Dassault Mirage F1 AZ

1st Squadron 'The Billy Boys'

SAAF

Print Vintage

70cm x 40cm

Reported Missing in Action in Southern Angola during Operation Packer when his Dassault Mirage F1AZ, Serial No. 223 failed to return from a low level night diversion strike on enemy installations at Baixa Longa in Angola with radio silence being enforced. The two Mirage F1AZ's piloted by Cmdt Johan Rankin and Maj Willie van Coppenhagen were en-route back to Air Force Base Grootfontein from their target when the lead saw a bright flash in the darkness and thought it was a bomb exploding. Upon landing back at base Johan Rankin realised that his wingman had not returned. After a three-week search, the wreckage of the aircraft together with the body of the pilot were located inside Angola, not far from the Cut Line. The subsequent Board of Enquiry concluded that the aircraft had descended over a period of time at a very shallow angle until it struck the tree tops, killing the pilot instantly. The possibility also existed that a corroded fuel pipe may also have caused the aircraft engine to experience a flame-out at low-level that resulted in the fatal crash.