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Aerial Symbiosis: the Interrelationship Between Military and Civil Aviation in the Union of South Africa, 1912-1940

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Aerial Symbiosis: the Interrelationship Between Military and Civil Aviation in the Union of South Africa, 1912-1940 AERIAL SYMBIOSIS: THE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MILITARY AND CIVIL AVIATION IN THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA, 1912-1940. by JOHN WILLIAM ILLSLEY Submitted as requirement for the degree MAGISTERS HEREDITATIS CULTURAEQUE SCIENTIAE (HISTORY) in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Pretoria 2018 Supervisor: Professor Karen Harris To Thea With thanks for your love and support and in anticipation of the completion of your doctoral thesis Per Ardua Ad Astra. I This is the song of those who dare, The dauntless and the free, Who fight the armies of the air, As we that fought the sea. Honour to those who on the wing This earn the laurel crown, The empires of the world shall sing The songs of their renown. We are the pioneers Who seek the Air King's throne, That you in after years May claim it for your own. From "The Song of the Aviators" by Dorothy M Haward (1910) Sky and sea shall remember them, And men in honour their names shall write Who have woven around their spinning world The magic golden girdle of flight. From "Flight" by Ethel De B Lasky (1942) II CONTENTS Page Acknowledgments vi Abstract vii List of abbreviations viii 1. TAKING FLIGHT 1 Research context 7 Primary sources 9 Literature review 10 2. GENESIS IN THE DIAMOND CITY: TRAINING THE FIRST SA MILITARY AVIATORS 17 Introduction 17 Powered flight comes to South Africa 18 Paterson pursues a government contract 28 Paterson's Aviation Syndicate secures a government contract 36 The end of Paterson's involvement in training military pilots 42 Conclusion 49 3. FROM EAGLES TO DOVES: THE FIRST ATTEMPTS AT COMMERCIAL AVIATION 52 Peace dividends: the impact of World War One on post-War aviation 52 The year of valiant endeavour 58 Appeals to the state 77 Enterprises that failed to get off the ground 81 Conclusion 83 III 4. PEGASUS AS A GIFT HORSE: THE ORIGINS OF THE SAAF 84 The Civil Air Board and the advent of aviation legislation 84 The imperial gift and the origins of the South African Air Force 87 The revival of civil aviation and the role of the Air Force 100 Conclusion 114 5. EXTRACTING A QUART FROM A PINT 115 The 1930s: a troubles decade 115 The SAAF continues to play a role in civil aviation 117 The Italian invasion of Abyssinia and its impact on SA defence thinking 122 The Thousand Pilot Scheme 126 Conclusion 144 6. THE SHADOW AIR FORCE 145 Expanding SAAF strength 145 Dual-role aircrew 150 A multi-role airliner fleet 152 Pirow, Germany and Junkers 159 Conclusion 162 7. A FLOCK OF AVIATRIXES 164 Women gain a foothold in South African aviation 164 First moves to create a women's air movement in South Africa 166 The creation of WAA flights and branches 168 The scope of WAA activities 171 IV The impact of war 175 The Women's Auxiliary Air Force comes into being 178 Conclusion 180 8. THE RECKONING 181 South Africa enters World War Two 181 An airline goes to war 182 Civil aviation's other contributions 188 The contribution of pre-WW2 military and civil aviation to World War Two. 190 Conclusion 194 BIBLIOGRAPHY 195 V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would not have been undertaken were it not for the willingness of Professor Karen Harris to take me under her wing, so to speak, and agree to act as the study leader. From agreeing to the proposed topic, more or less unaltered, to supervising the writing, she made a daunting task an enjoyable and fulfilling one. My debt of gratitude to her for taking on a "mature student" in addition to her many other responsibilities, is huge. Thank you for allowing me to prove that I accomplish this after many years away from the university environment. All things have small beginnings. My parents encouraged my interest in aviation and in books from a very young age. Those seeds have borne fruit in a variety of ways in the years since, with this being the latest manifestation. My association with the late Dave Becker, over many years, helped to nurture an interest in all aspects of aviation in South Africa. He remains the pre-eminent aviation historian of the country and his enthusiasm was an important factor in my grounding in this field, both while serving in the SAAF Museum and for years after. My thanks to the personnel of the SANDF Archives for their unfailing assistance during the many research sessions in that important collection of documents. This remains one of the most user-friendly archives in the country and that has much to do with those who work there. Between the research phase and starting to write, the encouragement of Professor Gordon Pirie of UCT was important in the decision to persevere. Thank you for seeing some potential in this academic undertaking, based on a modest research item produced when I was an undergraduate at Wits. Mrs Alett Nell of the University of Pretoria Library was most helpful in tracking several of the elusive books and documents utilized in the research and I am grateful for her assistance. Finally, to my dear wife Thea, my sincere thanks for her love and support through the past two years. Agreeing to have another "student" in the house while completing your doctoral thesis, was asking much, but I couldn't have done it without you. I hope that the dedication of this work to you, will serve as a small recompense! John Illsley Pretoria Boys High School September 2018. VI ABSTRACT The historiography of aviation has tended to view the realms of civil and military aviation as disparate endeavours whose development has by and large followed separate paths. In considering the earliest years of flying in the Union of South Africa, this study shows that from the first years in which both branches of aviation existed, there was a clear interdependence between the two. From the first military aviators being trained by a civilian flying school prior to World War One, to the beginnings of the Air Force and the first attempts at commercial aviation in the 1920s, that relationship was demonstrated. The limited number of pilots and aircraft that were active in the country for most of the inter-War period, meant that the South African Air Force provided the bulk of the expertise, in terms of administration, technical support and even some of the aviation functions generally associated with commercial enterprises. The need to build a reservist force and extract maximum value from South African Airways in the wake of the Great Depression and in the face of new potential threats after the Italian invasion of Abyssinia led to new government policies. To achieve these aims in the late 1930s, a state-subsidized Thousand Pilots Scheme was started and a dual role for SAA (as an airline and a bomber wing) was defined, mainly thanks to the initiatives of the government minister, Oswald Pirow. The immediate beneficiaries were the flying schools and the national air carrier. Outside of the government sphere, women pilots and aviation enthusiasts set up their own Women's Aviation Association. All of these measures would soon be tested in the context of another major conflict from 1939. The ability of the SAAF to make some kind of contribution in the first year of the war, can be interpreted as being the culmination of developments in the previous decades arising from a military aviation tradition that was closely linked to civil aviation enterprises in the country. Key words: South Africa; air force; civil aviation; flying clubs; airways; women aviators; World War One; World War Two. VII ABBREVIATIONS AOC Aircraft Operating Company ASL Altitude above sea level ATA Air Transport Auxiliary CFS Central Flying School [SAAF] CGS Chief of the General Staff DAS Director of Air Services DC Secretary of Defence [Defence Force Archives document group] DFA Defence Force Archives [SANDF Archives, Pretoria] DH De Havilland [aircraft company] FTS Flying Training Schools IDB Illicit Diamond Buying JATS Joint Air Training Scheme JLPC Johannesburg Light Plane Club NCO Non Commissioned Officer PAMK Pioneers of Aviation Museum, Kimberley [McGregor Museum] OC Officer Commanding OFS Orange Free State RAF Royal Air Force RFC Royal Flying Corps RNVR Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve SAA South African Airways SAAC South African Aviation Corps SAAF South African Air Force SAR&H South African Railways and Harbours TAS&P Transvaal Air Survey and Photographic Squadron VIII CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: TAKING FLIGHT The field of aviation and the historiography thereof tends to be regarded as falling into two broad and distinct divisions, namely military and civil aviation. The first of these is generally associated with the activities of air forces or air wings, while the latter describes aviation that is undertaken for commercial purposes or for recreational flying. Aircraft companies supply aircraft to both sectors, but beyond that there is generally little common ground in respect of the core purpose of each branch of aviation. It should be added that the two broad divisions do not necessarily correspond to state-controlled versus privately operated enterprises. State-owned airlines, for example, would be regarded as falling within the realm of civil aviation. This study proposes to show that the two fields of aviation did not develop in isolation but rather as parallel and interdependent branches in which the success of certain state aviation undertakings was reliant on support from the private sector and vice versa. In the formative years of aviation in South Africa, covered by this study, it is evident that at various junctures the military air wings of South Africa (the South African Aviation Corps (SAAC) prior to and during World War One (1914-1918) and the South African Air Force (SAAF) from 1920, were dependent on private companies, flying schools and South African Airways to provide aircrew training and a reserve of pilots and aircraft.
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