Yates, Clifford

Identity

Person No.

33918

Old ROH no.

1683

Service No.

64411729V

Last Name

Yates 8

First Name

Clifford

Initials

C

Date of Birth

Unknown

Est. Birth Year

1950 (±1 yr) 232

Age at Death

23

Death Record

Date of Death

21 August 1973 115

Cause code

AA 1,734

Aircraft accident

Cause of Death

Killed in aircraft accident 1,514

Killed in aircraft accident, collided with Impala 553 near Pietersburg, in Atlas MB326M Impala Mk I #529

Military Service

Branch

Air Force

Rank

Second Lieutenant

Regiment

Unknown

Corps

South African Air Force 3,524

Unit

85 Combat Flying School 28

Defence Force

SADF 3,841

South African Defence Force

Location

Country

South Africa 23,872

Locality

Gauteng 9,374

Cemetery

THABA TSHWANE (NEW) MILITARY CEMETERY 592

Grave Reference

Grave 764 1

Coordinates

-25.78214, 28.12179 OSM

Unit History

Part of

Training and development

Notes

Son of Mrs. A. Yates

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 21 Aug 2026: 64411729E 2/Lieutenant (Pilot under Instruction) Clifford Yates, Impala 553, mid-air with Impala 529 near Pietersburg, age 23. ROH ServiceNo 64411729V and aircraft #529 colliding with 553 left (Graham puts Yates in 553 with van Zyl).
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.

Citations

Unknown

External References

Bushwar Books - Lest We Forget open source ↗
Bushwar Books 21 Aug 2026: confirms Graham's Yates C. entry, 85 Advanced Flying School collision.
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 21 Aug 2026: 64411729E 2Lt Clifford Yates, Impala 553, mid-air near Pietersburg, age 23. ROH #529 / 64411729V left.
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 8 of 143: confirmed, no changes.

Stories 1

by Marle' Treurnicht on 15 November 2009 · via source

He was a pilot at the Air Force Base in Pietersburg. I believe that it was then called 85 Advanced Flying School. He was killed on 21 August 1973 during a mid-air colission between 2 Impala Mk1's (529 & 553). The other pilots involved was Capt C.L. Smith and Capt F.R. Van Zyl.

Dedications

No dedications have been added yet.

Yates , Clifford (C)