SAAF planes 'stolen' by departing pilots - Defence Minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula
 

So around here other than the country going up in flames and on the brink of a tribal war or race war or whatever you'd like to call it and the 50 odd murders per day, its actually a relatively quiet news week.

For your entertainment I bring you a story from our esteemed Minister of Defence who has a good story as to why there are no pilots to fly the 26 Gripen Multi-Role Fighter Jets:

http://www.politicsweb.co.za/news-an...ts--nosiviwe-m

Now there was a time when SAAF pilots were considered at least the equal of any in the world often going up against adversaries in much newer and more sophisticated machinery as well as negotiating their way around possibly the most heavily defended airspace of the period. Now that they have the machinery it appears that much of it has been destroyed by incompetent handling and maintenance or is in mothballs because of a lack of skilled personal to operate and maintain them. Of course there may be thousands of skilled whites who were more than happy to mentor youngsters into those roles but that would never do. Nothing less than a complete ousting of thousands of man-hours of experience and skill followed by the most absurd accusations of theft of fighter jets and transport aircraft to place them in museums. Even of the three shiny new submarines bought from Germany only one is allegedly still in operation. The Agusta 109 helicopters seem to have all but disappeared from the skies. TIA.

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/...atters-010956/

Stolen and put in museums?

Must've been VTOL because apparently when they left, ( by 'they' she means the white pilots that were all but forced out BTW) they just upped and left with the airplanes and parked them at 'museums' This would include everything from the 26 SAAB Gripen multi role fighters to an assortment of transports including C130s light aircraft and helos. Not sure if they were flown and landed on the main avenue outside or if they were simply towed out the gate and down the highway to the museums. :D

She probably heard about Mike Beachy-Heads collection of decommissioned (mostly vintage) jets and thought "Aha so that's what happened." When the story broke the comments sections were hilarious to read.

A lot of the pilots I work with in Nigeria are ex-South African military pilots.

They have COUNTLESS stories like the one the OP referenced!
Makes for great entertainment over beers....