The Day I got to scramble the South African Air Force

SAAF Puma

One of the many consequences of the South African government’s policy of apartheid was that it was deprived of access to sophisticated arms as well as search and rescue technology by bodies such as the United Nations.  As a result, we were not able to upgrade the search and rescue capability along our long coastline.  In spite of this, the outside world still looked to us for assistance whenever any of their ships were in trouble.  One such incident occurred in 1980.

The Danish government approached the Department on 12 January 1980 and informed us that one of their merchant marine vessels, the M S “Pep Ice”, had gone aground at Bassas da India in the Mocambique Channel, and that the ship was in the process of breaking up.  We were asked if it would be at all possible to rescue the crew from the stranded vessel.  

I approached the South African Air Force and asked if they were able to assist.  As I had expected, their immediate response was that it was impossible as Bassas da India was too far from land for any of our helicopters to make it there and back.  Furthermore, the closest land was Mocambique where we would have to refuel, and our relations with that country in 1980, five years after independence, were not good.  I informed the Danish Embassy accordingly.

SAAF Transall

A few hours later I received a telephone call from General Earp of the SAAF.  He was quite excited and told me that that they had researched the matter more deeply and that they had discovered that there was a gravel airstrip on the nearby Europa Island, which belonged to France.  If the SAAF could get permission to land there, they were confident that they could dismantle a Puma helicopter, stow it in a Transall transport aircraft and take enough avgas with them to fuel the helicopter for the trips between Europa and Bassas, rescue the crew and return to Pretoria.  However, for this to happen they had to get permission from Mocambique to land at Maputo to refuel as well as to overfly Mocambican airspace, and they needed permission from the French to land on Europa Island.  

This was conveyed to the Danish Embassy with the request that they obtained the necessary authorizations from the French and Mocambican authorities.  Meanwhile the SAAF was making its preparations to depart as soon as the requisite authorizations had been received.  While the Danes were involved in getting the necessary authorizations, I considered it prudent to inform our contact in the Mocambican government, Sergio Vieira, of developments.

Obtaining French permission was simple and it was given immediately.  The Mocambican angle was considerably more difficult.  Because of the parlous state of relations between South Africa and Mocambique, the Danes felt that it would be essential to obtain the approval of President Samora Machel himself.  The problem was that the Danes did not have representation in Maputo, so they approached the Swedes for assistance. 

They in turn were informed that the President was out of town and that he would only return to Maputo the next day.  In view of the fact that the weather was worsening and the ship was in danger of breaking up, the Swedish Ambassador realized that time was of the essence.  He managed to ascertain exactly where the President was and went out to see him.  At 2am he managed to get the President’s approval, and by 3am I was able to scramble the SAAF.

By 5am the three Transalls were on their way, one carrying the Puma helicopter, the second carrying the fuel and the third taking the personnel.  When they arrived at Maputo airport at 6:30am, they were completely unexpected and the Mocambicans thought they were being invaded by the South African Air Force!  The planes were required to circle for a while until the tower managed to find out that the mission had been authorized by their President.

After refueling, the three aircraft left for Europa Island, and by 3pm that same day, the helicopter was on its way to Bassas da India.  The crew later reported that they were overcome to see this solitary helicopter coming from nowhere to pick them off the ship while it was breaking up.  Then the whole mission reversed itself, and by 10pm the Danish crew arrived at Waterkloof Air Base outside Pretoria.  Naturally we made quite a bit of this rescue, and Minister Pik Botha and members of the press were out in force to take photographs and interview the somewhat bemused survivors.

Fourteen years later, I was Consul-General in Chicago and was invited to a dinner to welcome the newly-arrived Danish Consul-General, Bent Kiilerich.  Over a very convivial table, for some reason I related the story of this shipwreck.  One of the American guests remarked that it sounded quite preposterous, whereupon Kiilerich calmly remarked that the story I had related was perfectly true.  Unknown to me, he had been the Danish co-ordinator of the rescue in Copenhagen and he assured the guests that it had been quite difficult to get all the role players onto the same page!

I may also add that the rescue itself elicited considerable comment from aviation experts and admirers in view of its technical difficulty and the innovative way in which the SAAF solved the problem.

   

Eric Broekhuysen