Avro 504K - South African Users

Now's the turn for the South African users of the Avro 504K, which was, as far as we know, the only African user to own and use this airplane.

When the World War I ended, South African received some donations as part of the Imperial Gift, which consisted on 113 aircrafts, 100 from the British Government, and 13 from other sources. That way, the South African Air Force was stablished on 1st February 1920 with the Col. Pierre van Ryneveld as the Director of air services.

Anyway, not all of the airplanes were assembled inmediatly, and two Avro 504K were sold to the South African Aerial Transport Company. The rest of the airplane (with the 504Ks among them) formed the No.1 flight of the South African Air Force at the airfield of Swartkop on 26th April 1921 and one year later a second flight was formed, which together with the first one, they formed the No.1 Squadron SAAF.
In December 1920 an Avro 504K was painted with the experimental multi-colour roundel but it was soon found unsuitable.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_South_African_Air_Force
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters