A farewell to Wayne and his wife Janique Giles
By Karl Jensen. Photos by Karl and Willie Bodenstein
I have had the privilege of knowing the Giles family for longer than their daughter Rachel has been on the planet. It is extremely hard for all of us and of course to dear Rachel and son Brandon to comprehend the dastardly crime that has taken Wayne and Janique from us.
Wayne Giles 58, and his wife Janique were brutally murdered by gunfire during a break in by criminals at their home at Fly Inn Estate just before daybreak on 4 August 2020. Is this tragically escalating crime in South Africa what we want? DEFINITELY NOT.
I hope that this sad tale will be read not only by South African aviators, but by others around the world who have influence to help stem this awful tide of violence.
Wayne with his first Bearhawk.
My association commenced with the family when Wayne brought his burgundy-coloured Piper Pacer into the big hangar at Fly Inn about 27 years ago. It was parked next to my airplane. I was strongly associated with the family when I was still a pilot with the then wonderful SAA.
Wayne and Janique built the 1st home on the Fly Inn Estate village adjoining the runway about 25 years ago. Wayne flew the Pacer for many years before buying a Cessna 185 which he used for business and pleasure. He broke that Cessna a few times, but it was always immaculately restored and upgraded to better than new condition.
Wayne's Cessna 185.
The family went on a few fly-aways with us in that plane with the Experimental Aircraft Association when I was heading our Johannesburg EAA Chapter 322. I have a hangar at Fly Inn on the opposite side of the runway to the housing Estate. It was always a pleasure having any of the Giles passing by and where Wayne visited almost without fail when I was there for tea, coffee, to tan a coil of boerewors and an occasional sundowner. It was always fun exchanging 'war stories', telling lies often with much laughter that erupts during hangar talk. It wasn't always laughter. We spoke of many things and Wayne, an engineering graduate, gave me much advice and assistance with technical matters as I did him on flying matters.
The Author flying the Bearhawk during a photoshoot.
In 2015, Wayne acquired the Barrows Bearhawk Aircraft franchise for South Africa after a trip to Oshkosh. He built a Bearhawk Patrol in 8 months. He was an absolute stickler for perfection. This came through very clearly when he built that first Bearhawk ZU-BHP. I did the extensive test flying that