Nestled at Rand Airport is the South African Airways (SAA) Museum Society, an aviation museum founded in 1986 and filled with a collection of South African Airways memorabilia.<\/p>\n
Among the aircraft that make their home at the museum is Lebombo (a Boeing 747-244B ZS-SAN), famous for flying over the Ellis Park Stadium during the 1995 Rugby World Cup final.<\/p>
When Lebombo flew over the stadium on the historic day, the words \u2018Good Luck Bokke\u2019 could be seen painted boldly on the plane\u2019s belly.<\/p>\n
The man tasked with bringing the wording to life was Tonnie Wykmans, from Kempton Park, who started his career with SAA at the tender age of 17.<\/p>
\u201cI started my career on January 3, 1972,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though I retired two years ago, I still have a burning passion and love for aviation, which I think comes from a fantastic career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked in almost every department of SAA.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was during my time in the design and drawing department that I was tasked with this mammoth project.<\/p>\n
\u201cStill, today it is one of the highlights of my life, seeing the plane with the words fly over the stadium even if I had to watch it on TV because I didn\u2019t have a ticket to the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words sadly only stayed on the plane for a few hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the plane came in from a London flight and still had ice on its wings that had to be washed off before we could send it to the paint department,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
SAA changed the wording several times before finally settling on \u2018Good Luck Bokke\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first they wanted it to say \u2018Thank You RWC\u2019 and then \u2018Good Luck Boks\u2019, but we said to management no one knows them as the Boks, they know them as the Bokke and so the final wording was decided on,\u201d Tonnie said.<\/p>\n
With the 2019 Rugby World Cup just around the corner, Tonnie decided to show his support for the Springboks by repainting the iconic words on Lebombo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis time though they can stay forever,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
When asked what had made him decide to undertake this project again, he explained, \u201cIn December, last year, I thought to myself the 2019 Rugby World Cup is coming up and I must do something to get the community behind the team.<\/p>\n