Identity
Person No.
30020
Old ROH no.
330
Service No.
73262883PM
Last Name
First Name
Jan Izak Tobias
Initials
J I T
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
49
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
AA 1,737
Aircraft accident
Cause of Death
Killed in aircraft accident, Crashed following mid-air collision with Piper Pa-31 Navajo ZS-KTX over Swartkops, in Swearingen Merlin 4A #ZS-JLZ. The collision occurred when returning from Namibia and on final approach to Waterkloof Air Base and the Navajo was on final approach to Wonderboom Airport
Military Service
Branch
Air Force
Rank
Captain
Regiment
Unit
Unknown
Secondary Unit
Army
Defence Force
SADF 3,822
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Notes
Husband of Mrs. J. E. de Villiers
Research notes
5 Sep 2026: Unit "21 Squadron" (a squadron, SAAF's regiment-equivalent) promoted to Regiment, per John's decision. Corps (South African Air Force) unchanged.
Citations
Unknown
External References
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
-
The War in Angola
open source ↗
War In Angola Roll of Honour (warinangola.com, tabid=1175), page 11 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 5
Crashed following mid-air collision with Piper Pa-31 Navajo ZS-KTX.
Crashed following mid-air collision with Piper Pa-31 Navajo ZS-KTX over Swartkops. She was the Airhostess on the VIP flight. Her Pilots that died with her.. Capt J.I.T de Villiers and Leon Goldstein.
Jannie De Villiers was my father. Left behind me, my older sister and my mother. I was only 10 months old at the time. If anybody has anymore information regarding the crash please contact me.
JIT De Villiers - Jannie or Jan to his family and friends and "Jit" to his colleagues died on 14 July 1982 over Laudium while descending to land in a MAC between ZS-KTX and ZS-JLZ. Jan was born in South West Africa, but lived in South Africa for all of his adult life - he lived in El Doraigne, Verwoerdburg at the time of his death. He left a wife and two small daughters. He is still missed. Colin Beazley (Brother in Law)
My name is Ann, JIT sister in law. Jannie will always be in our hearts. We often think and say a prayer for him. He was a lovely caring husband to Janet and loved his kids. He was a very good pilot and this tragic accident should have never happened. Ann Bezzina (former De Villiers)
Dedications
No dedications have been added yet.