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Penzhorn , Gerhardt (G)

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Identity
Person No.
32464
Service No.
P1/8138
Last Name
First Name
Gerhardt
Initials
G
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
24
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
Unknown
Cause of Death
Killed in an aircraft crash in Tiger Moth #ZS-AIP. The engine stalled while the plane was in an inverted position during low level aerobatics. The plane crashed one mile SE of the Randfontein Airfield while attempting to recover
Military Service
Branch
Air Force
Rank
Pupil Pilot
Regiment
Unknown
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
UDF 24,809
Union Defence Force
Notes

ref. 85 years of SAAF

Research notes

Unit was contaminated with an unrelated Army unit (Infantry Battalion/Artillery Regiment/Commando/Special Service Battalion) that makes no sense for Air Force personnel -- found 28 Aug 2026 while investigating a similar report (PersonNumber 30827, Janse Van Rensburg). Affects 32 "ref. 85 years of SAAF" records in total, all correctly Corps = South African Air Force but each with a different, unrelated ground-forces Unit value -- looks like a batch-import misalignment bug, not a single bad value repeated. Cleared rather than guessed at a correct Unit.
25 Sep 2026, Unit2 service-branch sweep: the stored Secondary Unit "Navy" was CLEARED. It was not a sub-unit, it was a service-branch word, and it CONTRADICTED this record's own Branch, "Air Force". Across the roll 787 records carried such a contradiction; judged against Corps and Regiment -- independent of both columns -- the evidence backed Branch 744 times and Unit2 not once. Branch is therefore kept and the contradicting word removed. Nothing is guessed: this man's branch of service is already recorded, and his sub-unit, if any, is simply not known.

Citations
Unknown
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