South Africa

The Aero Club of South Africa is the umbrella organisation for all the Private and Sport Flying organisations in South Africa. It used to publish a monthly (11/per year) magazine in English, called ‘South African Aeronews’, but this appears to have ceased publication. No reference to it appears on the official ACSA website.

The magazine appeared during 1984 and 1985, at least.

Further information:
No source known.

Subtitled South Africa’s Biggest Selling Aviation Magazine, ‘SA Flyer’ is a monthly magazine with an emphasis on piloting and private aviation. It includes news, flight test reports, airshow reports, travel destination features, charter industry news and some military coverage.

Further information:
SA Flyer

‘IPMS SA Magazine’ was a quarterly(?) plastic modelling magazine. It was published between 1995 and circa 1999. It included feature articles on aircraft operated by the SAAF.

The IPMS Durban website states that the original local chapter magazine ‘The Natal Modeller’ was developed into the national ‘The IPMS RSA Magazine’. The magazine was closed-down around 1999 in favour of the national IPMS SA website, which now appears to be dead. The Cape Peninsula branch of IPMS South Africa also produced an interesting newsletter, including an issue dated August 2008.

Further information:
IPMS Durban
Newsletter – IPMS Cape Peninsula

‘Aviation Society of Africa Newsletter’ was a subscription only monthly news and historical magazine. It was published between the 1974 and 1980. Volume 1, Number 9 was dated September 1974.

Each issue had 20 pages, illustrated with photos. It included news, airliner news, register review and accident reports. It also included a survey of aviation in an African country in each issue. It was replaced by ‘African Air Review’.

Further information:
No sources known.

[*] Contents Listing, 1980-1986

‘Air Africana’ was a subscription only historical magazine. It was published quarterly (?) from March 1986. It ceased publication sometime in the late 1990s.

Each issue included 24 pages, with photos in each issue. The magazine featured historical and current articles on African aviation, with an emphasis on the South African Air Force. Topics covered included SAAF units and aircraft, the SAAF Museum, other local air forces and airlines.

Further information:
No sources known.

[*] Contents Listing, 1986-1999

Subtitled ‘Serious About Flying’, the publication is aimed at pilots and aviation enthusiasts with an editorial mix that is also pitched to attract ‘industry’ readers and advertisers. Regular features include aviation product surveys. African Pilot is the second largest aviation magazine in South Africa by copy sales with an audited circulation. Run by a professional photographer, layout and presentation is to a good standard and the company also markets its ‘contract publishing’ skills to embrace exhibition guides to brochures, leaflets and branded calendars.

An A4 sized, full colour monthly magazine, African Pilot’s January 2011 issue was 112 pages plus cover. Eight issues were published in the first year, starting with the December 2001/January 2002 issue. From the February 2002 issue the magazine has appeared monthly.

Further information:
African Pilot
Facebook
wikipedia: African Pilot

‘African Air Review’ (AAR) was a subscription only magazine produced by the group of historians called the Aviation Society of Africa. It was published bi-monthly from March 1980 and replaced the previous ‘ASA Newsletter’.

Each issue had 16 pages, with 7 photos in each. It featured historical and current articles on African aviation and the latest aviation news – especially Southern Africa, airline news, African civil register news, and military news, together with articles on local air forces and airlines in detail. In 1984 the publishing frequency became quarterly, and in 1985 a (quarterly?) 4-12 page Update newsletter was introduced, concentrating on news and events.

In 1986 the feature articles were consolidated into a new magazine, ‘Air Africana’, while AAR continued as a news magazine with reduced page count (4-8 pages per issue). It ceased publication in the 1990s in favour of the current rather pathetic ‘minimalist’ ASA website. There is no publication information on the website.

Further information:
Aviation Society of Africa
ASA

[*] Contents Listing, 1980-1986

A monthly publication covering all aspects of African aviation. The first edition was dated circa January 1992, and it appears to have been produced bi-monthly for a couple of years before switching to monthly publication before the April 1994 issue. Issue 25 was dated March 1995.

It appeared as a 48 page A4-sized magazine in full colour. From the July 2000 issue it came under new management and had a design make-over. It was the second largest circulating magazine in Southern Africa, until it closed down in late 2003.

Further information:
No sources known.