Captain Amo van Rensburg
KOREAN WAR

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Amo van Rensburg was born March 25, 1920, he got married 24 February 1939, (his mother was Elizabeth van Rooyen) to Thora Edna Moore. They met one another at Voortrekkerhoogte in Pretoria she also served in the airforce. (I contacted Mrs van Rensburg on 6 October 2003. She was then 84 years old. Her memory was starting to fail and she had difficuly remembering some dates). They had two children:

Sandra Coweley who was born c 1940 (she was six years older than her younger brother)
Pierre c 1946. He married a Canadian and died when he was 37 years old.

Amo served as a pilot during the second world war, he was called up one week before their daughter was born, and he only saw his daughter when she was already one year old. Amo also served as a pilot during the Berlin airlift.

A. Janse van RENSBURG, Captain, SAAF
Killed in Action, Korea, 29 November, 1951
Taken from the webpage http://www.18thfwa.org/Korea/AvanRensburg/AvanRensburg.html

On 29 November 1951 Captain Amo (some sources give his initial as AG) Janse van Rensburg of the SA Air Force's No. 2 (Cheetah) Squadron was briefed to lead a railroad interdiction mission No. 1802 consisting of Lt. Parsonson, No. 3 and Lt. Hansen as No. 4. They were each carrying a full load of two VT fused bombs for flak suppression, four rockets and full .50 cal. machine gun ammunition.

All attacked their primary target as briefed, where no flak was encountered and proceeded to their secondary target which was a village at BT7863 containing supplies. They bombed, rocketed and strafed the village, making runs from SW to NE. On their last strafing run Parsonson saw a sustained burst of anti-aircraft fire .50 calibre flak tracers pass between him and the leader. Van Rensburg's aircraft immediately began streaming glycol, and suddenly dived toward the ground as if out of control.

Lieutenant Parsonson, who was between van Rensburg and the ground, had to take abrupt evasive action to avoid a collision. Lt. Hansen, at No. 4, reported seeing the pilot slumped forward over the controls as the aircraft, a Mustang began it's dive toward the ground, where it exploded.

Janse van Rensburg, Capt. A - Gravestone.
1951 / 11 / 29
War Memorial, Pyong-Taek, South Korea.

http://www.dispatch.co.za/2001/11/23/editoria/CHIEL.HTM
Mrs T E van Rensburg of Stirling Lodge, EL, who is the widow of a pilot lost in 1951 in the Korean War. "Thirty-two of our young pilots were lost in Korea,"

According to Cornelius Nothling samhic1@absamail.co.za
The number of South African deaths in the Korean war from Eskader 2 were 33 pilots and 1 ground personnel.

Depot NAB
Source MSCE
Type LEER
Vol No 0
Sys 01
Ref 684/1953
Part 1
Description JANSE VAN RENSBURG, AMO. BORN IN UNIONDALE, CAPE PROVINCE. S/SP
JANSE VAN RENSBURG, THORA EDNA. BORN MOORE.
Starting 1953
Ending 1955

SOUTH AFRICA IN THE KOREAN WAR (1950 - 1953)
http://www.korean-war.com/soafrica.html
http://members.freemail.absa.co.za/aawhit/CHEETAH.HTM

Just a year after the SAAF's notable contribution towards beating the blockade of West Berlin, the SAAF's services were once again called upon to assist the Western and UN powers. This time the scene of operations was Asia, where North Korean forces had invaded the Republic of South Korea in 25 June 1950.

The United Nations acceded to the request of the United States to intervene militarily on the side of South Korea. The Union Government offered the services of the SAAF's 2 Sqn to the UN forces. The offer was gratefully accepted, and on 26 September 49 officers and 157 other ranks of 2 Sqn, all volunteers, left for Johnson Base in Tokyo prior to their deployment in Korea. The first flight of four F-51D Mustangs departed for Korea on 16 November and the first operational sortie was flown three days later.

2 Sqn had a long and distinguished record of service in Korea flying F-51D Mustangs and later F-86F Sabres. Their role was mainly flying ground attack and interdiction missions as one of the squadrons making up the USAF's 18th Fighter Bomber Wing.

The first operational sortie was flown at a stage when the United Nations forces were retreating in front of the advancing enemy. In freezing cold and poor weather, the aircraft had to continue operating and by maintained and armed in the open, moving from K-24 (P'yongyang East Air Field) to K-13 (Suwon Airbase), K-10 (Chinhae Airbase) and finally K-55 Airbase at Osan in January 1953, Here the squadron immediately started to convert to the F-86F Sabre jet fighter. On 11 March 1953 the squadron flew it first operational sortie with the F-86F Sabre.

During the Korean conflict the squadron flew a grand total of 12 067 sorties for a loss of 34 pilots and two other ranks. Aircraft losses amounted to 74 out of 97 Mustangs and four out of 22 Sabres. The South African squadron was awarded both US and Korean Presidential Unit Citations. Some of its members were also awarded both US and South African decorations for extreme bravery.

Casualties 20 KIA 16 WIA

FURTHER REFERENCES
Dermot Michael Moore, South Africa's Flying Cheetahs in Korea, Ashanti Pub., 1991

PMJ McGregor, "History of No. 2 Squadron, SAAF in the Korean War", Military History Journal, No 42, (June 1978), Pages 82-89

Dermot Moore, "SAAF in Korea", Militia, No 4, (1980), Pages 24-34
Personal contact with Mrs TE van Rensburg (East London)

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andre@rensburg.com