Thanks to Armin for the presentation graphics
In his first tour, Bomb was with 1 squadron from November 1941 until December 1942.
1 Squadron then formed part of a RAF fighter wing, together with other RAF and Commonwealth squadrons.
The squadron was equipped with Hurricanes (mostly IIb's) but received more modern versions (IIc's with 20mm canons) at the end of 1942. Conversion to Spitfires Mk V's was also in progress during this time.
1 Squadron was in a state of desperation when Bomb joined operations. Losses were high due to imbalace of numbers and the superior German Bf109 aircraft.
There were a continious flow of replacement pilots due to transfers, casualties and limited operational hours allowed for pilots (max 200 hours). Even the Officer Commanding (OC) of 1 Squadron changed several times when Bomb was flying with them.
SAAF 1 Squadron played a valuable role with the Desert Air Force's fighter operations in the African theatre. At the time of the German surrender in Africa the squadron tally stood at 147,5 confirmed victories but at a cost of 40 pilots killed.
Here a 1 squadron Hurricane with the springbokkie clearly visible. 1 Squadron's ID code was "AX". The "H" was the particular aircraft ID code. Note the shade coming from the exhaust glare shield on the sides of the AC just in front of the cockpit.
Squadron organization
In this video Bomb explains how the squadron functioned.
Bases and landing grounds of 1 squadron
when Bomb was with them:
Dec 1941 Sidi Rezegh
Dec 1941 Derna
Dec 1941 Gazala
Dec 1941 Derna
Jan 1942 Gazala
Jan 1942 LG.111
Jan 1942 El Adem
Feb 1942 Gambut
Feb 1942 Sidi Haneish
Feb 1942 El Gamil
Apr 1942 Idku
Jun 1942 LG.15
Jun 1942 LG. 92
Sept 1942 LG.154
Okt 1942 LG.172
Nov 1942 Martuba
Nov 1942 Msus
Dec 1942 El Hasseiat
Dec 1942 Agedabia
Info from Steven Mclean's book
"Squadrons of the SAAF.."
Maps from Michael Schoeman's books, "Springbok Fighter Victory volumes 2 and 3
