Once faced with closure, Ysterplaat now rakes in the awards

The Ysterplaat Air Force base, threatened with closure just three years ago, has turned the tables and raked in four major awards at the air force's 85th birthday celebration in Pretoria on Monday.

Ysterplaat won the award for best air force base, protection unit and air navigation training unit in the country at the ceremony and celebration of the retirement of the chief of the air force, General Roelf Beukes.

The base also scooped second place in the Sword of Peace awards for humanitarian work.

"The aim of the award is to give recognition to the South African Air Force (SAAF) bases and their lodger units for outstanding performance on humanitarian grounds, where constant liaison between the base or unit and its surrounding community is emphasised," the Ysterplaat motivation for the award reads.

A lodger unit is the term for the individual squadrons, schools and other units within the structure of the air base.

The services to the community include search and rescue operations conducted with the Wilderness Search and Rescue and Metro emergency services, mountain and sea rescue, as well as fire fighting.

Helicopter and ground crews from Ysterplaat have also assisted in SAAF rescue operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar.

The evaluation of air force bases and units was conducted by the inspectorate of the air force.

Ysterplaat media spokeswoman, Joy Christie, explained yesterday that it was decided to close down the base in March 2002 because "the Western Cape had too many air force bases". A year later the decision was reversed as the redistribution of staff and equipment would have been too expensive, she said.

Cape Times