Wings and Wheels

[Clownshoe]

The short and the tall of it is this. The Air Force does not have money to operate. Less than 10% of their aircraft are actually flying, with billions of rands worth of aircraft sitting in hangars and on runways rotting away. They probably couldn't afford the fuel to put planes in the air for the show. It is a well known fact that if we were invaded by Lesotho our Air Force would not be able to do a thing, as they are literally inoperable (save for flying Mr Zuma and his cronies around). My wife's uncle worked for the Air Force for 30 years, he told me that our Air Force has become the laughing stock of the SA armed forces,cos they're more like a grounded force. That's why so many air shows in SA are private.
It's a pity it's been cancelled. But Clownshoe is right,the likelihood of there being corporate sponsorship for such an event again is remote. Once bitten,twice shy.

The inside info is that after the Gupta affair the airforce is in a state of following the regulations down to the letter. The airforce personnel were prosecuted under outdated orders and regulations that make it impossible to function so they are ignored. Anyway now they are paranoid and the "Official" statement stated that the show could not be held within the Airforce vision.

The whole show had been financed and the air force component was actually minor.