Pierre van Ryneveld

General Sir Hesperus Andrias van Ryneveld KBE CB DSO MC (2 May 1891 – 2 December 1972), known as Sir Pierre van Ryneveld, was a South African military commander. He was the founding commander of the South African Air Force.

General Sir

Hesperus Andrias (Pierre) van Ryneveld

KBE CB DSO MC
Nickname(s)Pierre
Born(1891-05-02)2 May 1891
Senekal, Orange Free State
Died2 December 1972(1972-12-02) (aged 81)
Pretoria, South Africa
Allegiance
  • United Kingdom
  • South Africa
Service/branch
Years of service1915–1949
RankGeneral
Commands held
Wars
AwardsOrder of the British Empire KBE Order of the British Empire OBE Order of the Bath CB Distinguished Service Order DSO Military Cross MC War Medal 1939 – 1945 MID
Spouse(s)
Enid Kathleen Helen Collard
​
​
(died 1958)​
(1901 – 1958)
ChildrenSon: John Frederick Van Ryneveld (1923 – 1996)

Military career
Middle East. C. 1941. Group portrait of Air Marshal A. W. Tedder CB, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (C-in-C) of RAF Middle East (left), Lieutenant General Sir Pierre van Ryneveld, Chief of the General Staff South African Forces (centre), and Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Blamey, Deputy C-in-C Middle East.

Van Ryneveld began his military career in the First World War, in which he served in the Royal Flying Corps and later the Royal Air Force. For his service in the war, Van Ryneveld was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross, Mentioned in Despatches, and presented with the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour from the French government.[1]

After the war, Van Ryneveld was called back to South Africa by the Prime Minister Jan Smuts in order to set up the South African Air Force (SAAF).[2] He flew back home, across Africa, in a Vickers Vimy – a pioneering feat for which he and his co-pilot Quintin Brand were both knighted.[3][lower-alpha 1]

(L-R) Lt Col van Ryneveld with First Lt Quintin Brand, February 1920, in front of Vickers Vimy Silver Queen, before their England to South Africa flight

Colonel van Ryneveld established the SAAF in 1920, and directed it until 1933, when he was promoted to Chief of the General Staff (CGS),[4] in command of the Union Defence Forces. However, for the next four years the SAAF remained under Van Ryneveld's direct control as no one was appointed as the Air Force's director until 1937.

In 1925, then Lt-Col van Ryneveld took part in the government's suppression of the Baster Council's rebellion.[5]

Van Ryneveld served as CGS for sixteen years, including the whole of the Second World War. He retired in 1949.[6]

Honours

Namesakes and legacy

The Pretoria suburb of Pierre van Ryneveld Park was named in his honour and the airport just north of Upington in the Northern Cape is also named after Van Ryneveld. Sir Pierre van Ryneveld High School is in Kempton Park, Gauteng. The SAAF's annual air power symposium, is known as the Sir Pierre Van Ryneveld Air Power Symposium.[7]

Notes
  1. The citation for his Knighthood reads as follows: 14 May 1920 - Lieutenant-Colonel Hesperus Andrias Van Ryneveld, DSO, MC, late Royal Air Force - Appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of the valuable services rendered to Aviation by the successful flight from England to Cape Town, South Africa.

References
  1. "Supplement to the London Gazett" (PDF). The Gazette. 15 July 1919. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  2. "Father of the SAAF". Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  3. "No. 31900". The London Gazette. 14 May 1920. p. 5480.
  4. Ellis, Johan (2000). "Oswald Pirow's Five-Year Plan for the Reorganisation of the Union Defence Force, 1933-193". South African Journal of Military Studies. 30 (2).
  5. Oosthuizen, G.J.J. (13 February 2012). "Luitenant- Kolonel Helperus Andreas (Pierre) van Ryneveld en die Onderdrukking van die Rehoboth-Baster-Opstand in Suidwes-Afrika (Namibië), April 1925" [Lieutenant-Colonel Helperus Andreas (Pierre) van Ryneveld and the Suppression of the Rehoboth-Baster Uprising in South West Africa (Namibia), April 1925]. Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies (in Afrikaans). 26 (1). doi:10.5787/26-1-240. ISSN 2224-0020.
  6. "van Ryneveld, Pierre – Prominent people". Prominent people. 14 July 2013. Archived from the original on 19 November 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  7. "Sir Pierre Van Ryneveld Banquet". Archived from the original on 24 September 2006.
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Pierre van Ryneveld
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