The refusal of the South African Air Force to divulge the nature of an emergency call made by the two Impala pilots killed in a horror air smash has sparked outrage among relatives.
Adding to the outcry are the allegations, by sources close to the board of inquiry investigating the Mpumalanga crash, that the pilots should never have been allowed to fly the plane.
Lieutenant Andrew "Gunsmoke" Martin, 28, and his trainee, Lieutenant Gert William Diederich Duvenhage, 22, were on the return leg of a low-level navigation training flight.
Sources close to the investigation said on Thursday night that the plane should never have been flown as it had apparently been experiencing mechanical faults and problems.
'We were planning to get married on February 28'
The source would not go on record about the faults as it would reveal his identity.
Another source said this was not the first time that such a "problem" had occurred with the two-seater Impala Mk 1.
Last night, Martin's fiancée and girlfriend of two-and-a-half years, Chanell Oosthuizen, said the air force had refused to say how the accident happened.
"They will not tell me anything. They have said that the matter is part of an inquiry which is being investigated by the air force," she sobbed.
Oosthuizen and Martin met while they were both living at Langebaan in the Western Cape.
'They will not tell me anything'
Shortly afterwards, Martin was posted to the Hoedspruit Combat School, where Oosthuizen joined him.
"We were planning to get married on February 28," said Oosthuizen.
She said Martin, who had been in the air force for seven years, loved flying.
"He would spend as many hours as possible in the air and flew the new Hawk trainer jet at last year's airshow at Air Force Base Waterkloof. Flying and sports were his life.
"Andy had just got his colours for the air force cricket team and loved to watch and talk about all sorts of different sports," she said.
Oosthuizen said they last saw each other two weeks ago. She said she had heard about the accident over the radio.
"When I did not get a call from Andy, I knew that something was wrong."
"I telephoned the base and was told by a person that they were terribly sorry, but Andy was dead."
"No one will tell me anything else. They say it is all part of the inquiry. All I want to know is what went wrong and why, that's all," she said.