121 Squadron SAAF

121 Squadron SAAF
121 Squadron, part of 250 ADAG
Active	1970–1980s
Country	South Africa
Branch	South African Air Force
Role	Missile based air defence

121 Squadron SAAF was a South African Air Force squadron formed in 1974 to operate the British Tigercat surface-to-air missile systems in an air defence role. The unit was disbanded when the Tigercat system was retired from service in the early 1990s.

History and deployment

Press reports from 1974 state that South Africa acquired Tigercat missile systems from Jordan. The amount totalled 54 batteries. Under South African control, they were renamed Hilda.^[1]

The Hilda system was issued to the 250 Air Defence Artillery Group of the South African Air Force, which equipped its 121 and 123 Squadrons with them. The Squadron was based initially at AFB Waterkloof and then Pienaarsrivier.

On external deployments, the Hilda system was issued to 123 Squadron at AFB Grootfontein for Operation Savannah and 129 Squadron at AFB Ondangwa in South West Africa.

Live fire training was held at the St Lucia range in northern Natal.

250 ADAG was disbanded in 1993 and with it 121 Squadron and the Hilda System.

The Hilda Missile System

Each Hilda system consisted of a trailer mounted Director and Launcher towed by diesel Land Rovers. The Launcher loaded three missiles at a go. A five-man complement, a generator and spare missiles were issued to each complement. The launcher and director was deployed by setting up the jacks and were connected to each other via cable link. The operator would launch a missile and guide it along a line of site to an approaching enemy aircraft by a joystick, issuing a radio command. The Hilda missile was small and subsonic, powered by a two-stage rocket motor and steered by four swept wings and stabilised by four tail fins.

A Hilda missile, similar to that operated by 121 Squadron.

References

South African Air Force Leadership Chiefs of the Air Force Sergeants Major of the Air Force Active squadrons 2 15 16 17 19 21 22 28 35 41 44 Training and development units 68 Air School 80 Air Navigation School 85 Combat Flying School 87 Helicopter Flying School Central Flying School Test Flight and Development Centre South African Air Force College Formation aerobatic teams Silver Falcons Territorial reserve squadrons 101 102 104 105 106 107 108 110 111 Disbanded air and training squadrons 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 18 20 23 24 25 26 27 29 30 31 32 33 34 40 42 43 50 60 103 109 112 114 86 Multi-Engine Flying School 88 Maritime Training School 89 Combat Flying School Disbanded air defence squadrons 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 WW2 Wings of the SAAF 2 3 5 7 21 24 25 Bases AFB Bloemspruit AFB Durban AFB Hoedspruit AFB Langebaanweg AFB Makhado AFB Overberg AFB Swartkop AFB Waterkloof AFB Ysterplaat AFS Port Elizabeth Equipment List of current and historical SAAF aircraft List of weapon systems of the South African Air Force History History of the South African Air Force List of obsolete weapon systems of the South African Air Force South African Air Force Memorial South African Air Force Museum Military history of South Africa SAAF squadron identification codes Official website: www.af.mil.za