Palmietfontein Airport was an airport situated to the south of Johannesburg (Katlehong), South Africa, from 1945 to 1952. Latitude: -26° 20' 7.20" S Longitude: 28° 08' 28.80" E

History

Palmietfontein Airport was a wartime air force base which was converted to a temporary airport to serve Johannesburg whilst the new airport, Jan Smuts Airport (now O. R. Tambo International Airport), was being built. The airport serving Johannesburg at the time, Rand Airport, was unable to accommodate the size of aircraft to be operated on a new service to Great Britain. In 1948, South African Airways moved its terminal to Palmietfontein Airport. Several historical flights terminated at Palmietfontein Airport. A Qantas Airways Avro Lancastrian completed an unprecedented flight from Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport in Australia to Palmietfontein, landing on 20 November 1948 at 15h15, and having been in the air a total of 41 hours and 52 minutes at an average speed of 210 mph. En-route stops were made at Perth, Cocos Islands and Mauritius. The objective, to establish viable air links between South Africa and Australia, had been accomplished. The world's first passenger jet service took place on 3 May 1952 when a BOAC de Havilland Comet 1 landed at Palmietfontein on a flight from the UK.

Airport layout

There were three runways, the relative positions of which formed a triangle. Runway 17/35 was the longest, being 6000 ft and 180 ft. Runway 04/22 was 4500 ft and runway 13/31 was 4950 ft. Both 17/35 and 04/22 were tarred; 13/31 was grass. The apron and control tower were situated to the west of runway 04/22. The airport elevation was given as 5107 ft. The information is derived from an old map and airport layout diagram courtesy of E. Du Plessis.

Aircraft types that operated to and from Palmietfontein

Accidents and Incidents

Accidents at the airport

Aircraft bound to or from Palmietfontein

Palmietfontein today

Palmietfontein was transformed into a motor racing circuit for the 1956 Rand Grand Prix, which was won by Peter Whitehead. The township of Katlehong was eventually established on the site, although parts of the original runway are still visible on Google Maps to this day. The coordinates of the site is as follow: 26° 20' 7.20" S, 28° 08' 28.80" E.