SAA Aircraft of the Post-War years

 
NEW AIRPORTS IN THE PLANNING: After world war 2, SAA was operating from Rand Airport, Germiston. During the conflict new airports were planned for Durban, Cape Town and a new international airport at Kempton Park. The construction of the airport at Kempton Park would take several years to complete. The name of the airport was to be Highveld, but with Field Marshal Montgomery performing the naming ceremony in December 1947, it was decided to name it Jan Smuts Airport. Jan Smuts Airport was built on the farm Witkoppies. Rand Airport’s runways were too short and a temporary airport was built to accommodate the envisaged service to Britain. The airport was named Palmietfontein and was situated south of Rand Airport. British Overseas Airways Corporation planned to operate their service with Avro York aircraft; some of which were leased to SAA to operate the reciprocal service. The York was an ungainly looking aircraft. Its four engines were fitted to its high wing, the tail had three fins and the body was square and slab sided. It carried twelve passengers and had six crewmembers. Its ancestry came from the Lancaster bomber.
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INTERCONTINENTAL FLIGHTS FOR SAA: SAA’s first intercontinental service, known as the Springbok Service started on 10 November 1945.  The service routed Palmietfontein–Nairobi–Khartoum–Cairo–Castel Benito–Hurn Bournemouth, (Heathrow had not yet opened). The flight took 3 days to complete and overnight stops were made at Nairobi, and Cairo with the total flying time around 33 to 34 hours.
- At first a weekly service was operated and as the demand for seats increased more services were introduced until finally six services per week were flown.
1946 – DC.4 SKYMASTER:
The Douglas DC-4 Skymaster aircraft entered service in May 1946 on the Johannesburg–Cape Town route. The Avro York aircraft could not cope with the increased passenger demand on the overseas Springbok service, so three Skymaster (DC-4) flights per month were introduced to supplement the York services. The Skymasters could carry 30 passengers and reduced the time to complete the journey considerably.
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 In June 1948 films were introduced on SAA Skymaster aircraft, first on the internal and later on the Springbok Service. This was the first in-flight entertainment to be offered by the airline. It was not a success and was soon discontinued.
1946 – DAKOTAS CONVERTED TO AIRLINERS: The Douglas DC-3 Dakota also entered service in May 1946 on the Johannesburg–Durban route. The Dakotas came from the surplus SAAF Douglas C-47 inventory; and were converted into passenger airliners by SAA.
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 INREASED GROWTH FOR SAA:
From 1946 the airline experienced a massive growth of aircraft, passengers, cargo and staff. When more Skymasters entered service, the Avro York’s were returned to BOAC.
Air Hostess were first introduced in September 1946, at first they only flew on the internal services and were later used on the Springbok Service. Prior to 1946 only male Flight Stewards did duty on board all SAA aircraft.
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1946 – DE HAVILLAND DOVE: At the end of 1946 the first of two de Havilland Dove aircraft entered service, these aircraft were used to operate a feeder service and for crew training. They were not suited to SAA’s operation and both were finally sold in the early 1950s.
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1947 – VICKERS VIKING:
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 The next aircraft type to be introduced by SAA was the Vickers Viking. This twenty-eight seater airliner was used on both internal and regional services. Their service life with SAA was fairly short and all the Vikings were sold to British European Airways and by 1951 all had left South Africa. Conflicting reports about the viability of these aircraft abounded at the time, some argued that they were money-makers and should have been kept in place of the uneconomical Lodestars. The other opinion was that the sleeve-valve engines were troublesome and the aircraft had the habit of tipping over on its nose.
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 1948 – PALMIETFONTEIN AIRPORT OPENED:
In 1948 Palmietfontein Airport became the terminal for all SAA services. This was a temporary situation which came as a result of Rand Airport runway being too short, and the new airport in Kempton Park was still being built. Palmietfontein was in use from 1948 to October 1953. The area today is a residential area. 
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1950- LOCKHEED CONSTELLATION:  -
In August 1950 the airline introduced four Lockheed Constellations on the Springbok Service, these sleek aircraft reduced the flying time to London to 28 hours. The Connie, as it was affectionately known, was the first pressurised airliner to be operated by SAA. Pressurisation enabled the aircraft to cruise at higher altitudes, above most of the fearsome African weather.
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The Constellation proved popular with its passengers offering a mostly smooth comfortable journey, with forty-six passengers being carried. A typical Connie service operated Johannesburg–Nairobi–Khartoum–Rome–London.
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In October 1951 one of the Dakotas crashed near Kokstad killing all seventeen persons onboard, the aircraft was operating a service from East London to Durban and crashed near the summit of Ingeli Mountain in low visibility.
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1952 – COMET JET:
- South Africa was the destination of the world’s first passenger jet service when a BOAC Comet 1 landed at Palmietfontein on 3 May 1952, the journey had taken just under 24 hours to complete. Although the Comet had a high cruising speed it did not have a good range, time was lost on the five refuelling stops on its route. SAA entered into the jet age using two chartered Comets from BOAC. The first service was operated from London to Johannesburg on 4 October 1953 with Comet G-ANAV. The two aircraft had dual BOAC–SAA titling and logos and were operated by SAA crews.
On the same date Tourist Class travel was introduced using a fifty-eight seat Constellation on the London route, SAA operated two Comet and three Constellation services per week on the Springbok service.
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On 10 October 1954 SAA Comet G-ALYY broke up in the air near the Italian Island of Stromboli, the wreckage crashing into the sea killing all thirty-five persons on the aircraft. Previously other Comets had perished under similar circumstances. After the SAA tragedy all Comets were permanently grounded. Investigations revealed that structural failure had caused the disasters; the problem was remedied on later Comet models.
 - 1956 – DOUGLAS DC-7B:
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In 1956 SAA introduced the Douglas DC-7B aircraft on the Springbok Service, the DC-7B was the ultimate in pre-jet era aircraft holding the title of the fastest piston-engine airliner in the world. It also boasted a respectable range. To take advantage of the performance of the aircraft SAA introduced a fast one-stop service from Johannesburg–Khartoum–London. This was known as the East Coast express, the time for the trip was around 21 hours. This service was later transferred to the West Coast express with a technical stop at Kano, Nigeria; the best time for this run was under 18 hours.
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The DC-7B also inaugurated the service to Australia, the fortnightly service started in November 1957 routing Johannesburg–Mauritius–Cocos Islands–Perth in Western Australia.
1958 – VICKERS VISCOUNT:  -
The internal and regional services were boosted by the introduction of Vickers Viscount aircraft in late November 1958, the turbo-prop airliner soon proved extremely popular with passengers. The aircraft was fitted with large oval windows that afforded an excellent view. The turbine engines were vibration free and the aircraft was very reliable and profitable.
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THE 1960′s:
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The 1960′s saw the introduction of  BOEING into SAA. 1960 – Boeing 707
1965 – Boeing 727
1968 – Boeing 737
1971 – Boeing 747
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