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9-438: AFB Swartkop is home to the headquarters and largest of the three museum locations, occupying at least five hangars. It contains a number of Dassault Mirage IIIs , Dassault Mirage F1s , Atlas Cheetahs and various other historical aircraft as well as aviation-related items on display such as ejection seats , uniforms, aircraft engines, aircraft weaponry and a Cheetah C flight simulator. Aircraft on display AFB Ysterplaat

18-676: A coelacanth fish specimen from the Comoros Islands . Aircraft on display There are few exhibits at the Port Elizabeth Airport branch of the museum because of the limited hangar space available. Static exhibits are housed in the original 42-Air School Air Gunnery Training Centre used during the Joint Air Training Scheme in World War II . Aircraft on display Active restoration

27-506: Is being performed on a number of North American Harvards and there is a project to restore an Airspeed Oxford . One of the more unusual exhibits is a Jorg IV Skimmerfoil ground-effect craft . AFB Swartkop Air Force Base Swartkop ( ICAO : FASK ) is South Africa's oldest air force base and houses the South African Air Force Museum . It is managed as part of AFB Waterkloof and houses one of

36-458: Is home to the last airworthy Avro Shackleton . The Shackleton has been grounded for several years already though, as there is no qualified aircrew and the remaining airframe hours are insufficient to train new crew, apart from the obvious concern of preservation of this historic aircraft. The Douglas C-47 Dakota here, is the aircraft used in 1952 by the SAAF to help Professor J. L. B. Smith acquire

45-607: The base reverted to the original "Zwartkop" in 2012. The SAAF claims Swartkop is the second oldest air station in the world and the oldest operational air station in the world. Over the years many distinguished Squadrons have been based at Swartkop. This includes 26 Squadron SAAF which was formed there on 24 August 1942. The Chief of the South African Air Force opened the relocated South African Air Force Museum at AFB Swartkop in 1993. The Air Force Base reverted to Air Force Station status in 1999. This decision

54-642: The northern side of the base while 17 Squadron is housed at the southern side of the base. In May 2023 the facility was redesignated a "mobile deployment wing". The South African Air Force Memorial is located at Swartkop. It contains a roll of honour of SAAF personnel who have been killed on duty as well as a memorial to personnel of all nations that died during the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in South Africa. 17 Squadron SAAF 17 Squadron SAAF

63-584: The three branches of the South African Air Force Museum . The name of the air force base, Swartkop means Black hill in Afrikaans . AFB Swartkop is located in the town Centurion (previously Verwoerdburg) in the Gauteng Province of South Africa , between Pretoria and Midrand ( Johannesburg ), which is a part of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality . Air Force Station (AFS) Zwartkop

72-801: Was established in April 1921 after a private farm named Zwartkop was acquired by the Government in 1920. The Dutch spelling of Zwartkop was retained for the Air Force Station that was subsequently established there. On 1 April 1949, the Dutch spelling was dropped in favour of the Afrikaans spelling and resulted in Air Force Station Swartkop. The Air Force Station was upgraded to an Air Force Base on 1 February 1968. The name of

81-481: Was made by the South African Air Force to vacate the base and leave behind the South African Air Force Museum located there and to keep the Airfield as an extension of Air Force Base Waterkloof . The SAAF Museum Historic Flight has also moved to the airfield. As of December 2013 the South African Air Force still hasn't vacated all operational units on the base. The South African Air Force Museum currently occupies

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