Missing Southern Rhodesia Air Force serials SR14-SR21?

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi paulmacmillan.

SR1 to SR6 were Harts. These arrived in crates.

SR7 was a Tiger Moth.

SR8 and SR9 were Rapides. SR8, at least, was ferried in from the UK.

SR10 to SR13 were Audaxes. These were ferried in from Egypt.

It is over SR14 to SR17 that there seems to be no clarity.

Certainly three Gloster Guntlets were delivered in crates in late 1939. Above their local serials are given as 150 to 152.

It has also been stated above that SR14 was another Audax, and it seems clear from Pride of Eagles that at least five different Audaxes (reportedly K7534, K7540, K7545, K7546, K7548) were in use with No.1 Squadron's successor, 237 (Rhodesia) Squadron RAF, in Kenya by June 1940.

There seems to be a gap in the air-historiography regarding S14 to S17 that doesn't yet allow a definitive answer.

Chronology and logic would suggest that SR15 to SR17 should originally have been allocated to the three Gloster Gauntlets, but this may not have been the case if four further, unknown, Audaxes reached the Rhodesians in 1939-40.

Cheers,

Sid.