87 Helicopter Flying School SAAF

Coordinates: 29°06′00″S 26°18′25″E / 29.1000°S 26.3069°E / -29.1000; 26.3069

87 Helicopter Flying School
Atlas Oryx
Active	1 January 1973[1] - Present
Country
Branch	South African Air Force
Role	Helicopter flight training
Current base	AFB Bloemspruit, Bloemfontein[2] (plus a satellite base at Dragon Peaks Mountain Resort, Drakensberg)
Motto(s)	Docemus (We Teach)[3]
Current Aircraft	Atlas Oryx, BK 117, A109[4]
Aircraft flown
Helicopter	Previously flown:[5] Aérospatiale Alouette II, Aérospatiale Alouette III

87 Helicopter Flying School is a unit of the South African Air Force. It is a helicopter flight training school.

The Helicopter Conversion Unit was established at Ysterplaat on 1 February 1968 ^[6] to fulfill the helicopter pilot and flight engineers training role. The present unit was formed on 9 April 1968 by redesignating Training Flight, 17 Squadron at AFB Ysterplaat.^[7] The unit, equipped with Alouette II and III's,^[8] took over responsible for Helicopter Conversion Training of SAAF pilots and training of Flight Engineers for the SAAF.^[9]

The Helicopter Conversion Unit became an autonomous unit in 1971 and in January 1973^[10] the units name changed to 87 Advanced Flying School. In 1973 the Alouette II's were retired and transferred to the Rhodesian Air Force. "B" Flight, 16 Squadron, also stationed at AFB Ysterplaat, took responsibility for advanced helicopter training from 16 September 1974 to January 1975.^[11]

References

South African Air Force
Leadership	Chiefs of the Air Force Sergeants Major of the Air Force
Active squadrons	2 15 16 17 19 21 22 28 35 41 44
Training and development units	68 Air School 80 Air Navigation School 85 Combat Flying School 87 Helicopter Flying School Central Flying School Test Flight and Development Centre South African Air Force College
Formation aerobatic teams	Silver Falcons
Territorial reserve squadrons	101 102 104 105 106 107 108 110 111
Disbanded air and training squadrons	1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 18 20 23 24 25 26 27 29 30 31 32 33 34 40 42 43 50 60 103 109 112 114 86 Multi-Engine Flying School 88 Maritime Training School 89 Combat Flying School
Disbanded air defence squadrons	120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129
WW2 Wings of the SAAF	2 3 5 7 21 24 25
Bases	AFB Bloemspruit AFB Durban AFB Hoedspruit AFB Langebaanweg AFB Makhado AFB Overberg AFB Swartkop AFB Waterkloof AFB Ysterplaat AFS Port Elizabeth
List of training areas of the South African Air Force	Roodewaal Bombing Range Ditholo Training Area TAB Upington Vastrap Weapons Area
Equipment	List of current and historical SAAF aircraft List of weapon systems of the South African Air Force
History	History of the South African Air Force List of obsolete weapon systems of the South African Air Force South African Air Force Memorial South African Air Force Museum Military history of South Africa SAAF squadron identification codes
Official website: www.af.mil.za