparrow, Hallwood, Towell, Kerr, Adams, Jacquest, Birch, Tomlin, Errington.

5th Row: Bennett, Strachan, Pretorius, Adams, Junhall, McCarthy, Katzens, Cilliers, Meiklejohn, Hilyard, Brisline, Trater, Gritter.

6th Row: Ball, Hannath, Williams, Turner, Scott, Evans, Carran, Godfrey, Harrison, Bryan, Mastin

Jenny

Edit: Sorry I've posted this in the wrong place. Could someone in the know please move it for me?

 

Hi Jenny,

Some time ago I wrote a piece on how to locate the SAAF training unit Operations Records Book (War Diary) for a unit and a time period.

SAAF Training Organisation

The ORBs are free to download from The Nation Archives. Use the guide to find the AIR54 files you need then go to here to download

South Africa Air Force: Operations Record Books | The National Archives

regards
Ross

 

Ross,

Thank you so much for these links. I will investigate and hopefully turn up some useful info.

Jenny

 

Post now copied to "The War in the Air". Sorry for getting it wrong!