60 Squadron SAAF

60 Squadron

Retired 60 Squadron Boeing 707 tail number 1419
Active December 1940
Country South Africa  South Africa
Branch South African Air Force
Role Transport, aerial refueling and EW/ELINT
Current Base AFB Waterkloof
Motto(s) Accipimus Et Damus We Take and We Give
Equipment Boeing 707

60 Squadron SAAF is a squadron of the South African Air Force. It is a transport, aerial refuelling and EW(electronic warfare)/ELINT(electronic intelligence) squadron. It was first formed at Nairobi in December 1940.

During its first years the squadron flew the British Aircraft Double Eagle, Martin Maryland, de Havilland Mosquito, and the Lockheed Ventura. The squadron was reequipped with Boeing 707s in 1986.

While it was based for a long period at AFB Waterkloof, Pretoria, due to ongoing runway and taxiway repairs at that base, the squadron operated temporarily for a period out of Johannesburg International Airport.

Operations wound down with the last operational Boeing 707 flight flown on 10 July 2007 to Bujumbura, Kinshasa and Kindu.[1] The squadron appears to be in limbo, with conversion to the Airbus A400M cancelled.

Photo of Auschwitz-Birkenau taken by 60 Sqn (Sortie no. 60PR/694) under U.S. Air Force command. The selection process of a recently arrived transport visible on the ramp has been completed, and those selected to die are being taken to Crematorium II. Photo released by the Central Intelligence Agency, 1979.

References

  1. http://www.saairforce.co.za/the-airforce/squadrons/12/60-squadron


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