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South African Air Force Heraldry

Posted: 16 Sep 2015, 19:06
by Marcus Karlsson
Discovered that the Wikipedia Article on the South African Air Force contains quite a bit of the Air Forces' Heraldry. Both present and past.

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Re: South African Air Force Heraldry

Posted: 16 Sep 2015, 19:07
by Marcus Karlsson
Air Force Bases

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Re: South African Air Force Heraldry

Posted: 16 Sep 2015, 19:11
by Marcus Karlsson
Flying Squadrons.

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Re: South African Air Force Heraldry

Posted: 17 Sep 2015, 02:38
by Mark Henderson
I never tire of military heraldry. Thanks for sharing the collection.

Re: South African Air Force Heraldry

Posted: 17 Sep 2015, 05:35
by Chris Green
What makes me think that the S African Heraldic Bureau had little or no input into these designs?

Re: South African Air Force Heraldry

Posted: 17 Sep 2015, 13:54
by Arthur Radburn
Chris Green wrote:What makes me think that the S African Heraldic Bureau had little or no input into these designs?
They have input into the designs of the coats of arms, which are signed off by the State Herald as well as by the defence force heraldry officer. Those non-heraldic squadron badges in the third panel pre-date the formation of the Bureau -- some of them date from World War II.

Re: South African Air Force Heraldry

Posted: 17 Sep 2015, 15:31
by Chris Green
They [S African Bureau of Heraldry] have input into the designs of the coats of arms, which are signed off by the State Herald as well as by the defence force heraldry officer. Those non-heraldic squadron badges in the third panel pre-date the formation of the Bureau -- some of them date from World War II.


Sadly even the shields are of uneven heraldic quality. Makhado Air Force base for example, not only breaks the tincture "rule", but makes use of a pale green possibly unique in the annals of heraldry.

Trying to work out which badges might date back to WW2, I guessed that SAAF units would have used a similar design to the RAF, but apparently not. The only South African unit to do so seems to have been 26 Squadron RFC (latterly RAF) during WW1.

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Re: South African Air Force Heraldry

Posted: 17 Sep 2015, 16:35
by Arthur Radburn
Chris Green wrote:Sadly even the shields are of uneven heraldic quality. Makhado Air Force base for example, not only breaks the tincture "rule", but makes use of a pale green possibly unique in the annals of heraldry.
This may be a case of a poor digital image rather than poor heraldry.
Trying to work out which badges might date back to WW2, I guessed that SAAF units would have used a similar design to the RAF, but apparently not. The only South African unit to do so seems to have been 26 Squadron RFC (latterly RAF) during WW1.

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All the squadron badges which are not shown on shields (and 26 and 44 Sqn's which are) date from WWII or shortly afterwards. Some of them originated as "nose art", painted on the aircraft fuselages.

SAAF didn't adopt the RAF-style badge frames until about 1950, and it used them for only a few years. The SAAF version had protea flowers and leaves instead of the golden leaves.

26 Sqn RAF's badge dates only from about 1936, the SA theme being chosen because many of the original members had been ex-SA Aviation Corps. The motto is mis-spelled in this rendition : there should be an apostrophe in front of N, and "in der lug" should be "in die lug".

Re: South African Air Force Heraldry

Posted: 19 Sep 2015, 10:54
by Marcus Karlsson
Chris Green wrote:
They [S African Bureau of Heraldry] have input into the designs of the coats of arms, which are signed off by the State Herald as well as by the defence force heraldry officer. Those non-heraldic squadron badges in the third panel pre-date the formation of the Bureau -- some of them date from World War II.


Sadly even the shields are of uneven heraldic quality. Makhado Air Force base for example, not only breaks the tincture "rule", but makes use of a pale green possibly unique in the annals of heraldry.


I this case I belive it is a case of missrendering of the acctual colours in the Pictures. The proper one sould be a brodure argent and the field Sable with the Northern Star and Pheon Or. The Motto Castrum Boeralis means Northen Castle/Fortress indicating the Northern location. It was opened in 1987 as AFB Louis Trichardt named for the nearby town. In 2003 the the Base followed the Town in beeing renamed Makhado, but has not followed suit when the Town reverted to it old name. Today it is home amongst others of South Africa's only remaining Jet Fighter Squadron No 2 Squadron flying Swedish JAS 39 Gripen.

The SAAF Reserve Squadrons all have heraldic Arms:

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Re: South African Air Force Heraldry

Posted: 19 Sep 2015, 10:56
by Marcus Karlsson
Security Squadrons, a Griffin holding a Sword and on an embattled chief a symbol denoting the Squadron (usualy a symbol of the Base where it is based).

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