Jimmy Durrant
James Thom Durrant
A wartime commander who confronted the limits of long-range air supply
Before the 1944 Warsaw airlift, he warned that the mission offered little military prospect and would incur heavy losses, but it went ahead.
James Thom Durrant was a South African Air Force officer and pilot who commanded reconnaissance and bomber formations in Africa and the Mediterranean during the Second World War. In 1944 he led No. 205 Group RAF from Italy during the Warsaw Uprising airlift, exposing the tension between military feasibility and political obligation in a mission constrained by extreme distance, night flying and enemy defences. After the war he became Director-General of the South African Air Force, but resigned amid conflict with the National Party government’s de-Anglicisation policy and the defence minister.
Career timeline
- 1933–1934Completed the South African Air Force Permanent Force Cadet Course and qualified as a pilot
- 1940–1941Commanding officer, No. 40 Squadron SAAF, East Africa
- 1941–1942Commanding officer, No. 24 Squadron SAAF, Western Desert campaign
- 1942–1944Commanding officer, No. 3 Bomber Wing SAAF, North Africa, Sicily and Italy
- 1944–1945Commander, No. 205 Group RAF, directing the Warsaw airlift from bases in Italy
- 1945–1946Air officer commanding, No. 231 Heavy Bomber Group RAF, Far East
- 1946–1952Director-General of the South African Air Force