Received Unit colours 4 October 1988, Received national colours 1989
Aircraft used currently
BAE Hawk Mk.120
Engagements
SWA/Angolan conflict.[1]
Military unit
85 Combat Flying School is a unit of the South African Air Force (SAAF). It is a jet flight-training and combat operations school, it was first formed in 1982 at AFB Pietersburg (It was known as Advanced Flying School from 1967).[1] It relocated to AFB Hoedspruit on 1 January 1993 due to the closure of AFB Pietersburg.[1] The school also has a wartime reserve role, although it has publicly been stated that the school will not be used operationally unless a very urgent need arises.[1]
Aircraft used previously :
Mirage IIIEZ/DZ/D2Z
Canadair Sabre Mk.6 1975 - 1980
Atlas Impala Mk.I/II 1972 - 2005
The school has been relocated to AFB Makhado from AFB Hoedspruit into a new purpose-built facility with state-of-the-art computer-aided flight training instruments. The school shares this facility with the SAAF Gripen community.
During October 2007 there were several pilots that went solo on the Hawk Mk.120.[2]
The squadron also participated in the annual South Africa National Defence Force preparation exercises and fired live cannon rounds and dropped live bombs. They also had a successful weapons deployment exercise to AFB Bloemspruit in 2007.
^ abcdeHistory of 85 CFS, www.af.mil.za, Retrieved 2013-10-06
^"Thumbs up for 85 CFS". Archived from the original on 15 December 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
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Global Information
South Africa
South African Air Force