Union Airways of South Africa was the first South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n commercial airline. It operated as an independent company for five years, from 1929 to 1934, before being taken over by the government as South African Airways

South African Airways

South African Airways is the national flag carrier and largest airline of South Africa, with headquarters in Airways Park on the grounds of OR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng. The airline flies to 36 destinations worldwide from its hub at OR Tambo International...

.

History

Union Airways were founded by Major Allister Miller

Allister Miller

Lieutenant-Colonel Allister Miller DSO OBE was a South African aviation pioneer, who contributed significantly to both military and civil aviation in his country during the first half of the 20th century....

, a World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 flying ace, who had recruited some 2000 South Africans for service in the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

. The word "Union" referred to the official name of the country at that time: the Union of South Africa.

The company was financed by the Atlantic Refining Company, and supported by a small government subsidy. Its headquarters were initially at Fairview in Port Elizabeth, but they later moved to Stamford Hill in Durban

Durban

Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

. The corporate colours were red and yellow, and the logo was a shield depicting a stylised aircraft.

Union Airways was primarily a mail carrier, but from 1930 it also transported passengers.

The fleet originally consisted of five DH60 Gipsy Moths

De Havilland DH.60 Moth

The de Havilland DH 60 Moth was a 1920s British two-seat touring and training aircraft that was developed into a series of aircraft by the de Havilland Aircraft Company.-Development:The DH 60 was developed from the larger DH 51 biplane...

. A Fokker Super Universal

Fokker Super Universal

|-References:NotesBibliography* Dierikx, Marc. Fokker: A Transatlantic Biography. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. ISBN 1-56098-735-9....

 and two DH Puss Moths

De Havilland Puss Moth

|-See also:-References:* Jackson, A.J. British Civil Aircraft since 1919 . London, Putnam, 1974. ISBN 0-370-10010-7-External links:*...

 were added in 1930, but all three crashed during 1931, two of the crashes being fatal.

To replace them, Union Airways acquired some Junkers

Junkers

Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG , more commonly Junkers, was a major German aircraft manufacturer. It produced some of the world's most innovative and best-known airplanes over the course of its fifty-plus year history in Dessau, Germany. It was founded there in 1895 by Hugo Junkers,...

 from South West African Airways

South West African Airways

South West African Airways was the first commercial air service in South West Africa . It operated from 1930 until 1935, when it was taken over by South African Airways.-History:...

, which was owned by the Junkers corporation in Germany. In 1932, UA and SWAA amalgamated, although they continued to operate under their individual names. Later that year, Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...

 celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday with a flight in one of the Junkers. In 1933, Union Airways placed a Junkers at the disposal of deputy prime minister General Jan Smuts

Jan Smuts

Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS, PC was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948...

 for an election tour.

The South African government bought Union Airways in 1934, and renamed it South African Airways.