87 Helicopter Flying School is a unit of the South African Air Force. It is a helicopter flight training school. The Helicopter Conversion Unit was established at Ysterplaat on 1 February 1968 to fulfill the helicopter pilot and flight engineers training role. The present unit was formed on 9 April 1968 by redesignating Training Flight, 17 Squadron at AFB Ysterplaat. The unit, equipped with Alouette II and III's, took over responsible for Helicopter Conversion Training of SAAF pilots and training of Flight Engineers for the SAAF.