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development programme. After the start of war this was suspended and the task fell to
the Armament Training School and the whole of Young’s Field was brought

progressively under SAAF control, as were all other airfields in the Peninsula. One of
these was Brooklyn, or Ysterplaat, which had been a small municipal airport as early as

1917. On 24 October 1941 it became SAAF Brooklyn Air Force Station with proper

landing facilities such as Young’s Field did not have.

At Wingfield the war caused the interruption of civil aviation and from 1 February 1940
the Council handed the airport over rent-free to the Government for the duration of

hostilities. After Japan’s entry into the war the RN expanded its operations to protect the
Cape sea route, and in 1942 Wingfield was taken over by the Fleet Air Arm, with all

FAA units formerly based at Young’s Field being consolidated there. By the end of the

war Wingfield was one of the largest and best equipped FAA bases in the world.

The RN had also expressed an interest in Zeekoevlei: in December 1933 the C – in – C

of the Naval Station at Simon’s Town made application to the City Council for the use
of Zeekoevlei as an emergency seaplane harbour. The Council gave its consent but it

appears that it was never acted on.

Conclusion

South Africans, and many Capetonians, were prominent amongst both the early fliers

who brought flying to Cape Town and those who followed them. All were pioneers
during the “heroic age” of flying.

John Weston saw service in the South West Africa campaign where he was in charge of

landing grounds, and then in the RNAS as balloonist and airman on the Western Front.
He reached the rank of Commander, and was also made an honorary Vice-Admiral in

the Greek Navy for various services. He was also reputed to have been a master-spy.

After the war he spent 12 years caravanning about the world with his wife and three
children. His exact activities during World War 2 have not been ascertained. On the