Posted On: Tuesday - June 20th 2023 6:04AM MST
In Topics: History Geography Race/Genetics World Political Stupidity
(The title would have ended up too long, but I'll consider this Part 7 of the Peak Stupidity series "Cry the DeConstructed Country". It's a series on the ruination of South Africa due to the ending of White rule. Earlier: Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6.)
That'd be South African Airways in English, and these aren't my personal memories. As a family, we'd thought about going to "Jo-burg" and then out to "the bush" to see the big cats and other animals in the wild, maybe 5 years back. I think now, 5 years later, that it's not worth braving the medium-sized animals for a chance to see the big ones.
Though I'm not at all enamored with State-run enterprises, such as nationalized airlines, it has been the mark of a 1st-World country to have a big international airline. South Africa was no exception back when it was a 1st World country, run by White men - Englishmen and Afrikaners*.
They wouldn't have had 14 girls. The required crew is 3 or 4, but the better service in the day may have called for a couple more. I note there IS one coloured Stewardess in the picture, actually - at the center.
There's lots of good information on the company in this Wikiwand** article. At the start, in the middle 1930s, SAL flew a handful of British-built de Havillands and Airspeed Envoys and a decent number of German-built Junkers (13's, then 50's, 52's, and 86's). The airline all but shut down during WWII, then acquired some Douglas DC-3's and DC-4's.
SAA (to use the English name from here on) entered the jet age in late 1953 with the first jetliner, the de Havilland Comet. By this time the piston-engined airliners had gotten pretty fast and capable too, so the Lockheed Constellation and the DC-7B were also used. The DC-7 could do the Jo-burg to London flight with only one fuel stop, at Khartoum, Sudan, on the eastern route - 21 hours total, or Kano, Nigeria, on the western route - 18 hours total. (Africa is a BIG continent! Note that, of the 5,600 statute mile shortest distance, Jo-burg to Palermo - the latter which could be considered entry to Europe on a direct route - is 1,130 miles, 4/5 of the whole route.)
Anyone with some knowledge of the history of aviation knows about the problems that befell(?) the Comet, so SAA's jet age continued with their delivery's of Boeing 707's***.
Even in the late piston-engine age for them, there were many countries on the African continent, neighboring countries being and exception, that would not allow overflights by SAA. These countries were butt-hurt, I suppose, about a bunch of upstart White people, having been on their land only 4 centuries, running an Apartheid plan against their Black! newcomers. These same people couldn't run a 1st-World airline themselves, much less a 1st-World country. How they planned to shoot down an encroaching SAA airliner I have no idea. (Soviet help, perhaps?)
By the mid-70s, the rest of the 1st-World too had gotten into this shunning mode against SAA. (See Parts 4 and 5 of this series.) Therefore, the airline had to plan large deviations or totally different routes to operate international flights, putting them at a competitive disadvantage often. This had an effect on their aircraft acquisition decisions. Either way, everyone who's anyone wanted that long-range 747-400.
Per the Wikiwand article:
The US Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 banned all flights by South African–owned carriers, including SAA. In 1987, SAA's services to Perth and Sydney in Australia were ended, in light of the Australian Government's opposition to apartheid.30 years back, it was decided by the world and S. Africans under immense pressure that this nation would convert to Black! rule. The ruination started then, but as Peak Stupidity often says - and Adam Smith (the OTHER Adam Smith) too, "There's a lot of ruin in a nation"****. South African Airways got their international routes back, but had lost control of their country.
Competence goes down, and things fall to ruin, first gradually, and then suddenly. As per Part 2 and the original article that inspired this series, South Africa at War with Itself, South Africa has no airline service now - they don't even have reliable rail service due to Black! theft of the rails themselves for scrap metal.
After 2 decades of Black! rule, SAA went from serious reductions in the fleet in '17 to bankruptcy ("Business Rescue") in '19 to shutdown with the help of the Kung Flu in '20. The once proud and glamourous Suid Afrikaanse Lugdiens, South African Airways, is supposedly restructured, having "restarted" in September of '21, but they haven't taken to the skies since.
Do you think that couldn't ever happen here? I don't know. There will be a Part 8.
* Descendants of the Dutch who settled the land starting almost 4 3/4 centuries ago. (See Part 1.)
** A version of wikipedia.
*** The 707 and the Douglas DC-8, both coming into service in 1958-59, marked a "restart", if I may, of the jet age, at least in the 1st-World. Those Tupolevs built in the USSR flew in that interim, '56-58, but that was the 2nd World. I should add the runner-ups, the French-built Caravelle and the General Dynamics Convair 880, also being delivered in the late 1950s.
**** See also Part 2 and Part 3.
Comments:
Fred the Gator
Thursday - July 27th 2023 11:49AM MST
PS The Comet started developing cracks around the large rectangular windows. This caused at least three catastrophic accidents with the planes breaking up. Redesign was necessary by which time deHaviland lost its lead in the airliner market. The redesigned planes were, apparently, successful but were not the groundbreaking planes the original was.
SafeNow
Wednesday - June 21st 2023 3:40PM MST
PS
True flight attendant anecdote. about 15 years ago. The airline had recently introduced those weight-saving seat bottoms that go only about halfway along your thigh hamstrings. I said to the flight attendant, is it my imagination, or has my seat bottom gotten smaller? She replied: “have you considered the possibility that your OWN bottom has gotten LARGER?
A Chinese stewardess would profusely apologize. A Japanese stew might even commit suicide.
True flight attendant anecdote. about 15 years ago. The airline had recently introduced those weight-saving seat bottoms that go only about halfway along your thigh hamstrings. I said to the flight attendant, is it my imagination, or has my seat bottom gotten smaller? She replied: “have you considered the possibility that your OWN bottom has gotten LARGER?
A Chinese stewardess would profusely apologize. A Japanese stew might even commit suicide.
Fritz, hehe - The Grinning Cat
Wednesday - June 21st 2023 1:18PM MST
PS
Steve-Stewart-williams has just another of those meta-analyses out that show that neither meds not psychotherapy does do very much about psychic suffering/illnesses - - -
so: Do dry-freeze these pictures - extract tehm, put them in little impressively serious boxes, charge ten dollars -a ndyou'll create wonders - - -
#
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=china+chopstick+smile&qpvt=china+chopstick+smile&form=IGRE&first=1
the boy in the right corner - - - SOO good!- My grin is fat as an alley cat - thx. SafeNow!
Steve-Stewart-williams has just another of those meta-analyses out that show that neither meds not psychotherapy does do very much about psychic suffering/illnesses - - -
so: Do dry-freeze these pictures - extract tehm, put them in little impressively serious boxes, charge ten dollars -a ndyou'll create wonders - - -
#
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=china+chopstick+smile&qpvt=china+chopstick+smile&form=IGRE&first=1
the boy in the right corner - - - SOO good!- My grin is fat as an alley cat - thx. SafeNow!
Dieter Kief
Wednesday - June 21st 2023 1:12PM MST
PS
SafeNow - - facial muscle-memory training - - - that would be a nice substitue for CRT-training, hehe - - just dreamin' - - the CCginese do wonders on earth - . Does it make me smile? - I'll have to google that. - Now I do smile - - - .
SafeNow - - facial muscle-memory training - - - that would be a nice substitue for CRT-training, hehe - - just dreamin' - - the CCginese do wonders on earth - . Does it make me smile? - I'll have to google that. - Now I do smile - - - .
The Alarmist
Wednesday - June 21st 2023 7:28AM MST
PS
Yes, they did AREF ... they had to take a long detour because France wouldn’t let them overfly.
Yes, they did AREF ... they had to take a long detour because France wouldn’t let them overfly.
Moderator
Wednesday - June 21st 2023 3:58AM MST
PS: Those were FB-111's, as I recall, Alarmist. Did they do arial refueling, on that mission or otherwise?
SafeNow, they don't look hot, but I chalk that up to modest outfits, older hairstyles, and perhaps many of them being slightly older women than "optimal" for hotness (as with Southwest Airlines stewardesses in the pictures you'll find. But that doesn't argue against your point, that it was possibly not as prestigious. I don't know.
About China though, it's not that great in that respect. It's been 6 years, but even back then, there were 20% (guessing) male F/A's, and the women seemed pretty utilitarian (if I may, haha), not Mao-era utilitarian (but then, who could afford and airliner then and there), but not particularly hot.
It's Singapore airlines, Eva (out of Taiwan) and some others that do the total 12 hotties in matching blouses and skirts of the same size that better fit just right thing. You gotta pay for that, though... in fares I mean.
SafeNow, they don't look hot, but I chalk that up to modest outfits, older hairstyles, and perhaps many of them being slightly older women than "optimal" for hotness (as with Southwest Airlines stewardesses in the pictures you'll find. But that doesn't argue against your point, that it was possibly not as prestigious. I don't know.
About China though, it's not that great in that respect. It's been 6 years, but even back then, there were 20% (guessing) male F/A's, and the women seemed pretty utilitarian (if I may, haha), not Mao-era utilitarian (but then, who could afford and airliner then and there), but not particularly hot.
It's Singapore airlines, Eva (out of Taiwan) and some others that do the total 12 hotties in matching blouses and skirts of the same size that better fit just right thing. You gotta pay for that, though... in fares I mean.
SafeNow
Wednesday - June 21st 2023 12:33AM MST
PS
Not a gorgeous, appealing bunch of stews, except for a few. I conclude that airline stewing was not a prestige, competitive job for Afrikaner gals. (Now of course it would be like being the Stew in a submersible.)
I contrast this with modern-day China, where it is highly competitive. Google “China chopstick smile” to see facial muscle-memory being trained.
U.S. “flight attendants” could use some of this.
Not a gorgeous, appealing bunch of stews, except for a few. I conclude that airline stewing was not a prestige, competitive job for Afrikaner gals. (Now of course it would be like being the Stew in a submersible.)
I contrast this with modern-day China, where it is highly competitive. Google “China chopstick smile” to see facial muscle-memory being trained.
U.S. “flight attendants” could use some of this.
The Alarmist
Tuesday - June 20th 2023 11:21AM MST
PS
Speaking of circuitous routing,
Lakenheath
Is
Bombing
Your
Ass
You can apparently still find these “morale patches” for sale from time to time:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/XhYAAOSwgh5bigLg/s-l300.jpg
Speaking of circuitous routing,
Lakenheath
Is
Bombing
Your
Ass
You can apparently still find these “morale patches” for sale from time to time:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/XhYAAOSwgh5bigLg/s-l300.jpg
Moderator
Tuesday - June 20th 2023 7:06AM MST
PS: Of course I was making a joke re: B&W vs color pictures, but I figured that lady in the middle was something like what you are referencing. I'd also thought "coloured" - using the Brit/Aussie/S.African/etc spelling - meant those who were part White, part Black!
I referenced the Boer wars (3 of them, officially) in Part 1 or 2.
I referenced the Boer wars (3 of them, officially) in Part 1 or 2.
Ganderson
Tuesday - June 20th 2023 6:50AM MST
PS one thing the Boers produced in number was beautiful women- Candace Swanpoel and Charlize Theron are both Afrikaners.
Ganderson
Tuesday - June 20th 2023 6:42AM MST
PS
Remember, Mr Mod, that “coloured” was a specific racial classification: mostly Afrikaans speaking descendants of slaves brought in from the Dutch East Indies. Indians (dot) and Chinese were also classified as coloured too, I believe.
My son in China has a bunch of Afrikaner pals- he says they think just like I do. I’d guess the Afrikaners as a people and the Afrikaans language will not exist in another 100 years. Africa wins.
There used to be much friction between the English-speaking whites and the Boers, bad blood left over from the Boer War. Anyone know if that’s still the case?
Remember, Mr Mod, that “coloured” was a specific racial classification: mostly Afrikaans speaking descendants of slaves brought in from the Dutch East Indies. Indians (dot) and Chinese were also classified as coloured too, I believe.
My son in China has a bunch of Afrikaner pals- he says they think just like I do. I’d guess the Afrikaners as a people and the Afrikaans language will not exist in another 100 years. Africa wins.
There used to be much friction between the English-speaking whites and the Boers, bad blood left over from the Boer War. Anyone know if that’s still the case?