Darling, Western Cape
Encyclopedia
West Coast District Municipality
The West Coast District Municipality is a district municipality located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its municipality code is DC1. Moorreesburg is the seat of the district...
region of the Western Cape
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger Cape Province...
, about 75 km from Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
.
By the beginning of the 18th century about 29 farmers lived in an area called Groenkloof and on one of these farms, Langfontein, Darling was founded in 1853. It was named after Sir Charles Henry Darling
Charles Henry Darling
Sir Charles Henry Darling KCB was a British colonial governor.He was born at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, the son of Major-General Henry Darling and nephew of General Sir Ralph Darling....
who came in 1851 to the Cape as Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...
.
The Darling Museum shows the history of the town and the Darling creamery
Creamery
In a dairy, the creamery is the location of cream processing. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has had some cream returned to the skimmed milk....
which was established in 1899 by two Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
settlers, Nils Georg Moller and G. Threnstrom, and was closed in 1950. Darling is famous for its wildflowers and since 1917 the annual Darling Wildflower show is held by the Darling Wildflower Society, founded in 1915 by Mrs. Suzanne Malan and Mr. Frederick Duckitt of Waylands. http://www.darlingtourism.co.za/about.htm
The South African satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys
Pieter-Dirk Uys
Pieter-Dirk Uys is a South African satirist, active as a performer, author, and social activist. He is the son of a Calvinist Afrikaner father and Berlin-born Jewish mother and had an NG Kerk upbringing. He began his dramatic career as a serious playwright, switching to one-man revues at the...
performs many of his shows as Evita Bezuidenhout at Evita se Perron, a cabaret venue and restaurant in Darling. The adjacent arts and crafts market has been taken over in 2006 by the Darling Trust, a charitable organisation which addresses the problems of impoverished communities in the area through the establishment of grassroots projects. The first private school to open its doors in the Swartland area, Darling College, is also situated close to the entrance of the down on the Malmesbury side.
Darling's role in World War 2
By 1942 GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
U-Boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
activity off the South African coast was at its peak. In an effort to provide greater security to the Naval convoys plying the sea route the South African Air Force
South African Air Force
The South African Air Force is the air force of South Africa, with headquarters in Pretoria. It is the world's second oldest independent air force, and its motto is Per Aspera Ad Astra...
hastily constructed or supplemented existing facilities at six additional airfields around the coast.
The first SAAF flying unit to be based at Darling was 23 Squadron
Squadron (aviation)
A squadron in air force, army aviation or naval aviation is mainly a unit comprising a number of military aircraft, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force...
, arriving on the airfield at the beginning of 1943. From here the Ventura
Lockheed Ventura
The Lockheed Ventura was a bomber and patrol aircraft of World War II, used by United States and British Commonwealth forces in several guises...
aircraft patrolled the western sea approaches to Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
at the height of the submarine menace. The unit was strengthened by the arrival of a Ventura detachment from 27 Squadron between February and April 1943.
On 31 January 1944 construction began on an iron hangar
Hangar
A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...
at Darling to ease maintenance problems experienced in the hitherto basic conditions. Temporary buildings were hastily completed and lecture rooms were erected alongside administrative buildings.
In November 1943 the Venturas of 29 Operational Training Unit (OTU) were relocated from Nigel
Nigel, Gauteng
Nigel is a small gold mining town in Gauteng Province, South Africa. The town is on the edge of the area known as the East Rand, the industrial engine room of Johannesburg....
to Darling with torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
training forming a large part of their brief.
On 12 April 1944 Ventura 6457 of 27 Squadron crashed into Dassenberg near Darling shortly after taking off on a training flight killing the crew of six. On 12 April 1988 the wreckage was discovered and airlifted off the hill for transport to the South African Air Force Museum
South African Air Force Museum
The South African Air Force Museum houses, exhibits and restores material related to the history of the South African Air Force. The Museum is divided into three locations, AFB Swartkop outside Pretoria, AFB Ysterplaat in Cape Town and at the Port Elizabeth airport.-AFB Swartkop:Swartkop is the...
Use of Darling’s airfield gradually tapered off after the war as AFB Langebaanweg
AFB Langebaanweg
AFB Langebaanweg is an airbase of the South African Air Force.The base motto is Tenax Propisiti Vinco – Through Tenacity Comes Success.- Units Hosted :* Central Flying School - Pilot and Instructor Training* 2 Air Servicing Unit - Technical Support...
became the epicentre of SAAF
South African Air Force
The South African Air Force is the air force of South Africa, with headquarters in Pretoria. It is the world's second oldest independent air force, and its motto is Per Aspera Ad Astra...
operations on the West Coast.