Air Force Base Waterkloof


Air Force Base Waterkloof is an airbase of the South African Air Force. It is situated on the outskirts of Pretoria, and is the SAAF's busiest airbase. The base's name, Waterkloof, is Afrikaans. It means Water Ravine in English. Despite the name, this base is not located in Waterkloof, Pretoria, but lies to the south of Pretoria, to the northeast of Centurion, Gauteng and from AFB Swartkop, at an elevation of 1506 metres.
The base motto is Acquirit Qui Tuetur.

Units currently hosted

The base was officially opened on 1 August 1938 as Waterkloof Air Station.
Since that time it has always been in the service of the SAAF. It was upgraded to Air Force Base during World War II.

Aviation

A flight full of Indian citizens who had come to attend a wedding of the Gupta family landed at Waterkloof airbase. This was in contravention of South African law since the airbase is classified as a National Key Point. It was later alleged that former president Jacob Zuma is the one who ordered the flight to land.