1900 – Diseases Are Spreading

109 days since the beginning of the Siege of Kimberley

Writing in her diary, Winifred Heberden, wife of Dr Jack Heberden, described another difficult day inside the besieged town. A brief artillery duel erupted after the Diamond Fields Artillery took its guns onto the veld for target practice. Boer guns near the Waterworks quickly responded before being silenced by Kimberley's defenders.

Far more worrying was the worsening humanitarian situation. Typhoid fever was spreading rapidly, while symptoms of scurvy had begun appearing among members of the Town Guard. Lime juice and grapes from Cecil Rhodes' vineyards were being issued to help combat the disease, while ordinary cooking fat had become so scarce that machinery oils were being used as substitutes. Although provisions were expected to last for another month, residents knew that afterwards they would be dependent on mealie meal, horses and whatever remained in the town's cold stores.

Did You Know?

By early February 1900, disease was becoming almost as dangerous to Kimberley's residents as Boer shellfire.

1920 – The South African Air Force is Established… with Kimberley at its Heart

On 1 February 1920, the South African Air Force (SAAF) was officially established, becoming the second-oldest independent air force in the world, after Britain's Royal Air Force. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Pierre van Ryneveld was appointed the country's first Director of Air Services. Govline

Yet the origins of the SAAF can be traced directly to Alexanderfontein, just outside Kimberley. Following the formation of the Union Defence Force, General Jan Smuts authorised the creation of a military flying school. The Government contracted aviation pioneer Cecil Compton Paterson to train South Africa's first military pilots at his flying school at Alexanderfontein. Training began in 1913, using Paterson's own biplanes on what became South Africa's first permanent military flying ground.

Ten student pilots began training under Paterson's instruction. Six were later sent to England for advanced military flying training, and five qualified successfully. They became the nucleus of the South African Aviation Corps, which served during the First World War and evolved into the South African Air Force established on this day in 1920.

Alexanderfontein is therefore recognised as the birthplace of South African military aviation, and Kimberley proudly lays claim to being the cradle of the South African Air Force. Today, the Pioneers of Aviation Museum, situated on the original flying school site, commemorates this remarkable achievement with a reconstructed hangar and a full-size replica of the Compton Paterson biplane used to train the country's first military pilots.

Did You Know?

The Pioneers of Aviation Museum, about 7 kilometres from Solomon Edwardian Guest House, stands on the site where South Africa's first military pilots learned to fly more than a century ago.