London, GB | Formerly of New York, Buenos Aires, Fife, and the Western Cape. | Saoránach d’Éirinn.

The Impetuosity of Youth

From the Flickr feed of South Africa’s Etienne du Plessis:

These pictures were taken 2 October 1964: I was the pilot [writes Quentin Mouton]. The pictures are original and not ‘touched up’. The ‘Pongos’ (Army types) were on a route march from Langebaan by the sea to Saldanha. The previous night in the pub one of them had said: “Julle dink julle kan laag vlieg maar julle sal my nooit laat lê nie!” (You think you can fly low, but you will never make me hit the deck). Hullo!!!

I went to look for them on the beach in the morning and was alone for the one picture. I was pulling up to avoid them. In the afternoon I had a formation with me and you can see the other a/c behind me. (piloted by van Zyl, Kempen, and Perold).

A friend by the name of Leon Schnetler (one of the pongos) took the pics. The guy that said “Jy sal my nie laat lê nie!” said afterwards that he was saying to himself as I approached: “Ek sal nie lê nie, ek sal nie lê nie” (I wont go down, I wont go down) and when I had passed he found himself flat on the ground.

Memories from the past.

Published at 3:08 pm on Tuesday 7 August 2012. Categories: Featured Military South Africa Tags: , , .
Comments

Andrew …

Jislaike wat fantastiese foto’s! And especially evocative for me after just coming back from the Ligurian Alps above Savona where I visited the crash-site of Ian Smith’s Spitfire and where he held up before joinging the Partigiani.

Etienne du Plessis has some of the best photographic collections about the South Africa of my youth.

Thanks so much for posting this and reminding me to go and check what he has uploaded to the Web since the last time I looked.

Alles van die beste!

— Dave Cooper 12 Aug 2012 5:47 pm

Why ‘pongoes’? Because where the army goes the…

— Gilbert Pinfold 30 Oct 2012 3:05 am
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