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Death Flight: Apartheid's Secret Doctrine of Disappearance
"They must never return… This was the only answer." – Colonel Johan Theron, Delta 40 co-founder
In the late 1970s, as the apartheid government fought a desperate and dirty battle to stay in power, its security forces devised a chilling new tactic. A shadowy, top-secret unit called Delta 40 was established, tasked with the murder of hundreds of ANC, PAC, and SWAPO members. Victims’ bodies were flung from aircraft into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South West Africa. Death Flight provides the first detailed account of these sinister missions. Seasoned investigative journalist Michael Schmidt traces the journey of Neil Kriel, Delta 40’s first commander, from his boyhood in Rhodesia to his dark deeds as an apartheid operative in the 1980s. Schmidt also tracks down Kriel’s partner, Colonel Johan Theron, and several other veteran Special Forces operators. Based on the detailed analysis of flight logs and numerous interviews, Death Flight sheds shocking new light on one of apartheid’s darkest chapters.
"Those were extremely sensitive operations that must never go in[to] any book…" – Colonel Charl Naudé, commander of Project Barnacle, Delta 40’s successor
In the late 1970s, as the apartheid government fought a desperate and dirty battle to stay in power, its security forces devised a chilling new tactic. A shadowy, top-secret unit called Delta 40 was established, tasked with the murder of hundreds of ANC, PAC, and SWAPO members. Victims’ bodies were flung from aircraft into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South West Africa. Death Flight provides the first detailed account of these sinister missions. Seasoned investigative journalist Michael Schmidt traces the journey of Neil Kriel, Delta 40’s first commander, from his boyhood in Rhodesia to his dark deeds as an apartheid operative in the 1980s. Schmidt also tracks down Kriel’s partner, Colonel Johan Theron, and several other veteran Special Forces operators. Based on the detailed analysis of flight logs and numerous interviews, Death Flight sheds shocking new light on one of apartheid’s darkest chapters.
"Those were extremely sensitive operations that must never go in[to] any book…" – Colonel Charl Naudé, commander of Project Barnacle, Delta 40’s successor
Paperback
Published August 3, 2020
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About the author
Michael Schmidt
6 books29 followersMichael Schmidt is a bestselling author, African human rights rapporteur, and investigative journalist with over 30 years in the field and a reputation for producing unique and challenging copy, having worked on some of South Africa's leading print titles including Sunday Times, Financial Mail, and Africa In Fact. He was a 2009 Fellow of the Academic Leaders Programme at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, a 2011 Fellow of the International Institute for Journalism (IIJ), Germany, as well as a 2011 Clive Menell Media Fellow at the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy at Duke University (USA). He is: * former Executive Director, Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ) * Administrative Secretary, Professional Journalists' Association of South Africa (ProJourn) * Director & Strategic Relations for the non-profit Hammerl Arts Rights Transfer (HART) * Rapporteur & Curator, Safe Havens Freedom Talks (SH|FT).
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