[robert]

Hi Andy,

I found this on net (its about 7 SAAF):

But great and terrible things awaited No. 7 Squadron. On September 10 that year six of its pilots and a Dakota with ground staff were suddenly ordered to Cyprus to set up an advanced base. From there, it transpired, they and their six Spitfire Mk Vs were to supply the total air cover at the start of the ill-fated British move into the Dodecanese Islands. On September 13 they landed on the island of Kos, where they were joined next day by two more of the squadron's Spitfires. Dawn-stand ing patrols began on September 15, while more of the squadron's men and equipment moved to Cyprus. A few days later the Kos detachment made its first interception, and soon afterwards the squadron found itself involved in evermore furious fighting, scoring several victories but also suffering losses; soon the OC No. 7 Squadron, Major Corrie van Vliet, found himself becoming Senior Air Officer on Kos after the previous incumbent, and RAF group-captain, was injured. Late in September, Spitfires of No. 74 Squadron RAF (the legendary A. G. `Sailor' Malan's old unit) arrived as reinforcement. But the Luftwaffe onslaughts on Kos had begun to tell; the primitive airfields had been badly bombed and by October 1 there was only one serviceable Spitfire in all of No. 7 Squadron. On October 3 German landing operations started and the grounded SAAF personnel had to make their escape by whatever means could be found. Lieutenant Cecil Golding - formerly of No.1 Squadron SAAF - crossed to Turkey in a tiny native coracle. The squadron reassembled in North Africa and counted the cost of its brief but bloody excursion. Six officers had been killed and 15 other ranks were missing; on the other hand 12 enemy aircraft had been shot down.
Regards

Robert