My wife and I visited Rand Airport in Germiston, South Africa on May 24-25, 2024, where we stayed overnight at Captain "Flippie" Vermeulen's Dakota Lodge located on the airport. The obvious reason for the visit was to visit the South African Airways Museum and check out the other Propliners located on the airport. Unfortunately, with the shutdown of Skyclass Aviation, none of the airport's Propliners are airworthy. The Dakota Lodge is an attraction on itself with many aviation artifacts on display throughout the building. The original SAA hangar is attached to the lodge and was full of aircraft including SAA Museum DC-3 ZS-BXF and Springbok Classic Air DC-3 ZS-KEX, which was disassembled. Springbok Classic Air long-nosed Be18 ZS-OIJ was also in the hangar and this aircraft flies regularly. The lodge is a great place to stay for any aviation enthusiast and is located a short distance away from the Harvard Cafe, which is a great place to grab a burger and beer or a full meal.
Captain Vermeulen had arranged for a ramp tour of the airport on Saturday morning May 25th and we met up with Tim Homan and his brother Caleb promptly at 8am. SAA Museum DC-4 ZS-BMH "Lebombo" and Flying Dutchman Foundation DC-4 ZS-AUA are parked in a grass field a short distance from the Dakota Lodge and they were the first stop on our tour. ZS-BMH was in period SAA colors and looked to be in excellent condition while ZS-AUA was partially disassembled and stripped of her former KLM colors. While restoration has been halted, we were told that the engines and other components are stored in a nearby hangar. Also parked nearby were Fokker F27-500RF Friendship D2-ESN and Piaggio P.166S ZS-NKN. Neither appeared to be airworthy.
Parked near the Phoebus Apollo Aviation hangar was DC-4/C-54M ZS-PAI "Atlas," Carvair 9J-PAA and DC-9-32 ZS-PAK. All were complete but it's obvious that none had flown in quite a number of years. Phoebus Apollo's DC-3 ZS-DIW "Pegasus" is stored in a private hangar and I was not able to see this aircraft.
The South African Airways Museum is located on the other side of the airport and we spent the rest of our visit there. This museum is a treasure trove of Propliners and a visit has been on my "bucket list" for many years. I never thought I would get there but, when our around-the-world cruise was diverted around Africa due to the current Middle East situation, a visit became a very real possibility. We departed the cruise ship in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and rejoined it two days later in Cape Town. I had earlier contacted museum Chairman John Austin-Williams (aka Jaws) about the visit and it coincided with a "Career Day" event at the museum. After getting an historic overview of the museum by Jaws, we headed out to the display area to see the aircraft.
Top on my list of things to see was Lockheed Starliner ZS-DVJ and Mike Paterson provided a personal tour of the aircraft, both inside and outside. Of the four surviving Starliners, ZS-DVJ is the only example that has never been converted to a freighter. Disassembled and moved from OR Tambo Airport to Rand Airport by road October 2017, the aircraft was reassembled by museum volunteers and externally complete by October 2019. She's looking good inside and out, which is a real testament to the dedication of the museum's volunteers.
Other Propliners on outdoor display are former Phoebus Apollo Aviation C-54D ZS-PAJ "Helios"; former SAA DC-4 ZS-AUB "Outeniqua"; and Vickers VC-1 Viking ZS-DKH. The Viking is an early model, which had fabric covered wings. For the time being, the wings have been left uncovered to show the wing structure. Keith Lennard, who was responsible to the majority of restoration work on the aircraft, gave us a tour of the aircraft and his handiwork. In addition to the aircraft stored outdoors, DH.104 Dove ZS-BCC "Katberg" and Lodestar ZS-ASN "Andries Pretorius" are on display in a hangar with many other small artifacts and exhibits.
In addition to the Propliners, four aircraft of more modern vintage on display at the museum include B737-219 ZS-SMD; SAA's first B747-244 ZS-SAN "Lebombo"; B747SP ZS-SPC "Maluti"; and the forward fuselage of B707-344C ZS-SAI "East London." Matt Harvey gave me a private tour of the B747SP, which included an opportunity to sit in the left seat of the cockpit!
I asked Jaws about the museum's Junkers (CASA 352L) ZS-AFA and he said "it's in the SAA Apprentice Training School hangar at SAA Technical, OR Tambo Airport. While not on display it's out of harm's way." I'd like to thank all of the folks at Springbok Classic Air and the South African Airways Museum for making this a very memorable day. I'd also like to thank my wife who convinced me that we needed to make the trip and then spending almost a full day at Rand Airport checking out airplanes and meeting new South African friends. For more information about these fine organizations, check out the Springbok Classic Air and South African Airways Museum websites.
Ralph M. Pettersen
May 2024
Photo Credits: Timothy Homan, Ralph M. Pettersen
