Air Force Base (AFB) Waterkloof in Centurion with 1 Air Servicing Unit (ASU) in the vanguard has been entrusted with a heritage project to restore the first helicopter ever in SA Air Force (SAAF) service to display standard.
The aircraft – a Sikorsky S-51 with tail number A1 – until last week languished in a hangar used by the SAAF Museum at Air Force Mobile Deployment Wing (AF MDW), previously known as Air Force Base Swartkop.
It was towed the 18 km by road to Waterkloof last Friday (8 August) where it now resides for a lengthy period of time while a team under the leadership of 1 ASU Officer Commanding Colonel Matlhocho Tumaeletse with “a skilled technician” at the forefront of hands-on work comes to grips with a notable restoration.
Approval for Waterkloof, better known as the SAAF Centre of Transport Excellence, to be used for the Sikorsky restoration came from base Officer Commanding, Brigadier General Makhamnandi Zama. This, according to Major Kedi Moagi of the SAAF Museum, demonstrated “a strong commitment to heritage preservation and aviation excellence”. Her support, the Major reports further, ensured logistic and institutional foundation for the Sikorsky restoration project.
No timeframe is given for restoration of Sikorsky A1 with Moagi reporting the aircraft will be returned to “a dignified, static exhibit condition, honouring its operational history and the individuals who served it”. Restoration technical details are confidential with the work supported by “aerospace industry partners, volunteers and Friends of the SAAF Museum, all working under a unified vision”.
A1 is the last of the first three rotorcraft to enter SAAF service still surviving. A1, A2 and A3 were acquired in 1948 with the then 12 Squadron tasked to spray tsetse fly in then Zululand, now part of KwaZulu-Natal. The Unofficial SAAF Website reports A3 crashed near Hluhluwe on 20 April 1951 with A2 also crashing near Hluhluwe on 11 September 1952.
A1 crashed at Mtubatuba in October 1950 and was transferred to 17 Squadron then at AFB Ysterplaat in December 1957. It was sold in 1964 as ZS-HBT and later scrapped. A Cape Town scrapyard offered the aircraft to the SAAF Museum in 1976 with it restored to static display status before being removed from public view at the museum.
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