SAAF No 3 Squadron

Profile 00: Curtiss Mohawk IV 2522 of 'B' Flight No 3 Sqn SAAF, flown by Capt Jack Parsonson, Aiscia. Somaliland, September-October 1941. In September 1941 No 3 Sqn re-equlpped with the Mohawk IV for operations in Ethiopia. However, to cover the Vichy French enclave at Djibouti, 'B' Flight (titled N041 Sqn Fighter Detachment for a time) was detached to Aiscia with three aircraft and had Capt Jack Parsonson as its deputy commander. The aircraft are believed to have been 2516, 2528 and this one, 2522. It was whilst flying this aircraft that on 5 October Parsonson strafed and destroyed an Italian Savoia transport at Djibouti. This ground claim was the future ace's first success against the enemy.

Photo's: P-36A SAAF 3Sqn 2516 D Pilot Parsonson Djibouti 1941 Mohawk IV 2516 D of No 3 Sqn SAAF is believed to have been one of the aircraft detached for action against the Vichy French at Djibouti, where it is thought to have been flown by Capt Jack Parsonson on several occasions (A Jarlski) Pilots SAAF 3Sqn Pilot Jack Parsonson. The only enemy aircraft destroyed by a Mohawk in Africa was the Savoia S.75 strafed on the ground at Djibouti by Capt Jack Parsonson. He later flew Kittyhawks with Nos 2 and 5 Sqns SAAF in 1942-43, and attained ace status over Tunisia in April 1943. A respected leader he was shot down attacking a motor-torpedo boat soon afterwards and spent the rest of the war as a PoW (via C F Shores)

Somaliland is bordered by Ethiopia in the south and west, Djibouti in the northwest, the Gulf of Aden in the north, and the autonomous Puntland region of Somalia to the east