Mirage F1 AZ / CZ in the Border War.

The United Nations special committee on apartheid expressed fears that France was giving South Africa a military potential that many African states would be unable to match for several decades. In 1981 the "South West Africa Peoples Organisation" (SWAPO) declared France the "enemy of Africa" and said the jets would be used against Zambia, Tanzania and the black people of South Africa.

This propaganda never materialised, but fortunately for South Africa, France had enough backbone to supply the SAAF with the F1. For South Africa found itself suddenly all alone in the late 70's on a troubled continent and against the Communist supported regimes in Angola. The conflict intensified to the point where the Mirage F1 types where deployed against Angola from 1978. On 6 July 1978, Capt Steve Ferreira flew a 2 Sqdn Mirage III R2Z on a photo recce mission into Zambia. Capt Andre' van der Heever, accompanied him in a F1 AZ. This was the first operational sortie flown by the F1 and was unopposed. From 3 November 1978 the F1s regularly deployed to the operational area. On 14 March 1979, Capt Tinkie Jones became the first 3 Sqdn pilot to fire his weapons in anger since WWII, while attacking a ground target. On 6 November 1981 a F1CZ flown by Maj. Johan Rankin shot down the first Mig 21. This was the first confirmed air-air victory for the SAAF since World War II. Even more remarkable, this was achieved by scrambling two F1CZs from Ondangwa and not combat air patrol (CAP). Maj Johan Rankin also shot down the second Mig 21 on 5 October 1982. The F1s were repeatedly involved with the Mig 21 and other East block aircraft - the SAAF's F1 always came out on top and none was ever lost to a East block aircraft. Both F1 types were used in the strike roll, armed with various types of "dumb" ordnance from free-fall, retarded & cluster bombs, to unguided rockets.

F1 AZ with 4 Mk 81 bombs and two under wing fuel tanks. This configuration was typical during the early deployment to the operational area.

Mirage F1 CZs at AFB Ondangwa during the Border War conflict.

Later "smart weapons" were introduced - developed and manufactured in South Africa. As recognised by leading aircraft and defence publications the SAAF operated in what was at that time the most intensive air defense structure anywhere in the world. The latest East block radar and defence networks were deployed against the SAAF. Damage was initially high, but due to the skill of the pilots, they almost every time managed to bring the stricken aircraft home. This led to the local development of ECM and early warning systems for SAAF aircraft.

Tactics were also revised and adapted, with the SAAF pilots emerging as one of the pioneers in modern day, low-flying attack tactics to avoid radar and for ordnance delivery. The Border War also let to the current low-vis camouflage scheme. The first aircraft type to be painted in a low-vis scheme was the F1CZ and consisted of 3 tones of blue-grey. However, the F1AZs were over sprayed with a number of experimental schemes. This was done during times of war and there is no official record of paints or patterns employed. Also photo records of these patterns are extremely rare! The national insignia was also over sprayed and an Impala aircraft used to see which scheme was the most effective. At least two F1AZs were painted in similar blue-grey scheme as the F1CZ and photos exist of schemes similar to the Impala MkII scheme. Apparently only one F1AZ was painted in the current 3 tone scheme during the Border War conflict. On 23 March 1988 the Mirage F1AZs conducted the last flights in the Angolan conflict. During the last deployment to South West Africa (lasting 7 months) the Mirages flew 683 sorties, conducted 144 air raids over a period of 191 days and delivered 3068 bombs. Remarkably in this same period, more than 100 SAMs were fired at the South African Mirages, with only one fatality.