Karel Boss (25/05/1928 - 22/11/2020)

Karel Bos was born in Alkmaar, The Netherlands, on May 25, 1928. He comes from a family of blacksmiths.

As a small boy in the thirties of the last century, he was already interested in airplanes. He ran out of the house to see when he heard a plane overhead. During his teenage years, during World War II, he was fascinated by the Allied planes on their way to Germany. One day when he heard that a Spitfire had crashed in the area, he went and found the pilot's leather helmet.

After high school, Karel studied mechanical engineering at the MTS in Rotterdam.

This was followed by three years of military service where he was selected for officer training.

As a twenty-four-year-old young man, he emigrated to South Africa in 1952, where he set up the first Bosal factory to manufacture exhaust systems for cars.

Flying and airplanes still fascinated him and in 1957 he took flying lessons in a Piper Cub at Wonderboom Airfield near Pretoria.

In 1968, Karel, now with his wife and three children, decided to return to Europe because he saw great opportunities there for his entrepreneurial spirit. The country of his choice was Belgium, where there was a good working climate and the government welcomed foreign investors because they provided work for the population.

In 1980, Karel had his now eighteen-year-old son take flying lessons and then got a taste for it again.

He learned gliding at the flying club of Brasschaat. When he himself purchased a Janus glider with a take-home engine, it was regarded as a motorised aircraft and he had to obtain a license again. He took flying lessons with his former staff pilot Danny Cabooter.

Danny convinced Karel to join the Stampe SV-4 dream and found him willing to fund the museum.

Karel flew SV-4, T6 Harvard and eventually also Spitfire, his big dream.

For his exceptional entrepreneurship he was appointed Doctor Honoris Causa at the University of Stellenbosch.