He resigned from the SAAF as a result of the de-anglicisation policy instituted by Frans Erasmus of the National Party after they took power after the 1948 general election.

In 1946, he became director-general of the South African Air Force and qualified on a special course at the Imperial Defence College in 1951.

Because the promised Russian intervention never materialised, the well-armed Germans received reinforcements and gradually stemmed and turned the tide.

[6] Major-General Durrant went to see Air Vice Marshal John Slessor and was surprised to be admitted to the presence of Churchill himself in an adjoining office.

He pointed out to Churchill that an airlift of 1,000 mi (1,600 km), most of it over enemy territory, could hold no hope of military success, and that the loss of airmen and aircraft would be tremendous.

Good Morning.And so Durrant and his volunteer aircrews, accepting all the known risks, made 196 trips to Warsaw, which included 11 hours over the Carpathian Mountains, and then flying at rooftop height to drop canisters packed with guns, ammunition and food.

[8] He resigned from the South African Air Force on 29 February 1952[1] citing "irreconcilable differences with the Minister of Defence".

[citation needed] He stated that, despite Ministerial Frans Erasmus's assurances that there were no politics in the UDF, a senior officer on his own staff had said to the Chief of the General Staff (at that time Lt-Genl Christiaan du Toit) in his presence: "I want you to understand that I am 100 percent Nationalist, and that anything I am reputed to have said or done has been in the interests of my Minister."

When Brigadier Durrant had objected to this statement, the Chief of the General Staff ruled that such a declaration of politics could be made if so desired.

[11]In 1994, the Polish Ambassador to South Africa, Mr S Cieniuch presented the Warsaw Insurrectionary Cross to Durrant's widow.

[14] In 1970, he was appointed to the board of trustees of the South African National War Museum as one of the Johannesburg City Council representatives.