In 1972, Rhodesians pilots and technicians were secretly seconded to
the South African Air Force (SAAF) to fly Mirage III. The "operation
Sand" was starting . They were initially assigned to the Flying Training
School based in Louis Botha, Durban and flying on Impala, the South
African version of Aermachi MB-326M. A first pilot detachment then
joined the Squadron 2 to Waterkloof to operate on Mirage IIICZ. The
first two pilots were Rob Dayton Ed Potterton. An air base was also
built secretly Flyde Rhodesia to rapidly deploy Mirage if necessary. It
was rarely used. In mid 1978, a whole squadron of Mirage was flown by
the Rhodesians. The pilots and the planes seem to have sometimes been
involved in ground strikes in Mozambique to assist Rhodesian ground
forces and also scrambled when Zambians Mig crossing the border Rhodesia
/ Zambia.
