Vlamgat: The Story of the Mirage F1 in the South African Air Force Paperback – 1 Jan. 2008

'Vlamgat' is the evocative term in Afrikaans for jets and their pilots - quite a suitable title for a book on the Mirage F1s history in the South African Air Force. South Africa - like Iraq - actually used the Mirage F1 extensively under war conditions. 'Vlamgat' starts in the mid 1970s with the procurement of the F1, the more powerful successor of South Africa's Mirage IIIs. The F1, very much unlike the Mirage III was a fighter-bomber, it had a vastly superior range and apparently was easier to fly than the temperamental Delta-winged III. If I am to believe this book, the F1 was about as good a fighter as the Mirage III.South Africa bought the F1 just in time: just when the last planes were imported in a rush, without proper shake-out of teething troubles, the arms embargo came in, and the South Africans had to be self-reliant, and quickly too, because by the late 1970s the 'border war' became ever more serious. 'Vlamgat' describes the persistent efforts to turn the Mirage F1 squadrons into highly effective weapons. During major operations in the border war, the Mirages would do tours from airfields in the North of what was then South West Africa (now Namibia) and fly operations over Angola in an effort to subdue terrorist operations against South West Africa. The F1s threw bombs (some with a nice 'vergooi' - 'far-throw' tactic where the plane would pop up and lob the bomb at the enemy some miles away, with the plane turning back immediately to avoid countermeasures), escorted photoreconnaissance planes (Canberras, reconnaissance Mirage IIIs) shooting down a few MiGs in the process, and attacked radar stations.Highly interesting subject matter, and masterly introduced in an epic Prologue about the 'feel' of a squadron waking up to a morning of operations from an airfield in the bush. The remainder of the writing is rather businesslike, and not nearly as spectacular as photos of beautiful Mirage F1s launching - with afterburner - into dramatic African sunsets. Another element missing entirely is how the 'regime change' just after the border war was perceived by the pilots - having triumphed in war, they effectively were surrendered by their political leadership, and on top of this, the surrender coincided with the phasing-out of the Mirage F1 and radical shrinkage of the Air Force. I would have liked to hear more about this.Despite the above flaws, the book describes the story of the Mirage F1 in the SAAF as comprehensively as anyone could want, so I would rate it at 4 stars.

There are more and more books coming out telling the story of the South African armed forces during the "bad old day" when the country was isolated because of there apartheid politics. In modern times there have been a re-appreciation of the war SA fougth against different "fgreedom fighters / terrorist" movement. With the 20-20 vision of hindsight maybe they wore more terrirst then freedomfighters... Anyway with that background this book gives a great perspecitve. In all of these types of books you have to understand that it's "there storie" that is told, some one else would describe it different.But i like it and it's a marvellous time-piece.

Great book on the life and service of the Mirage F1 during the Bush War in Southern Africa. First hand accounts on ops and training.

fantastic book about the mirage f1 in the saaf. i am interested as i was a member of 1 squad during the border war

A great book about the Dassault Mirage F1 jet in SAAF service. Plenty of detail and written in a style that was exciting to read.

Informative read about the introduction and lifetime of the Mirage F1 in service in the South African air force. Would like to read more about any innovations that Atlas Corporation may have incorporated in the aircraft given South Africa's isolation during the 70s and 80s as well as assistance they may have received from Israel as a result of their close relationship. Is there a "Vlamgat 2" about the Mirage 3 that was also in service in the SAAF?

A1

In this book, Dick Lord tells the story of the Mirage F1 from a pilot's perspective. In this regard, the book does not focus on the question of politics, but rather on the actual experiences of his squadron as well as the general political climate. The book is a cracking read, since it gives you information from someone, with vast experience (ex RAF), on the F1 in the context of the South African bush war. There are several accounts of actual sorties and objective reports on results (several appendixes). Highly recommended.