Wingfield Aerodrome was first the

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

Municipal

Aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

, then Air Force Station Wingfield under the SAAF, before being used as a

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

base by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the aerodrome reverted to being the municipal airport for a while. The history of Wingfield is synonymous with the history of flight in South Africa, including pioneering attempts at commercial aviation.

Early landing grounds in the Cape

In the early days of aviation, all that was required for take off and landing was a level piece of land relatively free of obstructions. Where a flight commenced and ended depended on the weather, the reason for the flight, the mechanical state of the aircraft and even the whim of the pilot. Navigation was done by following a road or

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

and referring to prominent landmarks such as

Table Mountain Table Mountain ( naq, Huriǂoaxa, lit= sea-emerging; af, Tafelberg) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the ...

. There were no laws prohibiting low flying or landing within city limits. Places in the vicinity of Cape Town known to be used as airfields included Kenilworth race course, Green Point

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

and Green Point cycle track,

Sea Point Sea Point (Afrikaans: ''Seepunt'') is one of Cape Town's most affluent and densely populated suburbs, situated between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean, a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's Central Business District (CBD). Moving from ...

Robben Island Robben Island ( af, Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrik ...

, Maitland Common, Rosebank Showgrounds and Mr Young's farm near Wynberg as well as local beaches. It would be several years before the commercial prospects of aviation would be grasped and an aviation infrastructure put in place.

World War II

Following the outbreak of

former Cape Town mayor and businessman, David Pieter de Villiers Graaff, sold the land to the government to aid the war effort on condition that it would revert to his estate when the war was concluded and the government had no further military use for it. This led to the establishment of the Wingfield Aerodrome. F6F-3 Royal Navy Bethpage 1943

September 1939 saw the formation of 15 Squadron SAAF at

Germiston Germiston, also known as kwaDukathole, is a small city in the East Rand region of Gauteng, South Africa, administratively forming part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since the latter's establishment in 2000. It functions as ...

with three former SAA

Junkers Ju 86 The Junkers Ju 86 was a German monoplane bomber and civilian airliner designed in the early 1930s, and employed by various air forces on both sides during World War II. The civilian model Ju 86B could carry ten passengers. Two were delivered to S ...

airliners used for

maritime patrol {{Unreferenced, date=March 2008 Maritime patrol is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities. Maritime patrol refers to ac ...

s. After moving to Wingfield the squadron was absorbed as A Flight of 32 Squadron SAAF.

804 Naval Air Squadron 804 Naval Air Squadron (804 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy, formed in November 1939 from part of 769 NAS Sea Gladiators which had been detached to RNAS Hatston. The squadron was merged into 800 NAS in June 1944 and subsequent ...

of the Fleet Air Arm reformed in September 1944 at Wingfield aerodrome 24 Hellcat IIs and in January 1945, they embarked on to provide cover during the landings on Ramree Island, and subsequently missions over

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

and

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

. In 1939,

Alex Henshaw Alexander Adolphus Dumphries Henshaw, (7 November 1912 – 24 February 2007) was a British air racer in the 1930s and a test pilot for Vickers Armstrong during the Second World War. Early life Henshaw was born in Peterborough, the eldest son of ...

, Chief

Test Pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...

for Britain's

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...

fighter planes, flying a modified

Percival Mew Gull The Percival Mew Gull was a British racing aircraft of the 1930s. It was a small, single-engine, single-seat, low-wing monoplane of wooden construction, normally powered by a six-cylinder de Havilland Gipsy Six piston engine. During its racing ...

registration number G-AEXF, set a number of records for solo flights between

Gravesend, Kent Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is t ...

(now

RAF Gravesend Gravesend Airport, located south-east of Gravesend town centre, Kent and west of Rochester. It was operated from 1932 until 1956. It was initially a civil airfield, and became a Royal Air Force station known as RAF Gravesend during the Second W ...

) and Wingfield and back, which still stands today nearly seventy years later.

The present

The SA Navy is to relocate its sprawling technical training school,

SAS Wingfield SAS Wingfield is a South African Navy base, on the site of the World War II Wingfield Aerodrome in Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of ...

, along with some depots from a run-down World War II-era site near Goodwood to a purpose built new facility at

Simon’s Town Simon's Town ( af, Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern si ...

.defenceWeb
/ref> The move – for which the Navy has already received an initial R40 million – follows a comprehensive multiyear investigation into the rationalisation of the Navy’s training institutions. The SAS Wingfield Naval Unit continues to exercise its right to the Freedom of Goodwood annually "to enter and march in the town with colours flying, drums beating and bayonets fixed".

Municipal Aerodrome

Cape Town International Airport Cape Town International Airport is the primary international airport serving the city of Cape Town, and is the second-busiest airport in South Africa and fourth-busiest in Africa. Located approximately from the city center, the airport wa ...

is now the primary airport serving the city of Cape Town, and is the second busiest airport in South Africa and third busiest in Africa. The airport was opened in 1954 to replace Cape Town's previous airport at Wingfield.

Goodwood Correctional Centre

On 17 October 1997 one of the most modern

prisons A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

in South Africa, the Goodwood Correctional Centre, with a capacity of 1692 beds was officially opened. It was built on Wingfield land to the north of the N1 highway. It is aligned to the concept of rehabilitation.Parliamentary Media Briefing
/ref>

Acacia Park

In 1947 a township called Sassar was erected on a portion of Wingfield Aerodrome for the accommodation of officials of the South African Railways and Harbours. From 1948 it also provided accommodation for

civil servants The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

and

members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

who annually migrate to Cape Town for the

parliamentary session A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections. ...

. On 1 December 1959, after a competition for a new name, the name was changed to Acacia Park on account of the many Port Jackson willow trees growing there. A

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

was built and provision made for sport and other recreational facilities. At that stage children in the primary school were taught in accordance with the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

syllabus and under the control of the Transvaal Education Department. Acacia Park is currently one of three Parliamentary villages in Cape Town.

References

External links

Photograph of an SAA Skymaster Leaving Wingfield Airport, Cape Town (1950)