Identity
Person No.
29601
Old ROH no.
157
Service No.
61286936E
Last Name
First Name
Anthonie Johannes
Initials
A J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
28
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
AA 1,737
Aircraft accident
Cause of Death
Killed in aircraft accident, crashed near Bloemfontein, in AT-6 Harvard #7135
Military Service
Branch
Air Force
Rank
Captain
Regiment
Unit
Unknown
Secondary Unit
Army
Defence Force
SADF 3,821
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Unit History
Part of
Notes
Son of Mrs. E. D. Brits, of Selection Park, Johannesburg. ref. 85 years of SAAF
Research notes
5 Sep 2026: Unit "8 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 8 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 1
Capt Anthonie (Tonie) Johannes Brits 61286936E Born 07 Sep 1944 - Springs, Transvaal (Gauteng). Matriculated in 1972 at Hoër Seunskool Hugenote, Springs. Joined the Army on 03 Jan 1967 and studied B.Mil (B.Com) at the Military Academy, Saldanha and was Sportsman of the year in 1968 - played rugby, cricket and tennis - and completed his studies in 1968. He was stationed at "81 Voorraad Depot" (don't know what the English for that would be) when he applied for a transfer to the Air force to be trained as a pilot during 1971 and despite being 27 years old, this was approve and he started his pilot training at Central Flying School April 1972. He died in a airplane crash on 13 June 1973 whilst doing weapons training in Bloemfontein. He was due to receive his wings during the span of 1973.
Dedications
No dedications have been added yet.