Into South West Africa Poem by Gert Strydom

It was on a summer day
that a pair of camouflage coloured
Mig-21 fighters sneaked from Angola,
into South West Africa
and one turned back
and the other continued at 36000 feet
heading southeast.

Although they were tracked by radar
no Mirage or Cheetah fighters
intercepted them
and running out of fuel,
Lt Domingos José de Almeida Vinez
made a dead stick landing
on a farm near Otjivarongo.

The uninjured pilot
surrendered his pistol
to the Police
and in minutes,
was a prisoner
of the SADF.

This incident happened
months after the Cuban Mig-23 attack
on the Calueque dam
and to this day I wonder,
if Vinez and his wingman
was sent on a mission
to check the SAAF’s
interception abilities?