Kevin Roy Winterbottom (19559 June 1976) was a

South African Air Force The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...

(SAAF) pilot who chose to avoid crashing his stricken

Impala The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'', lit. 'black-footed high-horn' in Ancient Greek) is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus '' Aepyceros'', and tribe Aepycerotini, it ...

jet aircraft in the Monument Park suburb of

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

by remaining with his aircraft to the end. He was posthumously awarded the 25th Honoris Crux decoration for bravery, the first such award for gallantry outside battle. The HC was at the time South Africa's highest military decoration that could be awarded in peacetime.

Early life

Winterbottom was born in

Transvaal Province The Province of Transvaal (), commonly referred to as the Transvaal (; ), was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it following the end of apartheid. The name "Transvaal" refers to the province's ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. He attended

Pretoria Boys High School Pretoria Boys High School (colloquially known as "Boys High") is a public, Tuition payments, tuition-charging, English language, English-medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Brooklyn, Pretoria, Brooklyn in Pretoria in the Gauten ...

where he

matric Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used now ...

ulated in 1972.

Service and fatal accident

Winterbottom joined the SAAF in 1973, entering Officer and Pilot training. He was serving with 4 Squadron at the time of his death. On the morning of 9 June 1976, Winterbottom was piloting Atlas MB326 km Impala Mk II #1022. While making his approach to land at Waterkloof Air Force Base an engine failure due to a

bird strike A bird strike (sometimes called birdstrike, bird ingestion (for an engine), bird hit, or bird aircraft strike hazard (BASH)) is a collision between an airborne animal (usually a bird or bat) and a moving vehicle (usually an aircraft). The term ...

left him with no thrust and insufficient altitude to reach the airfield. His options were to eject and risk the aircraft crashing with possible casualties in the suburban areas of

Waterkloof Waterkloof (Afrikaans for "Water Ravine") is an affluent suburb of the city of Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa, located to the east of the city centre. It is named after the original farm that stood there when Pretoria was founded ...

or Monument Park in Pretoria, or to remain with his aircraft and guide it away from populated areas. He chose the latter, steering his aircraft to crash into a small deserted recreation park where he was killed instantly on impact. Winterbottom's ashes were scattered at the SAAF Memorial.

Awards

References

External links

Remembrance Day service held on 11 November 2008, address by Rear-Admiral (JG) Derek Christian, SA Navy.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winterbottom, Kevin Roy 1955 births 1976 deaths White South African people People from Pretoria South African Air Force officers South African military personnel killed in the Border War Alumni of Pretoria Boys High School