17 squadron

Its rotary wing career began when it was reformed on 1 Dec 1957 at AFS Langebaanweg from the Helicopter Flight with an S-51 and 3 S-55s. In 1960 it moved to AFB Ysterplaat and operated in close support of the South African police for crowd control and internal security. It became the first unit to be deployed in the bush wars in 1962, when it was also split into 3 Flights A at Swartkop, B at Bloemspruit and C at Ysterplaat. In late 1968, B Flight reformed as 16 Squadron and C Flight became the Helicopter Conversion Unit. A Flight received full Squadron status in Jan 1969 with Alouette IIIs (wearing South African Police markings) and moved back to Ysterplaat.  Pumas arrived on its inventory in 1992 (serving until Feb 1998), followed by the Oryx in 1993. It incorporated the Dauphin briefly from 1994 for VIP flights.

Established 1 Sep 1939 at AFB Swartkop as a communications and transport squadron but disbanded again on 1 Dec 1939. Reformed 8 Oct 1942 as a reconnaisance unit serving in North Africa and the Mediterranean during WWII.