Facta Nostra Vivent: Going Around Again - More Memories from (1948 - 1995)

SIGNED & NUMBERED - Now OUT OF PRINT :

Going Around Again is a sequel to the popular and well received first volume Facta Nostra Vivent and continues with personal stories from the South African Air Force Central Flying School from WWII through to the final retirement of that extraordinary training aircraft, the Harvard AT6.

The book includes memories from 24 Air School which was the first unit at Dunnottar where the Central Flying School was located for over 40 years. For the historian and enthusiast alike the compiler has reconstructed the roll call of the pilots courses back to 1948, ending with the last Harvard course in 1994/5.The book also contains 61 pages of colour which includes: course badges, paintings by well known artists and interesting photographs of people and events. There are numerous other black and white photographs throughout the text covering some of the magnificent history of the SAAF 'ab initio' flying school.

This is a book for men who trained at the flying school and for those who have a love of old aircraft and flying in general.

Compiled by Andrew Embleton, hardcover.

Here is a thin slice of headline history, re-visited just in time, as data and personal information fade into oblivion.  Volume Two is the author's completed part of a meticulous record of 'the chosen few' who were carefully selected over a period of nearly 50 years and trained to fly. Some were pilots who earned the nation's highest honour. Many reached the top ranks in their chosen later life. All were 'interesting characters' with great stories to tell. Some of those stories are here, and make good reading. More significant, however, are the hundreds of names listed, the details hunted down for the record, and the added memories. The collection of pictures of the hardy Harvard aircraft and the lists of pupil pilots painstakingly collected here, are priceless.  The recorded memories, with their laughter, are 'the right stuff' for a movie. A fitting encore for the 'CFS Boys'.

A fine piece of history concerning the skills and valour of an elite school of defenders of freedom who doubled as rescuers from floods,shipwrecks and similar peacetime tragedies in South Africa.

Harvey Tyson (author, columnist, former editor of The Star)