HARRY CURTIS - MY FATHER (to view more photos, please refer to the gallery in the main site)     Harry was born in Johannesburg on 1 November 1914, his father being a mine manager at Crown Mines. He matriculated at Durban Boys High in 1932, straight after which he started working at City Deep Mines being trained as an underground shift boss. He worked for the mines till 1941 after which he joined the South African Air Force to train and become a pilot. He started his flying days at No 5 Air School Witbank, his first flight being on 14 October 1941 in a Tiger Moth. He qualified to wear the South African Flying Badge on 10 April 1942 after flying 165 hours. His logbook contains a Summary of Flying and Assessment undertaken at 25 Air School. The assessment reflects the period December 1943 to July 1944, reflecting total flying hours of 1402 and Above the Average assessment as a Pilot Instructor. (Click on certificate on left to enlarge). A later Flying Assessment undertaken at 9 Fighter Squadron on 31 July 1945 reflects: Assessment of Ability: (Click on certificate on left to enlarge) As a Fighter Pilot - Average + In Bombing - Average + In Air Gunnery - Average + Above left: As a pilot instructor, he instructed for two years and was then sent on operations to North Africa, Europe and Greece. Above right: He was demobilised in December 1945 and married my mother Joyce on 24 November 1945. Unfortunately I have no formally recorded memoirs of my father's life. What is recorded has come from the memories of his children, relatives and friends, and from certain records evidencing events in his life. Harry's one real passion in life was golf. He played 18 holes three times a week and retained his enthusiasm for the game right until his dying day. Being a physically strong man, and relatively supple, he hit the ball a long way. He was a single handicapped golfer for most of his golfing days, down to as low as a 4 handicap at times. The town of Ndola had a beautiful 18-hole course, the premier course of Zambia. The Ndola Golf Club hosted the internationally renowned annual Cock O' the North Golf tournament which was started in 1953. The tournament over the years attracted such greats as the South Africans Harold Henning, Dennis Hutchinson, Terry Westbrook the English Golfers Bernard Gallagher, Craig de Foy, Sam Terrance, Brain Barnes, Christy O' Conner, Dai Rees and the Australian Jack Newton. Harry participated in a number of Cock O' the North Pro-Am. He was well known throughout the Zambian golfing fraternity. He achieved two holes in one, both on the Ndola Golf Course in 1960 and 1968.