Identity
Person No.
29488
Old ROH no.
108
Service No.
75000646PE
Last Name
First Name
Michael Albert
Initials
M A
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
44
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
AA 1,737
Aircraft accident
Cause of Death
Died of heart attack, whilst flying between AFB RKP and YPLT, suffered a fatal heart attack while sitting behind the controls flying Shackleton 1717. The aircraft was on the first leg of a long range maritime patrol from D.F. Malan Airport in Cape Town up the West Coast to Air Force Base Rooikop, flying time 08h45B- 12h30B. Two of the crew members, Warrant Officers Nick Havenga and the late Frans Fourie performed CPR but to no avail. Time of death was officially logged as 12h04
Military Service
Branch
Air Force
Rank
Major
Regiment
Unit
Unknown
Secondary Unit
Army
Defence Force
SADF 3,815
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Unit History
Part of
Notes
Husband of Mrs. P. M. Bondesio
Research notes
5 Sep 2026: Unit "35 Squadron" (a squadron, SAAF's regiment-equivalent) promoted to Regiment, per John's decision. Corps (South African Air Force) unchanged.
Citations
Unknown
External References
-
SADF.info Border Roll of Honour
open source ↗
SADF.info Border RoH
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
-
The War in Angola
open source ↗
War In Angola Roll of Honour (warinangola.com, tabid=1175), page 80 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 3
Maj Mike Bondesio died of a heart attack at the controls of an Avro Shackleton Johan Meyer
Just a correction on your information. It is not 33 Squadron but 35 Squadron.
Mike Bondesio (who died of a heart attack at the controls of a SAAF Shack in 1983). He managed to limp his crippled MkIII of 203 Squadron into Lisbon on 2 Griffons and one Viper - having to do some fast footwork to avoid the brand new Salazar Bridge. For his extreme professionalism he was awarded the AFC. james
Dedications
No dedications have been added yet.