Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Trans-Africa aviators’ epic flight remembered
Some key events from this week in history are reflected in the following reports from the archives of the Argus’s 160-year-old titles
HESPERUS Andrias van Ryneveld distinguished himself as a fighter ace in the skies over the Western Front during World War I, but his fame, and a knighthood, followed an epic flight two years after the end of hostilities that inaugurated South Africa’s air link with Britain.
Senekal-born Colonel Pierre – as he was better known – van Ryneveld, co-pilot Captain Quintin Brand and two mechanics, one of them FW Sherratt of Rolls-Royce, set out from England in a twin-engine Vickers Vimy on February 4, 1920. Forty-four days, two aeroplanes and umpteen misadventures later, they arrived in Cape Town on March 20.
The first Vimy was replaced by a second in Heliopolis. When that crashed on take-off at Bulawayo, South Africa provided a replacement, a single-engine De Havilland DH9, christened “Voortrekker”, in which the doughty pilots completed the last leg of their pioneering flight.
Their arrival was eagerly awaited in Cape Town, as the following report of Saturday, March 20, 1920 makes plain.
The Voortrekker arrived safely this afternoon at 4 o’clock. Throughout the afternoon the whole of the Peninsula was kept in a state of great suppressed excitement awaiting the news of the approach of the gallant airmen who have had so adventurous an air journey across the continent of Africa.
News had come to hand at intervals reporting her progress, but from the time it was announced that the machine had left Beaufort West, excitement increased.
It was clear from succeeding telegrams that the aeroplane was travelling at a high rate of speed. When it was announced that she had passed Wellington, the “Argus” hooter was sounded as a warning to the people of the Peninsula to be on the watch, and immediately there was a great rush to places of advantage.
Thousands went out to the Wynberg Aerodrome to witness the landing, and the telephone in the editorial office of the “Cape Argus” was kept continuously going by those anxious to obtain the latest news. It was impossible to reply to all the detailed questions, for the staff at the time were very busy.
The weather during the early part of the afternoon had been somewhat dull and at times it seemed as though rain would fall, but fortunately this did not happen, but there was a fresh wind blowing, and probably the airmen experienced a stronger breeze than did those below.
Fortunately just before 3.30 the clouds cleared and a bright, clear sky was the result. Anxiety increased moment by moment. On occasions one heard half-whispers of a hope that nothing had happened. The suggestion was too terrible to entertain, and the pessimists obtained no encouragement from the crowds.
By 4 o’clock there was a very large crowd waiting around the Wynberg Aerodrome. A few minutes before that time a shout went up, “There she comes!” and the Voortrekker was seen flying high and fast with ease and gracefulness towards her landing place.
She made several beautiful spiral movements in descending, and as she neared the ground, loud cheers were raised again and again.
The excitement was most intense. The progress of the aeroplane was closely watched, and her landing movements elicited general admiration. Colonel van Ryneveld gave a perfect landing.
The story of their flight across the Mediterranean is one of the most thrilling episodes in the history of aviation. The aviators flew into the teeth of a howling gale, and the actual flight lasted only two hours less than the Atlantic flight of Alcock and Brown (only months earlier, in June 1919).
A brief recapitulation of the flight already accomplished will be of interest. In the early morning of February 4, Colonel van Ryneveld, Capt. Brand, and two mechanics, set off from Brooklands Aerodrome on the Silver Queen, a standard Vickers Vimy-Rolls bomber, which had been slightly modified for the flight. Their first stop, of fifteen minutes duration only, was in France, in order to determine their exact position, low-lying clouds having made navigation difficult.
Then they flew via Turin and Rome to Sollum, in Egypt, which they reached after a memorable trans- Mediterranean flight on February 7th. The airmen then proceeded to Cairo, landing there at midnight in the light of flares.
At midnight on February 10, the long flight southwards began. The first crash occurred at Kurusku, north-east of Wadi Halfa, where the aviators descended to earth in pitch darkness owing to engine failure, and were fortunate in escaping with their lives.
The only thing to be done was to return to Cairo, and, undaunted by the accident, Colonel van Ryneveld immediately set about procuring another machine. With the assistance of the RAF Headquarters, Middle East, Silver Queen 11 was fitted out with the old engines, and on February 22nd a fresh start was made, the first stage being at Wadi Halfa.
On February 23 the new machine arrived at Khartoum, and then pushed on to Manzalla and Kisumu, arriving eventually at Abercorn at 2.45pm on February 28, and leaving next day again for N’Dola, where she was delayed for a short time by rain.
Leaving N’Dola early on the morning of March 1st she arrived at Broken Hill shortly afterwards, and landed at Livingstone on the following day. Here she was delayed for several days owing to the ground being water-logged, an attempt to take her off nearly resulting in a crash.
On March 5th, however, Silver Queen 11 was able to proceed, and landed at Bulawayo at 12.55pm on the same day.
Everything now seemed to point to success in the flight, but fate ordained otherwise, and five minutes after leaving Bulawayo the machine crashed, the accident being explained by Colonel van Ryneveld as an error of judgement on his part in carrying too much petrol, thus unduly weighing the machine down.
This seemed to be the end of the flight, but so great was public sympathy with the aviators that the Union Government sent them a new machine, which was named the “Voortrekker.” It was on March 17th then that the flight to the Cape was resumed.
( Both Van Ryneveld – who formed the South African Air Force in 1920, and retired from a lifetime’s service in 1949 – and Brand earned knighthoods for their flight.)