South African Air Force Ladies:

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Major Catherine Labuschagne “Siren”
First female Gripen pilot (Globally, not only in the SAAF – even the SwAF didn’t have one at the time Siren qualified.)

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Major Heybrecht van Niekerk “Valiant”
First female member of the elite Silver Falcons aerobatic team.

There are an unkown number of female pilots flying transports and helicopters.
The first female trainee pilots entered the SAAF ab-initio flying training in 1995 after the adoption of the post-apartheid constitution which outlawed gender discrimination.

According to http://www.avdex.co.za ZS-ONE is Serial 500-0002.
It was registered on 14 July 1997. There is no record available of what/where it was before that date.

Abby can crack any crypto used by any uber-seekrit guvmint agency in time for Jethro and the Mossad babe to get the bad guy every time!

(Guess who’s been watching NCIS reruns!:cool:)

South Africa might cancel A400M but wants maritime aircraft.

South Africa’s Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence is currently investigating the consequences of the delay in the Airbus A400M production schedule. Hard questions are being asked about the deal which may face cancellation due to costs more than doubling.
http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4612&Itemid=350

Meanwhile the SAAF have announced a requirement for an all new Maritime Patrol and Surveillance fleet. The requirement is for five long-range Patrol aircraft armed with anti-surface and anti-submarine weapons. A further 8 smaller unarmed Surveillance aircraft are required for policing the EEZ.
http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4592&Itemid=350

Further details posted on a SAAF related web forum has revealed that CASA 295’s are the unnoficial “pre-race favourites” in the long-range, armed role and Beech King Air350ER’s (probably equipped with optronics suites) for EEZ surveillance.
http://www.saairforce.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2129&start=15

The SAAF currently operates 11 C47TP “TurboDaks” in a limited MR role but these WW2 vintage aircraft are due for retirement by 2014.

Rule No.3 – Never say “I’ll be right back”, because you won’t.
😉

Unless you say it with an Austrian accent 😎

It is possible to transfer people between aircraft in mid-air by dangling them from ropes. This is true even for presidents and other untrained people – not only the “special unit” hunks.

Any loss of power will always cause an uncontrolled high speed dive – in any aircraft type. The dive will always be accompanied by a sound like a T6’s propeller at high power (transonic blade tips).

When the hero ejects from his fighter he is always fully mobile when he lands – no sign of even a slight backache from having a rocket shove his butt out of the aforementioned plane.

Wearing a bulletproof vest prevents all injury. Not even a “high calibre” bullet can bruise him or crack a rib.

Two-way radios always work with perfect reception – no noise or fading – even on HF SSB (Does anyone in Hollywood even know what SSB is?)

Discussion of the incident at the SAAF Forum…
http://www.saairforce.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2116

The radar looks a lot like Kameelperd. Is it in fact the same/similar?

Does the SA Army have MANPADS in service?

I am aware that they “aquired” a number of SAM-7 launchers and missiles from the Cubans and Angolans, but those would surely be at the end of (or past) their shelf life by now.