A visual problem to begin with - and earlier than the extracts below! The photograph must have been taken on or shortly after 23.2.20, but where and of what?
The aircraft involved was of course G-EANV a Handley Page O/400 converted to O/7 in October 1919 and operated by the manufacturers initially on London-Brussels mail flights. It became the first equipment of the newly-formed Handley Page South African Transport Company but there are two versions to describe its passage, one that it was flown out by Major McIntyre, the other perhaps more realistic that it was shipped to Cape Town 11.19 on RMS Durban Castle and assembled at the Company's airfield at Wynberg. It first flew from Wynberg on 7.2.20 and one week later was named "Pioneer" on the airfield's official opening.
The first passenger and aerial mail service from Cape Town to Johannesburg was planned for February 15th 1920, meanwhile the aircraft had been used for local flights and as an airborne advertisement for Commando Brandy, hence the huge lettering which is clearly visible in the photographs. The flight began according to plan but a faulty compass and a fuel leakage resulted in a safe forced landing at an isolated location 50 miles from Sutherland. Fuel supplies were eventually obtained and Pioneer continued to Beaufort West on the 19th, four days behind schedule. At 1.30 pm the flight was resumed with Major H.C."Duke" Meintjies in command, co-pilot Capt.C.J."Boet" Venter, engineer Askew and six passengers including the Company Secretary Capt. Duncan and Mrs.Meintjies. Eight minutes later at 300 feet the starboard rudder post came adrift and the aircraft went into a dive. The pilot managed to execute a crash landing with little height to spare, the location being Acacia Siding (or Lemoenfontein Siding ?) although the date is often quoted as 23.2.20, possibly this is the date on which news reached England.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Handley Page O/7 / O/10 / O/11 - ВеликобританияUnited Kingdom - 1919