Cyril Brian VAN LEENHOF\Marjorie Doreen KNIBBS

Cyril, in the uniform of the Royal South African Air Force. (click to enlarge)
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Cyril was a pioneer of the Royal Flying Corps. At the outbreak of WWI, he hotfooted to England where he trained to fly. During part of the Second World War, he commanded the Standerton South African Air Force flying school, established in1940 at Mpumalanga in eastern South Africa, bordering Swaziland and Mozambique.
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We see under the Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing) and Central Flying School records from 5 July 1917:
Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing)
Supplementary to Regular Corps:
C B Van Leenhoff, Lieut (on probation)
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Cyril's father was John Henry van Leenhof, who I believe was descended fom Dutch settlers and farmers.
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We can see Cyril arriving at The Cape on 7 January 1938, aboard the ship "City of Exeter", traveling from London, England.
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From an unknown publication, written by a newspaper columnist named Hugh Carruthers, quite probably in the 1960's:
"Bad" planes - there are none. The pilots get the jitters.
We were discussing, a couple of chums and I, "bad" aeroplanes --- those with heart-stopping vices like swinging wildly on take-off, dropping a wing viciously in a stall and generally putting years on the luckless pilot assigned to fly them.
Cyril van Leenhof stroked his close-cropped military moustache and gazed at me with level eyes.
"There are no bad aeroplanes," he declared flatly. "It's just that some chaps don't understand them. Give a plane a bad name and the pilot gets the jitters.
"Take the Venturas we flew during the last war. Our chaps had a lot of trouble with them in the time I was in charge of the Rand-Cairo shuttle service. But the Americans coped very well.
"When I commanded the air school at Standerton, the chaps were terrified of Miles Masters. But they were not bad, not bad at all ..."

Hotfoot

I can name some characters who would be happy to join issue with Cyril - but then he was brought up in a tough school, in an age when engine failures were the order of the day and parachutes unknown.
He was in his late teens when the Kaiser's war broke out. He hotfooted it to England, joined the Royal Flying Corps and flew solo for the first time after only 4 hours 20 minutes of instruction on a Maurice Farman Shorthorn.
His first operational posting was to a squadron which was engaged on intercepting Gotha bombers by day and zeppelins by night.
"They were both hazardous occupations," declated Cyril. "A tracer bullet in the fuel tank . . An engine failure at night . . , And no means of getting out of it.
"I made two forced landings in the dark, gliding down by the uncertain light of parachute flairs. Fortunately, on both occasions I found an uncluttered field."
Cyril "converted" to Camels, went to France where he had a fine old time as a scout pilot, then, in due course. was posted to the Middle East on night bombers.
There was seldom a dull moment in the sands of the desert.
Cyril was taking a nap in his tent one calm afternoon when a compatriot, on an outing in an Avro, got into a spin and crashed on top of him.
He went on to flying instruction and found things just as lively. One of his pupils, shaping to land a DH-6. forgot something along the way and ploughed straight into the ground.
"Among our pupils in Egypt.” said Cyril, "were Brigadier H. G. Willman, later South Africa's Air Chief of Staff, and Herby Taylor, who started out as a gunner, then became an observer.
"Another pupil was Michael O'Leary, who wan the Victoria Cross in the infantry in the early part of the war. He didn't qualify, though. He was a wild, un-disciplined character.

Bright boys

"A party of 26 Greek naval officers passed through the school. Instructing them was a heck of a trial because they had no English. We could use interpreters on the ground, but certainly not in the air. Happily, they were bright boys and tremendously keen."
Cyril bristles at the suggestion that the flying machines used in the First World War were "stick and string" contraptions.
"They were certainly frail," he confessed, "but they were hand-made and beautifully finished. Engine failures were the big problem. You never knew when the motor would quit on you."
And zeppelin hunting by night was hazardous enough without the added possibility of having to make a dead-stick landing in a built-up area.

See Marjorie's Baptism Registration.
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We can see on 2 Oct 1908, Marjorie, her mother and four of her siblings sailed from London to the port of East London, South Africa aboard the ship GALEKA of The Union Castle Mail Steamship Company. They travelled 2nd Class:
Mrs E Knibbs 45
Mstr A R Knibbs 16
Mstr H Knibbs 13
Miss M Knibbs 7
Mstr N Knibbs 5
Miss I Knibbs 21
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We can see in 1922, Marjorie sailed from London, England to East London, South Africa with her father and another female Knibbs' who I haven't been able to identify as yet.

Name: Miss KNIBBS
Date of departure: 14 October 1922
Port of departure: Southampton
Passenger destination port: East London, South Africa
Passenger destination: East London, South Africa
Date of Birth: 1901 (calculated from age)
Age: 21
Marital status:
Sex: Female
Occupation:

The following people with the same last name travelled on this voyag

Mrs KNIBBS Page 8 of 13 View transcript
Mr H E KNIBBS Page 8 of 13 View transcript

Ship: BALMORAL CASTLE
Steamship Line: Union-Castle Mail Steamship Coy Ltd
Where bound: South Africa
Passengers on voyage: 546

KNIBBSH E1861M1922SouthamptonSouth AfricaEast London
KNIBBS1884F1922SouthamptonSouth AfricaEast London
KNIBBS1901F1922SouthamptonSouth AfricaEast London