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3 Ray Armstrong, Piggy
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5 Avro Tutor aircraft
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Brain with his future wife, Patricia Slaven and her brother, Jack who later became a SAAF pilot too.
7 with Jack Slaven, his future brother-in-law
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12 Military College
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19 several well-know posed photos of this hunting trip exist. At far right is Ken Driver. I have several other photos of him in that posture, he had a habit of looking down while walking, with one hand to his mouth. Skinny legs, baggy pants!
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26 L to R, HJP Burger, BJL Boyle, PH Smith (not "Andrew"), Andrew Duncan, Johan v/d Merwe at the Officers Mess at Kassala. There was a well in the garden here they did their ablutions.
27 L to R, Andrew Duncan, Piggy Boyle, and (99% sure) Servaas Viljoen. On the 30th September 1940 the three of them with Gladiators, and mechanics were sent to a landing ground at a village named AZAZA, which was 14 miles NW of the RAF aerodrome at Gedaref, Sudan. The pilots and mechanics lived in "grass huts" aka rondavels, as can be seen at rear left. I'm pretty sure this photo was taken there. The person at right doesn't look like Viljoen, but the tin hat alters his looks. He is standing in a posture he adopted in every other photo I've seen of him. He had bowed cowboy legs, and liked those step-out shoes and long socks! This photo would be dated some time between 30 September and 15 October, when Robin Pare replaced Viljoen at Azaza. That is definitely NOT Pare in the photo.
28 Boyle with Gladiator aircraft in East Africa
Boyle with his Gladiator 5852, pretty sure it was taken at Azaza. I've seen captions that say it's LG Heston, but Boyle and a few others were only at Heston for one night, and it poured down rain all night. The next morning he was shot down in this aircraft. He'd flown this one from Abu Sueir in Egypt to Khartoum when the nine pilots ferried the second batch south, and it was his personal aircraft until 6 November 1940. On that day he took off from LG Heston (which had been flooded by rain all night) in this Gladiator to assist Major Van Schalkwyk, the CO who was under attack by eight CR.42's over Gallabat to the south, where a British ground offensive was underway. They were both shot down, the CO died of burn wounds the next day and Boyle crashed outside Gallabat and evacuated to hospital by Indian troops. This action earned Boyle his DFC.
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the other Gladiator he flew regularly, during the time him and Robin Pare were detached to Atbara to defend the rail bridge there. This photo was most likely taken at Atbara or Port Sudan, where they were sent to defend the port. Sep 1940.
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the Officers Mess at Kassala, previously occupied by an Italian general. This was after 6 Feb 1941. Walking 2nd from left looks like Le Mesurier, and Gugu Hewitson is sitting at right.
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33 Andrew Duncan and John "Gu Gu" Hewitson both fellow fighter pilots.
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Can't place this, but that's Geoff Krummeck far right.
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37 river steamer on the Nile, probably taken at Atbara. SAAF personnel often travelled from Khartoum to Cairo on these, but Boyle didn't so he probably just saw it at Atbara.
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I am fairly sure this was at Atbara, where 1 Sq detachments were sent from Khartoum. The "scramble" scenes in Gugu's film were taken in this building. .
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Either Atbara or Azaza, I'm guessing the latter.
40 Atbara station 1 sqdn detachment East Africa
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the 1 Squadron main body that went to Kenya by ship from Durban. Terry Whelehan 2nd from right. These men formed 2 Squadron when the Erirtea detachment retained the number of 1 Sq in October 1940.
42 UK, while attending ECFS in 1942.
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50 the Officers Mess at Kassala, ex-Italian general's abode
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with his faincee Patrica, on leave after returning to the Union from east Africa. April 1941.
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67 forced landing in a Miles Master near Bloemfontein on 24 Jan 1942. He was Assistant Chief Instructor at the Central Flying School aka 62 Air School, and the other pilot is captain AL Bell, an experienced instructor. This was the first of three identical forced landings at 62 AS in the space of a week, due to mechanical problems with the Master's engine.
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ECFS, England May -Oct 1942
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either to or from ECFS, I think I read somewhere this was on the return trip. L to R: Geoff Krummeck, the ship's captain, Brian Boyle
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25 Air Scvhool, where Boyle was OC of Flying Wing. When this photo was taken, clearly at a unit athletics event, he was acting CO of 25 AS while the CO, a RAF Group Captain, was on leave. Feb 1943.
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in Italy 1944 with two unidentified RAF types
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Italy, 1944. Major Boyle CO 4 Squadron standing in centre with something in his hands. I can't ID any of the pilots.
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the Coliseum, Rome. On 20 June 1944 No.4 Squadron was given some time off to visit Rome. The squadron had just moved from Sinello LG on the Adriatic coast to Marcigliano LG just north of Rome, and inclement flying weather allowed a few days free.
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John 'Jack' Slaven, Boyle's brother-in-law, his wife's brother. His wife's sister married Lionel Pearce, another SAAF pilot who was KIA in Korea years later. 96-99 Geoff Krummeck, Boyle's old Military College classmate. They were clearly very close friends.
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96 Geoff Krummeck, Boyle's old Military College classmate. They were clearly very close friends.
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Lionel 'Bunny' Pearce, Boyle's other SAAF B-I-L, who later commanded 5 Sq and was KIA in Korea
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109 AGM Budd
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Peter Ffytche-Hogg, a Mil Col graduate who was killed in a Valentia crash north of Dodoma in Tanzania on 2 August 1940. The pilot was 2Lt Andrew Bosman, later a 7 Wing Leader. The accident was a harsh lesson about risk management and aircraft limitations for the SAAF, early in the war.
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lionel Pearce wedding day, Boyle and his wife behind in 116 and 118
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Pearce wedding, Boyle left and Jack Slaven right
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Jack Slaven, Boyle's B-I-L
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Lionel Pearce after the war, when he was one of the SAAF's first helicopter pilots, with a Sikorski S-51
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Jack Slaven getting his wings
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Pearce with a Sikorski S-51, aka 'Dragonfly' in RAF use
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centre is Admiral Hugo Biermann, the Chief of SADF in the 70's was it? Far right is Brigadier Boyle, between them is Wally Brunton
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