Mach – as the speed of sound varies with temperature and altitude, Mach + number is used to refer to the aircraft’s speed as a percentage of the speed of sound, e.g. Mach 1.0 = speed of sound and Mach 0.9 = 9/10ths of that speed (which also equates to 9nms per minute)
MAOT – mobile air operations team; the air force team usually comprised an OC (pilot), an operations officer, an intelligence officer, a radio operator and one or two clerks. The team plus their equipment could be airlifted into a tactical headquarters co-located with the army or police, or could move with the ground forces in mine-protected vehicles as an integral part of the command headquarters. The OC of the team was often called ‘the MAOT’
Mayday – international distress call
medevac – medical evacuation; differs from casevac as the patient is already under medical supervision and being transported to a more suitable medical centre
MF – medium frequency (radio)
MHz – megahertz, to denote frequency band
MiG – Mikoyan-Gurevich, the Soviet-designed family of jet fighters. The Angolan Air Force was equipped with the delta-winged MiG-21 and later the swing-wing MiG-23 variety
Military Region – for military purposes the border areas inside South West Africa immediately adjacent to the Angolan border were divided into the Kaokoland, Sector 10 Owamboland, Sector 20 Kavango and Sector 70 Caprivi Strip. The Angolans, however, divided their country into Military Regions. The 5th Military Region faced Kaokoland and Sector 10, while the 6th Military Region faced Kavango and Caprivi
Mirage – French-built Dassault, the family of supersonic fighters used by the SAAF
MPLA – Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
MRG – master reference gyro, the main gyro which controls all the flying instruments in a Buccaneer. Failure of the ‘master’ can, under certain circumstances, cause the crew instant dyspepsia, hysteria and can be accompanied by uncontrollable tears
MRU – mobile radar unit
Nagup – the night equivalent of Gatup (see Gatup)
NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NDB – non-directional beacon; navigational aid which transmits a signal in all directions except immediately overhead. Pilots using their ADF instrument can lock on to the NDB to receive directional information from the beacon
OAU – Organization of African Unity
OC – officer commanding
OC WAC – Officer Commanding Western Air Command
OCU – operational conversion unit
Ops Co – operations co-ordinator
ops normal – a radio transmission made at regular intervals, usually 20 minutes, allowing command-post staff to monitor the progress of low-level missions
Parabat – Parachute Battalion soldier, qualified to wear the famous red beret
PI – photographic interpreter
PLAN – People’s Liberation Army of Namibia, SWAPO’s military wing
PNR – point of no return
pongo – an infantryman, a ‘brown job’ (SADF and British Army slang)
PR – photographic reconnaissance
Puma – a twin-engine transport helicopter that carried a crew of three and 16 lightly armed or 12 fully armed troops
PUP – pull-up point
RAF – Royal Air Force
RAMS – radio-activated marker system
Recce – Reconnaissance Commando (Special Forces)
recce – reconnaissance, as in ground recce, an airborne visual recce, a photographic recce or an EW (electronic) recce of a point or area
RhAF – Rhodesian Air Force
RP – rocket projectile
RPG – rocket-propelled grenade
RPG-7 – rocket-propelled grenade, an anti-tank, tube-launched grenade of Soviet origin with a maximum effective range of 500m and an explosive warhead weighing 2.4kg. It is robust, ‘soldier-proof’, easy to use and much favoured by insurgents worldwide
RPV – remotely piloted vehicle/aircraft
RSA – Republic of South Africa
RV – rendezvous, the chosen point usually a grid reference on a map, an easily recognizable ground feature or a bearing and distance from a navigational facility
RWR/RWS – radar warning receiver/system
SAAC – South African Aviation Corps
SAAF – South African Air Force
SADF – South African Defence Force
SADF – South African Defence Force (pre-1994)
SAM – surface-to-air missile, a missile, guided by infrared or radar, fired from a launcher on the ground at an airborne target. By the end of the war the Angolans had an array of missiles which included SA-2 fixed site, SA-3 fixed site, SA-6 mobile, tracked, SA-7 shoulder-launched,[3] SA-8 mobile, wheeled, SA-9 mobile, wheeled, SA-13 mobile, tracked, SA-14 shoulderlaunched, SA-16 shoulder-launched.
SAMS – South African Medical Services
SANDF – South African National Defence Force (post 1994)
SAP – South African Police
SAR – search and rescue
SATCO – Senior Air Traffic Control Officer
scramble – traditional term used when fighter aircraft are ordered to take off immediately
shona – a shallow pan or an open area in the bush that fills with rain during the rainy season and is invariably dry during the winter months. Also chana in Angola
SOP – standard operating procedure, common parlance for anything that is a standard, recognized drill
SSO Ops – Senior Staff Officer Operations
SWA – South West Africa, now Namibia
SWAPO – South West African People’s Organization
SWAPOL – South West African Police
SWATF – South West African Territorial Force; both the SADF and SWATF were commanded by GOC SWA
tac HQ – a tactical headquarters instituted for the running of an operation close to the combat zone, commanded by a subordinate commander with guidelines and limitations delegated by a sector headquarters
Tacan – tactical air navigation facility
tail-dragger – any propeller-driven aircraft that has two main wheels and a third under the tail. This aircraft requires different techniques when approaching and taking off from those used by the more usual tricycleconfigured aircraft
Telstar – an aircraft flown at medium altitude to relay VHF messages from aircraft on low-flying operational missions
TF – task force
tiffie – a mechanic, from the word ‘artificer’ (military slang)
TOD – top of descent
top cover – aerial cover; aircraft were considered prestige targets by the SWAPO insurgents. Aircraft are at their most vulnerable when taking off or landing in the vicinity of airfields. At Ondangwa, therefore, an Alouette gunship was airborne for all movements of fixed-wing transport aircraft. The gunship carried out a wide left-hand orbit of the airfield to counter any attempt by guerrillas to fire at the transport aircraft. The concept was also used in combat areas to cover own ground troops or to make-safe landing zones for troop-carrying helicopters in the bush