Waterkloof was opened officially on 1 August 1938 as Waterkloof Air Station, a secondary field for Swartkop where pilots could practise forced landings. Its grass landing area of 1,775 by 1,550 yards was, as the unofficial SAAF website puts it, typical and adequate for the aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. Wikipedia says it was raised to air force base status during the Second World War; 1 Squadron, per the same source, was at Waterkloof from 1936 until May 1940 and again from June 1947.

The de Havilland Vampire changed that. Its low-slung jet pipe blasted away earth and grass, so the air force accelerated plans for tarred runways and concrete hard standings at Waterkloof. In July 1951 1 Squadron’s newly delivered Vampires moved to Swartkop, and in August 1951 the last aircraft, the Auster Mk Vs of 42 Squadron, left. Work was due to start on 7 January 1952 and to take two and a half years at a cost of 434,000 pounds.

The plan was for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 42 Squadrons and 1 and 15 Air Depots to operate from the new base. Little of that came to pass. The runways and associated works took nearly five years, and only in 1956 could flying units return. What followed was the expansion of the 1960s and 1970s, when new equipment arrived, units re-formed and Waterkloof became, in the unofficial SAAF website’s words, the foremost SAAF air base.

Waterkloof is where South Africa’s state flying is done. 21 Squadron, a wartime bomber unit turned VIP squadron, flies the President in the Boeing 737 BBJ “Inkwazi”, delivered in October 2002, and ministers in two Falcon 50s (1982 and 1985), a Falcon 900 (1992) and two Citation IIs (1983), according to Wikipedia. Its reliability has been a political subject: Wikipedia records an emergency landing in the DRC in 2009 for low fuel and a precautionary landing in New Zealand in 2011, both with Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe aboard.

Beside it, 28 Squadron flies the C-130BZ Hercules, the air force’s only medium transport; the C-130Bs arrived in 1963. 41 and 44 Squadrons fly light transports — the base list names the Caravan, King Air, C-212 and PC-12 — and 111 Squadron is a reserve unit. Waterkloof also houses the air force’s photographic, reconnaissance-intelligence, electronic-warfare and telecommunications centres.

Every second year the base becomes a showground. Africa Aerospace and Defence traces itself to a 1975 military open day at Waterkloof instituted by the then Chief of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Bob Rogers; it later merged with Aviation Africa at Lanseria to become DEXSA (1990–1998) before taking the AAD name. defenceWeb reported that the 2026 show, its silver anniversary, drew representatives from more than 30 countries; Defence Minister Angie Motshekga has named 27 September to 1 October 2028 for the next one, again at Waterkloof.

On 30 April 2013 a Jet Airways Airbus A330-200 chartered by the Gupta family landed at Waterkloof with 217 guests from India bound for a wedding at Sun City, according to Wikipedia. The landing of a private charter at a National Key Point caused an outcry; South African media called it “Guptagate”.

The clearance was traced to Bruce Koloane, then chief of state protocol at the Department of International Relations, who an investigation found had used President Zuma’s name to push the request through; he was demoted (Wikipedia). At the Zondo Commission into state capture in July 2019, retired Lieutenant General Derrick Mgwebi, who chaired the SANDF board of inquiry, said the request had falsely claimed that ministers from Indian states would be aboard, with “no names, no delegation leader”; officers who had approved the landing were named in testimony, as reported by defenceWeb.

The then Chief of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Zakes Msimang, told the commission that the landing still hurt him. Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo observed that people knew it was not in line with procedure. The Gupta family apologised at the time, saying they had sought special permission because Indian ministers were among the guests.

On 23 October 2019 two Russian Tu-160 “Blackjack” bombers landed at Waterkloof after a non-stop flight of about 11,000 km from Engels, refuelled over the Caspian Sea, defenceWeb reported; an An-124 and an Il-62 support aircraft had arrived the day before. Three SAAF Hawks and two Gripens met them for interception and escort practice. Russia’s Long-Range Aviation commander, Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash, described the purpose as training crews in long-range missions and improving co-operation with the SAAF.

In early May 2023 a Russian Il-76 of Aviacon Zitotrans, a company placed under US Treasury sanctions in January 2023, landed at Waterkloof. The SANDF, through Brigadier General Andries Mahapa, said it had delivered diplomatic mail for the Russian embassy. The opposition Democratic Alliance filed an access-to-information request asking who authorised the landing and what was carried, and linked it to the visit of the Russian ship Lady R to Simon’s Town in December 2022. The SANDF’s account and the DA’s questions are both reported here as defenceWeb gave them; no official finding on the cargo was found.