Son of Mrs. L. J. Stork. ref. 85 years of SAAF
Chris Bennett, Three Frigates (2006): while SAS President Steyn was homeward-bound escorting the new submarine SAS Emily Hobhouse, the ship’s Westland Wasp (after a main-rotor/head change) crashed on a required overland test flight from Luanda on 25 November 1971; all four crew were killed.
Bennett, Chris. Three Frigates: President Class Frigates bring the SA Navy to maturity. Just Done Productions / Lulu, 2006 (ISBN 978-1-920169-02-2).
25 Sep 2026, Unit2 service-branch sweep: the stored Secondary Unit "Army" 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.
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Bennett — Three Frigates (President Class)
open source ↗
Wasp #83 Luanda test flight, 25 Nov 1971
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SADF.info Border Roll of Honour
open source ↗
SADF.info Border RoH
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
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The War in Angola
open source ↗
War In Angola Roll of Honour (warinangola.com, tabid=1175), page 7 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Bennett (Three Frigates) places the loss during President Steyn’s return voyage from Europe after acceptance of the Daphne-class submarine SAS Emily Hobhouse; the Portuguese liaison officer informed the ship that afternoon that all four crew had died.
No dedications have been added yet.