Lieutenant-General James Kriel (8 March 1942 – 18 July 2016) was a South African military commander. He joined the

South African Air Force "Through hardships to the stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

in 1959. Kriel attended

Tygerberg High School Hoërskool Tygerberg is a public Afrikaans medium co-educational high school situated in Parow in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is a government funded School, The high school was established in 1954. Background and history The ...

before doing a pilot course in 1959. He served as OC 35 Squadron SAAF at AFB Ysterplaat from 1974 to 1977, flying the

Avro Shackleton The Avro Shackleton is a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) which was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the South African Air Force (SAAF). It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a develo ...

. He later served as Officer Commanding AFB Ysterplaat as a colonel before being transferred to Headquarters in the role of director air planning as a brigadier. Kriel was promoted to Chief of Air Staff Operations as a major general in 1986, followed by Chief of Air Force staff till 1991, when he was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed Chief of the Air Force. Kriel died on 18 July 2016 at the age of 74. He married Nellie Toerien on 4 August 1963. She was the daughter of Mattheus and Catharina (Née Bosman)

Honours and awards

He was awarded the Order of the Star of South Africa (Silver) in 1994. * * * * * * * * * * *

References

1942 births 2016 deaths Afrikaner people People from Cape Town Chiefs of the South African Air Force South African military personnel of the Border War South African people of German descent {{SouthAfrica-mil-bio-stub

Honours and awards

See also

References