Fly Past

96 FLYPAST May 2018

1918 2018

L

ike all Commonwealth air

forces, the South African

Air Force (SAAF) played a

major part in defeating the Axis

powers during World War Two.

As well as putting more than two

dozen squadrons into the field,

the SAAF also ran a huge training

establishment to provide a steady

flow of aircrew for its own needs

and for the RAF.

With SAAF units fully manned,

many South African pilots were

posted to RAF or Royal Australian

Air Force units in North Africa

and the Mediterranean. Hailing

from Durban, 20-year-old Lt

Bryan Chiazzari was one of these

men. After learning to fly in his

homeland, he was selected as a

fighter pilot and completed his

tuition at an RAF operational

training unit in Egypt. This is his

story.

‘LOVELY MUSTANGS’

At the end of February 1945, in

company with two other South

Africans, Owen ‘Rusty’ Jones and

‘Tommy’ Thomson, I was posted

to join an RAF, rather than SAAF,

fighter squadron, although there

were a number then serving in Italy.

I was fortunate in going to join

213 Squadron that was flying the

American-built Mustang from

Campomarino [Biferno] on the

Adriatic coast. The OC 213 was Sqn

Ldr Peter Vaughan-Fowler DSO DFC

and the pilots were a mixed bunch

of British, Australian, New Zealand

and South Africans.

We flew mainly armed recces over

Yugoslavia and as we arrived the Mk.

IV with the bubble hood canopy

appeared – lovely Mustangs! In 213

we always referred to ourselves as the

‘Hornet’ squadron, from the unit

badge. We also had a small mascot –

a mongrel puppy we called ‘Musty’.

After a few familiarisation trips

we began operations. Some of these

involved flying from an airfield in

Yugoslavia on the Adriatic coast near

Zara [now Zadar]. Tito’s partisans

were always very suspicious of

us, however. [Josip Broz Tito was

the most effective of the Yugoslav

resistance leaders and later president

of the country.]

We still suffered losses. One pilot

went down a few days after we

arrived but had managed to link up

with the partisans and eventually

returned.

I had my own adventure on one

of my first ‘ops’ when I was on an

armed recce into central Yugoslavia,

my logbook tells me, on March

12. Somewhere up near Zagreb
    we spotted some vehicles and I

Above

A quartet of 213

Squadron Mustang IIIs

over the mountains of

central Yugoslavia.

Right

Sqn Ldr Peter Vaughan-

Fowler with ‘Musty’.

HORNETSHORNETS

SOUTH AFRICAN PILOT BRYAN CHIAZZARI RECOUNTS HIS EXPERIENCES

FLYING MUSTANGS WITH 213 SQUADRON TO TOM SPENCER

ADRIATICADRIATIC