THE QUEENSTOWN AIRFIELD was developed in 1920 and grew into a WWII training school for navigators, with most of the wartime hangars and camp buildings still existent today.
Queenstown was home to 47 Air Navigation School which was part of the Joint Air Training Scheme (JATS). The air school's commanding officer was none other than Allister Miller, the founder of Union Airways and thus SAA.
Queenstown's flying history is commemorated in the QFC club house by well-known resident Mark Sahd, the driving force behind the maintenance and upkeep of the airfield. Mark is an avid De Havilland aircraft collector, and currently has the only flying De Havilland Rapide in Africa, plus his own personal Tiger Moth, and its successor, the De Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk.
Mark keeps his aircraft, including a Fairchild 24 and a Rutan Long Eze, with a few other resident aircraft in one of the remaining Bellman hangars. Remarkably, the Bellman Hangar was designed in 1936 as a temporary hangar capable of being erected or dismantled by unskilled labour with simple equipment and to be easily transportable. Five other Bellman hangars still exist, and are used by SAPS.
This story is from the June 2022 edition of SA Flyer Magazine.
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This story is from the June 2022 edition of SA Flyer Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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