SOUTH AFRICAN AIR FORCE CRICKET TEAM 1924-25 (SIR PIERRE VAN IN SOUTH AFRICA

                   South African Air Force Cricket Team, 1924-25, Hildick's Studios, Pretoria,  original photograph with names of cricketers on mountboard, photograph measures 36 cms x 29 cms, mount board (original backing board) measures 50.5 cms x 42.5 cms, crease to center-line affecting LHS of mountboard and photograph, suitable for framing, overall condition: good. Seated in the middle row, left, is Col.  Sir Pierre van Ryneveld,   Director of Air Services.   Sir Pierre van Ryneveld   was the founding commander of the South African Air Force (SAAF). He began his military career in World War I where he distinguished himself as a fighter ace. After the war, van Ryneveld was called back to South Africa by the Prime Minister Jan Smuts in order to set up the SAAF. He flew back home, across Africa, in a Vickers Vimy - a pioneering feat for which he was knighted. He served as CGS for sixteen years, including the whole of  World War II. Colonel van Ryneveld established the SAAF in 1920, and directed it until 1933, when he was promoted to Chief of the General Staff (CGS), 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.