| At the age of 15 I would hitch a
lift out to my local gliding club. It did not matter whether it was raining,
blowing a gale or just both, which it often does during the UK winter, I
would make my weekend pilgrimage to the club. After pushing, pulling, hooking
on, winching and keeping the log it would be my turn to fly. Three short
flights later and I would be back on the tractor retrieving winch cables.
Don't get the wrong impression, I enjoyed it. Whilst my mates at school
rode their chipper and chopper bicycles, I got to drive a 20 year-old
Massy Ferguson. There were, however, large amounts of time during the
rainier moments to drink cups of tea and read old gliding magazines. So
I would spend several hours totally absorbed reading reports of flying
in exotic places such as South Africa. These articles talked of seemingly
impossible cross-country speeds and mind boggling cloudbases, but all
of that was just a dream and reality was watching drops of rainwater run
down breath covered misty windows.
However, three years ago the dream became a reality and I was able to
make my first visit to Mafikeng in South Africa. I was not to be disappointed.
Mafikeng, formerly known as Mmabatho, was the capital of the homeland
of Bophuthatswana during the apartheid era and, prior to that, Mafeking
at the time of the Boer war. You can expect to see any one of the three
versions on the road signs! It is approximately 350km to the west of Johannesburg
and some 15km south of the Botswana border.
The airfield of Mafikeng is about 10km west of the town. In the past,
American aircraft used the airfield and with an elevation of 4000ft you
need a fairly long runway to get a fully laden Starlifter airborne. Hence
the 4 1/2km paved surface. There are also several large hangars, most
of which appear to have very little use, a terminal building and a shack
with a tin roof. The shack, used by the Kalahari parachute club and European
Soaring Club, has a small swimming pool which although a bit battered
is lovingly cared for by the ESC each season.
The main activity at the airfield, apart from the gliding (November-January),
is a daily scheduled service to and from Johannesburg and occasional airline
training traffic. “Glider mobile after the 747 touch and go, you are cleared
to line up and take-off'”. ”Roger Tower”. Not a clearance you would hear
in an increasingly regulated UK but nevertheless has operated smoothly
for the last six or seven years at Mafikeng.
Highest lightning strike rates
in the world
During the South African summer the weather in the Mafikeng area is
influenced by a trough line, which marks the boundary between dry desert
air to the south-west and humid air to the north-east. Along this collision
of airmasses, large cumuli-nimbus clouds form producing extensive thunderstorms.
Johannesburg has one of the highest lightning strike rates anywhere in
the world.
Whilst getting away from Mafikeng early in the day when the trough line
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