Gaylard, Bruce Errol

Identity

Person No.

30465

Old ROH no.

488

Service No.

PX/24853

Last Name

Gaylard 7

First Name

Bruce Errol

Initials

B E

Date of Birth

Unknown

Est. Birth Year

1942 (±1 yr) 128

Age at Death

20

Death Record

Date of Death

12 June 1962 134

Cause code

AA 1,737

Aircraft accident

Cause of Death

Killed in aircraft accident 1,517

Died in Aircraft Accident, struck the ground and disintegrated near Dunnottar while carrying out unauthorised low-level aerobatics, in AT-6 Harvard #7161

Military Service

Branch

Air Force

Rank

Second Lieutenant

Regiment

Unknown

Corps

South African Air Force 3,524

Unit

CFS Dunnottar 10

Formerly Central Flying School

Defence Force

SADF 3,828

South African Defence Force

Location

Country

South Africa 23,872

Locality

Eastern Cape 971

Cemetery

EAST LONDON (EAST BANK) CEMETERY 105

Grave Reference

Sec.9B. Grave 246. Shared with father 1

Coordinates

-33.00852, 27.91598 OSM

Notes

Son of Mr. Franklin Errol and Mrs. E. L. Gaylard. His father died in service in WW2. ref. 85 years of SAAF

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 12 Jun 2024: PX/24853 2/Lieutenant (Pilot) Bruce Erroll Gaylard, Central Flying School Dunnottar, killed instantly when AT-6 Harvard serial 7161 struck the ground and disintegrated near Dunnottar while carrying out unauthorised low-level aerobatics, age 19. Same Harvard 7161 as Booysen H.L. PN 29499. Graham Erroll; ROH Errol — not overwritten. Graham age 19; ROH 20 left. Unit was Central Flying School — set to CFS Dunnottar. SN normalised to PX/24853. Unauthorised aerobatics filled. Unit2 was Army — set to Air Force.
25 Sep 2026, Unit2 service-branch sweep: the stored Secondary Unit "Air Force" was CLEARED as a duplicate. It was not a sub-unit, it was a service-branch word repeating what the Branch column already says. Secondary Unit is for sub-units -- a company, a squadron, a commando -- and this record's branch of service is unchanged at "Air Force".

Citations

Unknown

External References

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 12 Jun 2024: PX/24853 2/Lieutenant (Pilot) Bruce Erroll Gaylard, Central Flying School Dunnottar, killed instantly when AT-6 Harvard serial 7161 struck the ground and disintegrated near Dunnottar while carrying out unauthorised low-level aerobatics, age 19. Same Harvard 7161 as Booysen H.L. PN 29499. Graham Erroll; ROH Errol — not overwritten. Graham age 19; ROH 20 left. Unit was Central Flying School — set to CFS Dunnottar. SN normalised to PX/24853. Unauthorised aerobatics filled. Unit2 was Army — set to Air Force.
South African War Graves Project open source ↗
The War in Angola open source ↗
War In Angola Roll of Honour (warinangola.com, tabid=1175), page 3 of 143: confirmed, no changes.

Stories 1

by Patrick Warner on 10 November 2006 · via source

Bruce Gaylard was my Mothers cousin. Bruce was killed with H.Booysen in 1962 during flight training where Bruce was an instructor. They were flying a Harvard. Bruce's father was also a pilot and was killed during the second world war. Bruce's mother died in 2002 after a sad life loosing her husband and only son to aircraft accidents. Bruce is buried in the East cemetary in East London, and his mothers ashed are buried at the foot of his grave.

Dedications

No dedications have been added yet.

Gaylard , Bruce Errol (B E)