Peter Baxter - SAAF's Border War

Lord, Brig-Gen Dick. From Fledgling to Eagle: The South African Air Force during the Border War , 30 Degrees South, Johannesburg, 2008, p. 232.

Lord, Brig-Gen Dick. From Fledgling to Eagle: The South African Air Force during the Border War , 30 Degrees South, Johannesburg, 2008, p. 290.

Arguably the most famous of these is Etosha Pan, situated in north/central Namibia and part of the Etosha Pan National Park. Similar features are scattered throughout the region and may be as small as a few dozen metres across or as expansive as Etosha Pan which is 120km long at its widest girth.

Volcano was a SWAPO Special Force/commando unit trained to a higher degree than most PLAN combatants, with individuals referring to themselves as Typhoon comrades. This group infiltrated SWA in 1983 and were dealt with in Operation Phoenix of that same year.

Lord, Brig-Gen Dick. From Fledgling to Eagle: The South African Air Force during the Border War , 30 Degrees South, Johannesburg, 2008, p. 305.

Lord, Brig-Gen Dick. From Fledgling to Eagle: The South African Air Force during the Border War , 30 Degrees South, Johannesburg, 2008, p. 309.

Jamba, Cuando Cubango Province (distinct from Jamba in Huíla Province) is situated in the southeastern corner of Angola, more or less equidistant between Rundu and Katima Mulilo in Nambia and therefore very close to the centre of South African operations.

By 1984, the regional coverage by Soviet-supplied radar systems located in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Angola fairly comprehensively blanketed the region in overlapping spheres. However, between Cuito Cuanavale in Angola and Mulobezi in Zambia a narrow gap of coverage existed that allowed SAAF aircraft to slip behind enemy lines more or less at will. In order for that gap to be closed it was necessary for the town of Mavinga to be liberated from UNITA control, which in large part was why the battle for that town was so consistent and so hard-fought.

The CIA and South Africa seldom, if ever, overlapped in their support of UNITA. To quote southern African military historian Peter Stiff from his exhaustive study of South African reconnaissance operations, The Silent War : “Cooperation between the CIA and the SADF was at arm’s length. There was no joint planning of operations in support of UNITA. In fact, like suitors in a love triangle, both competed for UNITA’s favours.”

Lord, Brig-Gen Dick. From Fledgling to Eagle: The South African Air Force during the Border War , 30 Degrees South, Johannesburg, 2008, p. 426.

The clean/dirty configuration in aviation parlance implies a minimum of drag experienced with undercarriage lifted, no outboard tanks and no underwing armaments: clean configuration. Conversely, with various accoutrements attached to an aircraft when fully loaded, with weapons and fuel tanks included, increased drag in flight, inhibiting manoeuvrability and implying disadvantage: dirty configuration.

Dubois, Paul, Mirage F1 in SAAF Service , www.sa-transport.co.za.

Koevoet, known officially as the South West African Police Counter-Insurgency Unit (SWAPOL-COIN), was a counter-insurgency unit operational during the 1970s and 1980s. The majority of the members were native Namibians. The unit was disbanded soon after this incident. Koevoet translates in the Afrikaans as a ‘crowbar’.

Torreguitar, Elena, National Liberation Movements in Office: Forging Democracy with African Adjectives in Namibia , Peter Lang, Frankfurt, 2009, p. 138.