The original standard colour scheme as used on the SAAF Impala Mk1s were furnished in all over high speed silver with only the tail featuring the three colour bands of the then National flag of orange, white and blue. In addition the individual position numbers were also carried on the tail.  In 1984 the first change was introduced.  Up until 1984, the SAAF had adopted the viewpoint that it would not follow other international teams by furnishing the aircraft of the team with a unique identifying colour scheme. WO1 “Kip” le Grange and Col Holmes (team lead and OC of Langebaanweg at the time) played around with the idea of adding some colour.

The original Silver Falcons in the Republic colour scheme

 WO1 Le Grange came up with a few designs while Col Homes convinced the powers that be, the repainting of the aircraft would be within a limited budget and could be done by the paint shop at Langebaanweg. The first design had only the orange, white and blue on the nose section of the Impala Mk1. It proved inspirational and soon the design was altered to extend from the fuselage of the aircraft to the tail section (thus replacing the traditional three coloured bands) and applied on the outer side of wingtip tanks. The lower wing surfaces of the fuselage featured a “sun burst effect” in three colours on both the wing and the horizontal stabiliser.  Position numbers were in a solid black format which later changes to orange with a black offset. This was known as the Republic colour scheme. The scheme changed in 1994 where the design stayed the same but the colours changed to that of the SAAF, being light blue, white and dark blue with the position numbers being black.  During 1995 the sun burst was added to the upper wing surfaces as well as a thinner dark blue border next to the light blue to ease formation flying. A final change to the Impala era was to addition of the National flag to the tail.

A close-up of the new colour scheme

 With the birth of Democracy came dramatic changes. The Impala era drew to a close and an all new trainer aircraft in the form of the Pilatus PC-7 Mk II Astra replaced the Harvard and took over some of the Impala Mk1 functions. The SAAF did not replace the Impala with a dedicated jet powered aircraft at that point in time.   Sadly it was also the end of an era of unique colour schemes as the earlier decision the fly the aircraft in their standard colours was re-introduced.  Being a trainer, the aircraft was painted in the international trainer scheme of Post Office red and white.  Through the years the “Silver Falcons” received an un-official nick name as the “Flying Coke Tins”. Although the standard high precision formation aerobatics prevailed doing justice to their duty as cockpit ambassadors for the SAAF.