![[Credit: The Delports]](https://planeandpilot.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2025/09/4f1725d1-7fac-4e50-9299-3a6c340e4214.jpg?width=2000&height=1333)
Rand Airport (FAGM) in Germiston has been a pillar of South African aviation since 1908, used as a training field by the country’s air force during World War I, and whose original terminal is now a national heritage site. Home of the South African Airways Museum Society, flight schools, and aviation businesses, it continues to be a hub for GA training and maintenance, especially of vintage aircraft and engines.
Among the cornerstones of the airport are a longtime resident family team—Hennie Delport and his son Hendré—who have made a name for themselves in flying and restoring vintage aircraft, alongside their own Piper Cub and Boeing Stearman, showcasing the skills of their trade and preserving heritage planes for new generations of aviators and curators.
It’s the classic story of an aviation family.
It was Hennie’s childhood dream to fly, and he worked as a newspaper boy until he earned his private pilot certificate. After getting through his commercial and instructor certificates, working first in GA and then for two airlines, he realized he “needed more,” and in 1995 started his own business.
Hendré also became interested from a young age. According to his father, he “sailed” through the certificates and ratings and worked for several companies before entering his current airline job at Emirates, flying passengers and cargo in the Boeing 777 series.
The business Hennie started all those years ago, Phoebus Apollo Aviation, is still going strong as a multifaceted company, including charter, passenger, and cargo services utilizing Douglas DC-3, DC-4, DC-9, and Aviation Traders ATL-98 Carvairs, as well as maintenance services and a flight school. Yet the newest joint venture stemmed from the company’s section dedicated to restoration projects of vintage aircraft.
After a long time of toying with the idea of buying a Piper Cub, they finally found a 1940 J-3F that had come up for sale—the oldest one in South Africa—with a relatively rare original 60 hp Franklin 4AC-171 engine. The airplane was in flyable condition when the Delports purchased it, but the desire to put in some extra love and care turned into a full restoration.
“My father took the tailwheel off,” said Hendré. “And then we went from tailwheel to spinner. It ended up being restored from an average Piper Cub flying through the sky to the absolute original as it would have come out of the factory in 1940 in Lock Haven [Pennsylvania]. That was what we went for.”
‘It’s All Yello’
The newly-restored Cub, named “Henry” by Hennie’s father and grandson, became the feature of an Instagram account (@ItsAllYello) that Hendré created to share their restoration projects and flight experiences with the aviation community. The Cub earned best restoration at a local EAA gathering, and another aircraft they restored—a colleague’s de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth—won best warbird.
“I’m a little obsessed with training aircraft,” said Hendré. “In the Second World War, most of them were yellow, just for visibility and that type of thing. As [our] collection grows, they will all be yellow…and then the idea has just grown.”
Hooked on the era of yellow trainers, Hendré and Hennie began browsing other aircraft with a burgeoning idea of starting a collection. Since Hennie flies a lot of Tiger Moths, that was the first item of interest, But a friend who owns a Stearman made them look twice. Hennie wasn’t quite convinced, but when the friend took them for rides for the first time, both father and son were immediately hooked.
“This aviation drug. It’s a terrible thing,” Hendré said with a laugh. “Once you’re flying an airplane you really like, it becomes an obsession.”
They immediately began a search for a Stearman of their own, and before long a quintessential barn find PT-13D showed up at a farm in Cape Town. Fitted with a 450 hp Pratt & Whitney R-985 engine and used for crop dusting postwar, it had been restored some years ago but was in need of TLC.
“We fell in love with the machine,” said Hendré.
‘Proper Iconic Trip’
After the purchase, the next adventure immediately began—the 7.5-hour flight from Cape Town to their home airport of Rand nearly 800 miles away.
There was only a narrow window of time in which to make this trip, as Hendré only had a limited amount of leave from Emirates and had already solidified the dates he was going to take off. As the day grew closer, however, more checks of the aircraft revealed the port elevator had severe corrosion and was unfit to fly.
With the days counting down until their only available window for the journey, Hennie and Hendré searched every avenue they could to find a replacement elevator to buy, beg, or borrow.
With a stroke of luck, and the help of a Stearman restoration Facebook page, they learned about another Stearman in Cape Town that had just ground looped and sustained damage, but the elevator was still intact.
“Through connections and a whole bunch of friends, we ended up with their mobile number, called them, and said, ‘Listen, could we borrow your elevator to fly our airplane without an elevator all the way back to Johannesburg?” said Hennie.
The answer was yes, and a turn of fate brought yet another surprise. In a full-circle serendipity, the father of the man that gave them the elevator had given Hennie his first aviation job when he was 22 years old. With no time to spare, they affixed the bright red elevator to their own Stearman in U.S. Navy yellow livery— and off they went.
“That was a proper iconic trip, especially to share it with my father,” said Hendré.
In true homage to the coveted barnstorming spirit, they flew at 1,500 feet agl, soaking in the colors, textures, and scents of the South African landscape in leisurely enjoyment that only an open cockpit can bring. Carrying jerricans of fuel and landing on farmers’ roads along the way, they took each moment and new experience as it came.
“There was very little that was challenging,” said Hennie. “The weather was awesome, and the aircraft was in good nick.”
They had one radio failure, which was “no big deal” except for the frustrating bureaucracy of security personnel at the airport they landed at in order to communicate with the tower and take off again, which was cited as the biggest challenge of the trip.
Both agree that the highlight of the journey was an unplanned layover at a tiny, family-owned hotel in a village. Midflight, they used their Bluetooth headsets to contact Hennie’s personal assistant to call ahead and try to find accommodations nearby. When they landed, a mother-and-daughter duo who ran a few-room hotel picked them up for a home-cooked meal and an evening of ordinary village life.
“It was absolutely magical,” said Hendré. “Something unique that we don’t often get to experience.”
‘A Spiritual Journey’
After getting the airplane home, father and son immediately began restoration work in-house at Phoebus Apollo Aviation—excited for another opportunity to use their own aircraft to showcase their restoration abilities. Even though the aircraft was in acceptable shape when they acquired it, anything less than perfection is unacceptable for this duo. From pulling the engine to inspect every detail and get it spit-shined again, to fixing oil leaks and fitting new gaskets, bolts, and engine mounts, all necessary checks to have peace of mind when flying the aircraft and return it to better-than-new are being taken. The airplane will eventually receive a fresh coat of paint in original Navy colors of yellow with red accents, including historically-accurate gray panels in the forward fuselage when rapid production meant slapping primer on some areas and shipping the badly needed airframe out.
But the best surprise was still in store from this new addition to the family. Once the airplane was home and work was well underway, Hendré began digging into the history of the airframe.
“I sent a span of emails,” he said. “Maxwell Air Force Base, the Navy, the Smithsonian…nearly every single museum I could think of. And then the Maxwell Air Force Base came back to us.”
The individual aircraft record card from Maxwell indicated its service history with the military. After coming out of manufacturing in Wichita, Kansas, in 1944, the airplane made its rounds among training fields across the United States before arriving at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama to take part in training the famous Tuskegee Airmen.
Discovering that the aircraft was involved in such a significant part of World War II history was a thrill for the Delports—and for more than just adding value to the airplane. There was a personal connection as well, since in the 1980s during the Apartheid regime Hennie was the only white South African man to train Black pilots to a commercial level.
Both father and son have embraced the newly-discovered airframe history as the greatest treasure of all and intend to bring its significance to the forefront of the aircraft’s presentation, continuing to champion its legacy of human rights around the world.
“It’s a little bit of a spiritual journey, an amazing journey to have an airplane that went to the Tuskegee Airmen to find my father,” Hendré said.
The pair also found amused delight in the set of circumstances that led to the airplane flying with its one red elevator on its cross-country flight before they even knew of its history—a premonition hint at the Tuskegee nomenclature.
“We claimed our ‘Red Tail’ for the day,” said Hennie.
A Future for the Past
From the very first impression, it’s clear any aircraft in the Delports’ charge are in very good hands— intended to be hangared and pampered, “flown as a hobby only” under the best possible care, while being responsibly used to share their legacy with generations to come.
“It’s not a commercial venture,” said Hennie. “It’s an absolute privilege to be that curator, because you’re not owning the airplane. You’re merely a curator for the next generation…That’s what’s important.”
Investing in future generations of vintage aviation is a single- minded purpose for both Hennie and Hendré. These aircraft will be adoringly cared for as living monuments, used to introduce as many people as possible to aviation heritage and the joy of vintage low-and-slow birds that played such an integral part to our shared history.
At Rand Airport, it’s a movement that is vibrant and growing all the time.
General aviation faces many challenges in South Africa, the first and foremost being the government, according to Hennie. Heavy taxes and fuel costs make aviation prohibitively expensive for locals, and it takes a tight-knit, proactive community to keep flying accessible and growing. Gatherings and events are the lifeblood, with an “it takes a village” mentality of support and sharing resources for the best chance of success.
A great opportunity arose earlier this year when the same colleague who owned the Tiger Moth that Phoebus Apollo Aviation helped restore, herself an active leader in the Tiger Moth community, wanted to host a fly-in for the 100th anniversary of the Tiger Moth’s first flight. The event would bring together Tiger Moths from all over South Africa in celebration, as well as host an engaging aviation event for the local public.
With Hennie’s help, the Rand Airport offered to host the event at no charge, and the vintage aviation community came together to organize it and get the word out. Hendré took to social media, and young people were recruited to help in all areas of the event. More than a dozen local schools got involved, and students received hands-on aviation experience with the mentorship of the Rand Airport and GA community alike.
The event drew between 6,000-7,000 people without any formal advertising or sponsorships, with free admission to the public. Hennie and Hendré were left enthused by the success of the event and look forward to investing in more like it in the future, moving South African aviation in the right direction.
“It was an incredible success,” said Hennie. “[It was] all focused on the next generation, preserving old aircraft and getting the next generation to love them.”
When it comes to their own vintage airplanes, creative plans are necessary to support the high costs of the care and operation of these pieces of history, especially as they pursue their intentions to grow the collection. To support this goal, they are becoming one of the first companies in South Africa to offer flights in classic aircraft to other pilots, marketing specifically to airline pilots coming through the country on layovers who want to experience flying these classic legends.
It’s a double benefit of subsidizing the care of the aircraft and extending the reach of these classic trainers to even more people.
“I wouldn’t want to be back in the airlines for all the love or money,” said Hennie. “Because at the moment, I fly with my son and with a bit of social aviation. In my career, I did not do hobby flying. It’s a new thing for me, and my son was the catalyst—and we’re having a great time.”
What’s next for the collection? At the time of this writing, the duo just acquired a North American SNJ-3 to add to the ranks. Another meticulous, loving restoration will soon grace the skies—returned to its classic trainer yellow, of course.
