Though to be fair, I should point out that photographs of Zimbabwean Air Force aircraft piloted by white guys won’t be proof of mercenaries being hired. I’m not sure how many white Zimbabweans remain within the AFZ (probably none by now), but there have definitely been a few in the ranks over the past 20 years.
The same applies to South Africa, whose pilots are still overwhelmingly white. One shouldn’t be too quick to categorise “African or non-African” based on skin colour alone.
Yes, you do have a point, especially with South Africa. I’d actually never seen a white Zimbabwean pilot, but I had not gotten a look at any native ones either, which is why i asked.
You make a good poiint, since there are whites in Africa. Its just that, I’ve seen pictures of other air forces(a Zambian one recently, and several others) and the pilots were white. I read up on Angola, and found that most of the pilots were also white mercenaries or whites from SA, or cuban(though there were natives piloting to, just in smaller numbers).
I guess I just want to see a little more when it comes to actual Africans flying some of their own planes. We rarely see it. Places like SA would have mostly white pilots probably due to the fact that blacks were only allowed to start flying a decade ago. I dont think we’d see as many white zimbabweans flying, if only because the regime there is primarily anti white.(although there probably have been a few). I’m sure white Saffies could be called Africans to, but I’m talking about the actual black, native indigenous Africans who seem to make up the majority of the population, but who we rarely ever get to see.
Please dont take me for a racist or anything, that is not at all what I’m trying to get at. I’m just really interested in seeing any of these rare photos or getting some of the info, because its just such an uncommon occurence.
As for indigenous pilots, I have found some info on ACIG:
http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_537.shtml
“The local unit was under command of a Major with previous experience on Strikemasters. I saw no other foreign pilots there, except a single Indian instructor (he even wore the full IAF uniform), providing air-to-air training to BDF-crews. Otherwise, pilots selected for flying CF-5s were mostly locals, with only one exception: a Flight-Lieutenant from South Africa. “
13 jets total, and they probably have more than one pilot per jet…maybe training about 16-17 guys. Of those, only three of them aren’t locals.
That isn’t so bad.:)
Hey, if anyone has anymore info, please share!:D
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