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 and the Korean War. From 1966, the SAAF was involved in providing infantry support in the low-intensity Border War in Angola, South-West Africa and Rhodesia. As the war progressed, the intensity of air operations increased, until in the late 1980s when the SAAF were compelled to fly fighter missions against Angolan aircraft in order to maintain tactical air superiority. On conclusion of the Border War in 1990, aircraft numbers were severely reduced due to economic pressures as well as the cessation of hostilities with neighbouring states.
The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second Chimurenga as well as the Zimbabwe War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia.
Squadron Leader Christopher John Taylor Dixon D.C.D., also known by his callsign of Green Leader, was a Rhodesian military pilot for the Rhodesian Air Force and was born in Shabani, Southern Rhodesia. He was best known for leading the Rhodesian Operation Gatling bombing raid over Zambia, which later became known as the "Green Leader Raid".
Alick Nkhata (1922–1978) was a Zambian musician, freedom fighter and broadcaster from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. He was also the director of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), and formed the Lusaka Radio Band, later called the Big Gold Six Band. The band played Zambian music and scored translations of original rural songs.
The military history of Zimbabwe chronicles a vast time period and complex events from the dawn of history until the present time. It covers invasions of native peoples of Africa, encroachment by Europeans, and civil conflict.
Air Rhodesia Flight 825 was a scheduled passenger flight that was shot down by the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) on 3 September 1978, during the Rhodesian Bush War. The aircraft involved, a Vickers Viscount named the Hunyani, was flying the last leg of Air Rhodesia's regular scheduled service from Victoria Falls to the capital Salisbury, via the resort town of Kariba.
Denis John Earp was a South African military commander, who held the post of Chief of the South African Air Force.
The History of the South African Air Force spans the First World War, Rand Rebellion of 1922, the Second World War, the Korean War, the South African Border War, and varied peacekeeping operations since 1994. Its battle honours include German South West Africa 1914–15, German East Africa 1915–1918, East Africa: 1939–1941, Middle East: 1941–43, Madagascar 1942, Italy 1943–1945, the Balkans 1943–1945, and Korea 1950–1953.
Operation Skerwe was a military operation conducted by the South African Air Force (SAAF) against African National Congress (ANC) facilities based in the Matola suburb of Maputo city.
Operation Cerebus was a South African Defence Force (SADF) special forces operation conducted in Angola during October 1985 during the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War.
Operation Vanity was a Rhodesian military operation in Angola with clandestine assistance from the South African Air Force (SAAF) during the Rhodesian Bush War. The Rhodesian Air Force planned a retaliatory raid against a ZIPRA camp in Angola after a second Air Rhodesia Viscount was shot down on 12 February 1979.
Operation Egret was a military operation in Angola during September 1985 by the South African Defence Force (SADF) against People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War.
Operation Magneto was a military operation in August 1985 to transport UNITA soldiers by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War.
Operation Abrasion was a South African special forces military operation in December 1985 by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War.
Operation Motel was a Zimbabwe Rhodesian military operation in Zambia with clandestine assistance from the South African Air Force (SAAF) during the Rhodesian Bush War. The Rhodesian Air Force planned raids against a ZIPRA camp in Northern Zambia.
Operation Wishbone was a military operation in Angola during December 1980 by the South African Defence Force (SADF) and South African Air Force (SAAF) during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War.
Operation Nickel or the Wankie Campaign or the Wankie Battles was a military operation launched by the Rhodesian Security Forces on 1 August 1967 in response to the group of ZIPRA and Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) fighters crossing the Zambezi River, which marked the Rhodesian-Zambian border. The operation was a success with only one of the cadres out of a force of seventy-nine making it back to Zambia.
Operation Cauldron was launched by the Rhodesian Security Forces in response to an incursion by ZIPRA insurgents on 28 December 1967. Despite the death or capture of 77 out of 79 men, ZAPU, from its base in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, did not regard the incursion as a failure; on the contrary, its leaders were pleased that they had inflicted some casualties on the Rhodesian African Rifles. Buoyed by what they perceived as a success, they planned another operation to take place in northern Mashonaland: about 100 men—75 ZIPRA and 25 MK—were to infiltrate the Zambezi valley and establish a series of camps, including underground caches containing food, clothing, weapons and other equipment. They were instructed to avoid the Rhodesian Security Forces "at all cost" while they recruited local tribesmen to the nationalist cause and trained them. Once a sufficient indigenous force existed, they were to inform Lusaka, which would then coordinate a mass uprising. The aim was not to defeat the government forces, but rather to force the British military to intervene. If the operation were a success, the MK men were to be escorted to South Africa to begin similar activities.
Operation Gatling, which took place on 19 October 1978, was a joint-force operation into Zambia launched by the Air Force and Army of Rhodesia; the main forces which contributed were Rhodesian Special Air Service and Rhodesian Light Infantry paratroopers. Gatling's primary target, just 16 kilometres north-east of central Lusaka, Zambia's capital, was the formerly white-owned Westlands Farm, which had been transformed into ZIPRA's main headquarters and training base under the name "Freedom Camp". ZIPRA presumed that Rhodesia would never dare to attack a site so close to Lusaka. About 4,000 guerrillas underwent training at Freedom Camp, with senior ZIPRA staff also on site.
On 23 December 1975, an Aérospatiale Alouette III helicopter of the South African Air Force carrying a two-man crew and four Rhodesian Army officers crashed near Cashel in Rhodesia after it collided with a hawser cable mid-flight. The accident dealt a severe blow to the Rhodesian Security Forces, then fighting bitterly against ZANLA and ZIPRA insurgents in the Rhodesian Bush War, for the officers involved were some of its best and would prove difficult to replace.
Zimbabwe Rhodesia 
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