4 Squadron SAAF

{{Infobox military unit|

|unit_name= No. 4 Squadron

|image=Spitfire Mk.IX PT672 Evelyn b.jpg

|caption=Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX

|dates=April 1939-December 1939
March 1941-October 1945
January 1951-October 1958
November 1961-September 1991{{cite web | url=http://www.saairforce.co.za/the-airforce/squadrons/21/4-squadron | title=The Airforce - Squadrons | work=4 Squadron | access-date=September 14, 2011}}

|country= {{flagicon| South Africa|1928}}

|allegiance=

|branch= South African Air Force

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|role=Fighter Bomber{{·}}Counter Insurgency

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|motto="Mors Hosti" (Death to the Enemy)

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|identification_symbol_label=Squadron Identification Code

|identification_symbol=KJ 1942-1945{{cite book|last=Flintham|first=Vic|title=Combat Codes|year=2003|publisher=Pen & Sword Aviation|location=Barnesly|ISBN=978-1-84415-691-7|page=165}} (1942–1943){{cite book|last=Martin|first=H.J. |title=Eagles Victorious: South African Forces World War II|year=1978|publisher=Purnell|location=Cape Town|isbn=0-86843-008-0|page=44|author2=Orpen, N.D.}} (Squadron OC: Maj S.F. du Toit flew with personal identification code DUT in 1942-1943{{cite book|last=Flintham|first=Vic|title=Combat Codes|year=2003|publisher=Pen & Sword Aviation|location=Barnesly|isbn=978-1-84415-691-7|page=229}})

|identification_symbol_2=80px

|identification_symbol_2_label=4 Squadron Insignia

}}

No. 4 Squadron SAAF was a South African Air Force unit which served during World War II.

It was resurrected in 1951 and remained active until 1958. Its final period of active service was from 1961 to 1991. Its final aircraft were Impala Mk IIs. It was based at Lanseria Airport at the time of final disbandment.

History

=Establishment and deployment=

The squadron was originally equipped with Hawker Hartbees, Hawker Furys and Wapitis when it was first formed in April 1939 in Durban. It was disbanded soon thereafter (December 1939) and resurrected at AFB Waterkloof on 24 March 1941 flying Hurricanes. Operational training took place in Kenya and soon the squadron was responsible for protection against possible Italian attacks from Somaliland. While in Kenya, it received a number of Curtiss Mohawks which had been taken over from French orders.{{cite web | url=http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/SAAF/4_wwII.html | title=History of War|work=No. 4 Squadron (SAAF): Second World War | author=Rickard, J | access-date=September 14, 2011}}

=World War II=

On 1 September 1941 the squadron began moving to Egypt and converted to Tomahawks. Its first combat patrol came on 12 November, early in Operation Crusader as a fighter-bomber squadron. The squadron remained in Egypt to take part in all of the desert battles from Operation Crusader to El Alamein. The squadron also supported the advance into Tunisia as well as the invasions of Sicily and Italy. The Kittyhawks were replaced by Spitfires in July 1943. In August it moved on to Sicily and to the Italian mainland in September from where it concentrated on ground attack missions until the end of hostilities. 4 Squadron remained in Italy for two months after the end of the war; on 12 July its personnel began returning to South Africa. The squadron was disbanded in October 1945.

=Post World War II=

4 Squadron was reformed in January 1951 at AFB Waterkloof as the Active Citizen Force element of 1 Squadron with Harvards and Spitfires until once again disbanded in October 1958. On 1 November 1961, it was reformed at Swartkop, flying Harvards and in August 1972 the first Impala Jets were received.

The squadron moved from Swartkop to Waterkloof and then to Lanseria Airport, where it received Impala Mk IIs. It saw numerous deployments to South-West Africa and Mpacha and Rundu airfields in southern Angola.{{cite web | url=http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_183.shtml | publisher=Air Combat Information Unit | title=Angola: SAAF Bushwacks Six Helicopters | work=Central, Eastern and Southern Africa Database: Angola | date=2 September 2003 | access-date=September 14, 2011 | author=Cooper, Tom | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111201021431/http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_183.shtml | archive-date=1 December 2011 | url-status=usurped | df=dmy-all }} Its home base remained at Lanseria until it was disbanded in September 1991.

Aircraft

{{Gallery

| title = Aircraft flown by 4 Squadron
Note: Aircraft type photographs may not necessarily represent aircraft of the same mark or actual aircraft belonging to the squadron.

| width = 180

| height = 120

|File:Camm hart 500.jpg|Hawker Hartbeest
1939

|File:HawkerFury43sqn.jpg|Hawker Fury
1939

|File:RoseWapiti1FTS1938.jpg|Westland Wapiti
1939

|File:Goraszka 2010 Hawker Hurricane (2).jpg|Hawker Hurricane
1941

|File:Curtiss 87A Kittyhawk ExCC.jpg|Curtiss 87A Kittyhawk
1941-1943

|File:Bf 109F SAAF KJ-? on ramp.jpg|Captured Messerschmitt Bf 109F
North Africa, 1943

|File:Spitfire Mk.V 5518.jpg|Supermarine Spitfire Mk.V
1943-1945, 1951-1958

|File:Harvard 7699 c.jpg|North American T-6 Harvard
1951-1958, 1961-1972

|File:SAAF Impala MKI 589 (6902821393).jpg|Atlas Impala Mk I
1972-1991

|File:SAAF Impala MkII 1075 (6902824683).jpg|Atlas Impala Mk II
c. 1980-1991

}}

References

;Footnotes

;Citations

=Bibliography=

{{cite book|last=Agar-Hamilton|first=J.A.I.|last2=Turner |first2=L.F.C.|title=Crisis in the Desert: May – July 1942|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Cape Town|date=1952|edition=1st|volume= II}}
{{cite book|last=Brown|first=James Ambrose|title=A Gathering of Eagles: South African Forces World War II: Volume II|year=1970|publisher=Purnell|location=Cape Town}}
{{cite book|last=Brown|first=James Ambrose|title=Eagles Strike: South African Forces World War II: Volume IV|year=1974|publisher=Purnell|location=Cape Town|ISBN=0-360-00196-3}}
{{cite book|last=Brown|first=James Ambrose|title=The War of a Hundred Days:Springboks in Somalia and Abyssinia 1940-1941|year=1990|publisher=Ashanti|location=Rivonia|isbn=1-874800-10-3}}
{{cite book|first1=I.S.O.| last1=Playfair| author-link1=Ian Stanley Ord Playfair| last2=with Stitt| first2=G.M.S| last3=Molony| first3=C.J.C.| last4=Toomer| first4=S.E.|editor-last=Butler| editor-first=J.R.M| editor-link=James Ramsay Montagu Butler | series=History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series| title=Mediterranean and Middle East Volume I: The Early Successes Against Italy (to May 1941)| publisher=Naval & Military Press |location=Uckfield, UK|year=2004| orig-date=1st. pub. HMSO:1954| isbn=1-84574-065-3| name-list-style=amp}}
{{cite book|first1=I.S.O.| last1=Playfair| author-link1=Ian Stanley Ord Playfair| last3=with Flynn| first3=F.C. | last2=Molony| first2=C.J.C.| last4=Gleave| first4=T.P.|editor-last=Butler| editor-first=James| editor-link=James Ramsay Montagu Butler |series=History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series| title=The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume IV: The Destruction of the Axis Forces in Africa| publisher=Naval & Military Press |location=Uckfield, UK |year=2004| orig-date=1st. pub. HMSO:1966| isbn=1-84574-068-8| name-list-style=amp}}
{{cite book|last=Shores|first=Christopher F.|title=Pictorial History of the Mediterranean Air War |volume=II: RAF 1943–45 |year=1973|publisher=Ian Allan|location=London|isbn=0-7110-0433-1}}

External links

https://www.defenceweb.co.za/wp-content/uploads/Repository/A-Guide-to-the-SANDF/A-guide-to-the-SANDF-chapter-10-saaf-app-b-squadrons.pdf
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Category:Squadrons of the South African Air Force

Category:Disbanded military units and formations in Johannesburg

SAAF4

Category:Training units and formations of air forces

Category:Military units and formations established in 1939

Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1991