Progress on submarine annex to Naval Museum
The latest addition to Simon’s Town’s naval infrastructure – a dedicated submarine annex to the SA Naval Museum – is moving slow ahead with...
Simon’s Town muzzle loading cannon firing dates finalised
A historic 9-inch rifled muzzle loading cannon (RML) is one of the South African Naval Museum’s premier exhibits and its firing is proving a...
Forward movement for SAN submarine museum
Slow and steady wins the race is the mantra of those working to create a permanent home for the last remaining Daphne submersible in...
SA Jewish community honours forgotten South African war heroes
At a unique ceremony late last month, the South African Jewish community honoured soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the two World Wars...
Desecrated Barberton gunners’ plinth restored
As September – Heritage Month in South Africa – draws to a close the efforts of old soldiers in restoring an important part of...
UPDF delegation in Simon’s Town
The Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) delegation visiting South African military museums interrupted its study tour for a courtesy call on Flag Officer Fleet...
Battle of Delville Wood commemorated
The Battle of Delville Wood was the first major engagement entered into by the South Africans on the Western Front during the First World...
Gunners’ Memorial Service
Sunday, 15 May, sees the Annual Gunners’ Memorial take place at Dassierand, Potchefstroom in North West.
Presented under the aegis of the Gunners’ Association of...
The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale remembered
South Africa’s Department of Military Veterans (DMV), part of Minister Thandi Modise’s portfolio, has this month commemorated the December 1987 to March 1988 Battle...
Remembering SAS Donkin and the Navy in Eastern Cape
Gqeberha’s involvement with the SA Navy (SAN) via Naval Station Port Elizabeth (NSPE) and a former part-time force unit saw the Officer-in-Charge of the...
Empowering the guardians of military culture
Forward thinking by two academics and a senior warrant officer is paving the way for empowerment of the men and women traditionally known as...
Simon’s Town’s significance in SA military history showcased
The most senior warrant officers’ course in the SANDF (SA National Defence Force), the Joint Warrant Officers’ Programme (JWOP) based at the Warrant Officers...
Mariepskop SAAF radar site proving its worth 50 years on
Mariepskop is a prime SA Air Force (SAAF) installation in Mpumalanga, formerly Eastern Transvaal, monitoring airspace for effective protection and utilisation which continues today...
SA Legion reaches 100 years milestone
Opening the Centenary Congress of the South African Legion of Military Veterans, Deputy Mayor of Cape Town, Alderman Ian Neilson, last week said the...
France’s Macron calls 1961 massacre of Algerians an ‘unforgivable crime’
Emmanuel Macron on Saturday denounced as an "unforgivable crime" a bloody crackdown on Algerian protesters by police in Paris 60 years ago, the strongest...
The South African Legion to commemorate centenary in Cape Town
The SA Legion will be holding its centenary from 15 to 17 October in Cape Town, to be opened by Deputy Mayor Ian Nielson....
Lockdown regulations cut SANDF museums visitor numbers
With Heritage Month ending the three known SA National Defence Force (SANDF) museums have, in common with other repositories of history, been hamstrung by...
Black and Indian pilots are part and parcel of SAAF heritage
The SAAF (SA Air Force Museum) in its Heritage Month contribution notes the first “person of colour” to be awarded wings was Koomaresen Eargambram.
An...
Russian volunteers honoured at Anglo-Boer War Museum
A plaque has been unveiled commemorating Russian volunteers who had fought in the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).
Timed to coincide with South Africa’s Heritage Day, the...
Passion for military aviation leads to flight gear collection
A Cape Town residence is home to a veritable treasure trove of military aviation memorabilia including a South African designed, developed and fabricated helmet-mounted...
Military History Museum maintenance day
Ex-servicemen did their bit for South Africa’s military history days ahead of 1 September, which marks the start of Heritage Month, putting elbow grease...
Egypt finds ancient military vessel, Greek graves in sunken city
Divers have discovered rare remains of a military vessel in the ancient sunken city of Thônis-Heracleion - once Egypt's largest port on the Mediterranean...
British Empire’s African soldiers to receive belated recognition
African soldiers and bearers who fought for the British Empire in little-known theatres of World War I will finally be acknowledged equally to British...
Veterans spit and polish parade at Military History Museum
The premier showcase of South African military history - the National Museum of Military History in Johannesburg – will be on the receiving end...
SA military museums battling but not destitute
Preservation of South Africa’s history is an important component of the national psyche with the military side doing reasonably well compared to some other...
Spitfire 5518 restoration progressing despite COVID hiccups
Over the past 12 months, the SAAF Museum Spitfire Restoration Project has much inaction mainly due to the effects of COVID-19, with a major...
SA Naval Museum goes high-tech
With a new visitor enhancement feature now up and running, SA Naval Museum curator Commander Leon Steyn is keeping pace with international museum developments...
End of World War II in Europe commemorated at Freedom Park
8 May 1945 marked the end of the Second World War in Europe and in honour of this occasion, a commemoration and wreath-laying ceremony...
Air Force Association SAAF 100 book project progressing
Earlier this year the SA Air Force Association (SAAFA) launched its SAAF 100 book project to “reflect on milestones and highlights in the development...
Stamps mark SAAF centenary
Last year’s SA Air Force (SAAF) centenary celebrations were severely curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic and in one instance saw only a handover of...
UK sorry for ‘pervasive racism’ over commemoration of Black and Asian war dead
Britain apologised on Thursday for failures that meant "pervasive racism" may have denied a proper commemoration to as many as 350 000 Black and...
Cuban Embassy delegation visits SAAF Museum
A delegation from the Cuban Embassy together with a representative of the Cuban Co-operation Brigades in South Africa has paid a visit to the...
Cuito Cuanavale commemoration
What has become popularly known as the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale was commemorated this week at Freedom Park, the first heritage project to rise...
SAAF Museum re-establishes ties with McGregor Museum
The SA Air Force (SAAF) Museum, the keeper of and responsible for South Africa’s military aviation heritage, renewed ties with the McGregor Museum outside...
SAAF looks back on de Bod’s Boputhatswana and SA Air Force service
As part of remembering its heritage, the South African Air Force has shone a spotlight on the contributions of retired Brigadier General Ettienne de...
Mendi sinking will be remembered in Soweto and elsewhere
The pivotal event on which Armed Forces Day is based on will be marked by President Cyril Ramaphosa laying a wreath at the Mendi...
Joint publication planned to commemorate SAAF 100 and SAAFA 75
The underwhelming efforts of the SA Air Force (SAAF) to mark its centenary appropriately last year – aided and abetted to a large extent...
Ngema looks back on SAAF time
Retired SA Air Force (SAAF) two-star general Nhlanhla Lucky Job Ngema was, according to the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), the first black South...
How SA paratroops destroyed a rebel group and didn’t even know it
Two parachute assaults, both in May 1978, some 1 500 kms apart led to the destruction of an African independence movement, the Front de...
Navy Museum opening, SAAF Museum still locked down
The SA Naval Museum in Simon’s Town is the first military history facility to take advantage of level two lockdown regulations and will open...
Commemorative SADF boot knives
Johannesburg-based knifemaker Sean Culhane is producing a range of boot knives commemorating South African Defence Force medals and units.
Culhane is working on a limited...
Definitive book on the Ratel infantry combat vehicle published
After ten years in the making, a new two-volume book on the Ratel infantry combat vehicle (ICV) has been completed by a group of...
SS Mendi: ‘poignant’ part of history
The sacrifice of hundreds of men on board the SS Mendi when the vessel sank on the morning of 21 February 1917 will never...
Gate guards are part of military aviation history and tradition
The deployment of gate guards in the form of aircraft no longer in service is a time-honoured tradition in air forces around the world...
SAAF centenary: When the past collides with the present
The South African Air Force (SAAF) is generally accepted as having been formed on 1 February 1920. This makes it the second oldest Commonwealth...
SA Air Force Association marks 75 years of camaraderie and help
The SA Air Force Association (SAAFA) this year marks its 75th anniversary with a number of events, the first taking place later this month...
SANDF to support National Civic Remembrance Day
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) will be supporting the National Civic Remembrance Day Service and Wreath Laying Ceremony in Johannesburg this coming...
A South African aviation pioneer’s story
It's a far cry from the jumbo jets of today back down the years to the goggles and oil-spattered overalls of those pilots who...
Voortrekker preparing for final berthing at Naval Museum
Another component of South African naval history is en route to the SA Navy Museum in Simon’s Town.
That component is the ocean yacht Voortrekker...
Veterans Military Fair coming to Edenvale
Edenvale in Gauteng is the place to be on Saturday 29 June if you are a collector of military memorabilia in any number of...
