Identity
Person No.
33766
Old ROH no.
1864
Service No.
74324500PM
Last Name
First Name
Steven
Initials
S
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
23
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
KIA 14,778
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action, shot down by SA-7 some 20 km SW of Mupa, in Atlas MB326KM Impala Mk II #1042. Volkerz ejected safely and waved to his wingman (Lt. Skinner) from the ground; however intercepted radio messages indicated that he was killed by SWAPO
Military Service
Branch
Air Force
Rank
1st Lieutenant
Regiment
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,836
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Unit History
Part of
Awards
South Africa
Pro Patria Medal warrant, Government Gazette No. 5171 (25 Jun 1976), Rule 5, as amended by GG No. 5575 (3 Jun 1977); discontinued by GG No. 25213 (25 Jul 2003, Schedule corrected by GG No. 26778, 17 Sep 2004) for service on/after 27 Apr 2003. Gazette extracts: https://rohsa.co.za/award.php?id=24
Notes
Son of Mr. G. Volkersz, of Germiston
Research notes
5 Sep 2026: Unit "2 Squadron" (a squadron, SAAF's regiment-equivalent) promoted to Regiment, per John's decision. Corps (South African Air Force) unchanged.
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
-
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 77 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
-
The War in Angola
open source ↗
War in Angola Member Dedications forum (www.warinangola.com), Excel export supplied by Johan Schoeman, 1 Sep 2026. Forum post(s): 23936, 23938, 23949, 47969, 47970.
Stories 2
Lt Steve Volkersz was killed in October 1980 in Southern Angola when his Impala Mk II was shot down. He ejected but was captured and killed by his captors. Unknown
Lt Steve Volkerz was the pilot of an Impala MkII ser no 1042 and was struck by 2 SAM -7's while on a search and destroy mission southwest of Mupa in Angola on 10 Oct 1980. His wingman was Lt Chris Skinner. He was momentarily above the standard 50ft height in a turn when hit directly over a SWAPO camp hidden in trenches and bushes. Lt Skinner saw Lt Volkerz on the ground after the ejection gesturing in which direction he would be evading towards. He had unknowingly also landed in the same base, was captured and shot "by accident" by the cook who had heard the commotion, emerged from his bunker and saw a white pilot and thought the camp was under attack. This fact was found out nearly a year later when propaganda pamphlets were found on a captured SWAPO soldier showing a photo of Lt Volkerz, obviously shot with his 3 Sqn helmet next to his head.
Dedications 4
FOR HIM THE LAST POST HAS SOUNDED
We stand to attention and salute 74324500PM Lieutenant Steven Volkersz from 2 Squadron who had volunteered to do an Operational Duty Tour as an Impala Aircraft Pilot at Air Force Base Ondangwa. He was Reported Missing on 10 October 1980 after his Atlas MB326KM Impala Mk II Serial 1042 was shot down by a shoulder-launched Soviet SA-7 Grail Surface-to-Air Missile some 20km South West of Mupa. Steven successfully ejected and after landing, waved to his Wingman Lieutenant Chris Skinner from the ground. It appears however that while trying to evade capture, he accidentally walked into a SWAPO/PLAN base and was shot and killed. An intercept of SWAPO/PLAN radio messages later indicated that he had been killed but there was no confirmation. During a later cross-border operation, SADF soldiers picked up FAPLA propaganda pamphlets that showed photographs of Steven's body lying next to his flying helmet thereby providing positive confirmation of death. He has no known grave and remains unaccounted for. He was 23.
His name and sacrifice has not been forgotten.
DEDICATION
We stand to attention and salute 74324500PM Lieutenant Steven Volkersz from 2 Squadron who had volunteered to do an Operational Duty Tour as an Impala Aircraft Pilot at Air Force Base Ondangwa. He was Reported Missing on 10 October 1980 after his Atlas MB326KM Impala Mk II Serial 1042 was shot down by a shoulder-launched Soviet SA-7 Grail Surface-to-Air Missile some 20km South West of Mupa. Steven successfully ejected and after landing, waved to his Wingman Lieutenant Chris Skinner from the ground. It appears however that while trying to evade capture, he accidentally walked into a SWAPO/PLAN base and was shot and killed. An intercept of SWAPO/PLAN radio messages later indicated that he had been killed but there was no confirmation. During a later cross-border operation, SADF soldiers picked up FAPLA propaganda pamphlets that showed photographs of Steven's body lying next to his flying helmet thereby providing positive confirmation of death. He has no known grave and remains unaccounted for. He was 23.
His name and sacrifice has not been forgotten.
DEDICATION
I have just today received some more information from a source that will remain anonymous:
"In reality Steven Volker was taken as a prisoner, cooperated, he was just killed by a hysterical stupid cook, who later was also executed - as it was not allowed to kill a prisoner of war.
"There were lots of incidents where enemies were captured due to the war situation and circumstances, they were killed and buried in unmarked graves."
"In reality Steven Volker was taken as a prisoner, cooperated, he was just killed by a hysterical stupid cook, who later was also executed - as it was not allowed to kill a prisoner of war.
"There were lots of incidents where enemies were captured due to the war situation and circumstances, they were killed and buried in unmarked graves."
Feedback from Charles Namoloh:
This pilot's corpse was taken to Lubango by Kenyatta that I know very well. Whoever says his body was not recovered doesn't have a clue as to what happened, his plane was shot down within the base and both himself and his plane fell inside the base.
This pilot's corpse was taken to Lubango by Kenyatta that I know very well. Whoever says his body was not recovered doesn't have a clue as to what happened, his plane was shot down within the base and both himself and his plane fell inside the base.
From Backseat Wroth:
We did a retaliatory bombing mission shortly after this / F1s and Buccs all formated on the Canberras (about 2 aside) because of the level bombing sight in the Can and we conducted Carpet Bombing of the area (the photo I took is in a few books) a pair of Mig 21’s were scrambled from Lubango, and were busy with a GCI , but we outran them heading South , away from their base (we had their GCI freq)
We did a retaliatory bombing mission shortly after this / F1s and Buccs all formated on the Canberras (about 2 aside) because of the level bombing sight in the Can and we conducted Carpet Bombing of the area (the photo I took is in a few books) a pair of Mig 21’s were scrambled from Lubango, and were busy with a GCI , but we outran them heading South , away from their base (we had their GCI freq)