Air Rhodesia Flight 827, the ''
Umniati'', was a scheduled civilian
flight
Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...
between
Kariba and
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
,
Rhodesia
Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
(now
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
) that was shot down soon after
takeoff
Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle leaves the ground and becomes airborne. For aircraft traveling vertically, this is known as liftoff.
For aircraft that take off horizontally, this usually involves starting with a t ...
on 12 February 1979 by
Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army
Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), a Marxist–Leninist political party in Rhodesia. It participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule of Rhodes ...
(ZIPRA)
guerrillas using a
Strela 2
The 9K32 Strela-2 (russian: Cтрела, "arrow"; NATO reporting name SA-7 Grail) is a light-weight, shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missile (or MANPADS) system. It is designed to target aircraft at low altitudes with passive infrared homing gu ...
missile. The circumstances were very similar to the shooting down of
Air Rhodesia Flight 825
Air Rhodesia Flight 825 was a scheduled passenger flight that was shot down by the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) on 3 September 1978, during the Rhodesian Bush War. The aircraft involved, a Vickers Viscount named the ''Hunyani'', ...
five months earlier. it remains the deadliest aviation incident in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.
Incident description
The flight's departure from Kariba had been delayed, and so it did not take the time to climb over a lake to get above the ceiling of
shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles before heading for Salisbury. ZIPRA had information that the
Rhodesian Security Forces
The Rhodesian Security Forces were the military forces of the Rhodesian government. The Rhodesian Security Forces consisted of a ground force (the Rhodesian Army), the Rhodesian Air Force, the British South Africa Police, and various personnel a ...
Commander General
Peter Walls
Lieutenant General George Peter Walls GLM DCD MBE (1927-201Walls: "We will make it work" Time magazine and CNN – 20 July 2010) was a Rhodesian soldier. He served as the Head of the Armed Forces of Rhodesia during the Rhodesian Bush War from ...
was on board, and they tried to
assassinate
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...
him. However, he and his wife missed the flight and caught a later one, which landed safely in Salisbury.
The plane was damaged by a
SAM-7 missile and came down in rough terrain in the
Vuti
Vuti is a village in the province of Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa ...
African Purchase Area east of
Lake Kariba
Lake Kariba is the world's largest artificial lake and reservoir by volume. It lies upstream from the Indian Ocean, along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lake Kariba was filled between 1958 and 1963 following the completion of the Karib ...
.
None of the 59 passengers or crew survived.
Aftermath
Following the second incident,
Air Rhodesia
Air Rhodesia was the national airline of Rhodesia. Its head office was located on the property of Salisbury Airport in Salisbury.
The airline was formed as a subsidiary of Central African Airways (CAA) in June 1964, but became an independent corp ...
added shrouding to the exhaust pipes of their
Viscount
A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status.
In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...
aircraft to reduce their
infrared signature Infrared signature, as used by defense scientists and the military, is the appearance of objects to infrared sensors. An infrared signature depends on many factors, including the shape and size of the object, temperature, and emissivity, reflectio ...
, and painted the aircraft with a low-radiation paint as countermeasures against
heat-seeking missile
Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is radi ...
s.
On 25 February 1979, the
Rhodesian Air Force
The Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) was an air force based in Salisbury (now Harare) which represented several entities under various names between 1935 and 1980: originally serving the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, it was the ...
, with covert assistance from the
South African Air Force
"Through hardships to the stars"
, colours =
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, march =
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, equipment ...
, launched
Operation Vanity
Operation Vanity was a Rhodesian military operation in Angola with clandestine assistance from the South African Air Force (SAAF) during the Rhodesian Bush War. The Rhodesian Air Force planned a retaliatory raid against a ZIPRA camp in Angola af ...
, a retaliatory bombing raid against a ZIPRA camp near
Livingstone, Zambia
Livingstone is a city in Zambia. Until 1935, it served as the capital city of Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia). Lying 10 km (6.2 mi) to the north of the Zambezi River, it is a tourism attraction center for the Victoria Falls, Zambia, Victo ...
.
References
{{Authority control
827
__FORCETOC__
Year 827 ( DCCCXXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Byzantine Empire
* June 14 – Euphemius, exiled Byzantine admiral, asks for ...
20th-century aircraft shootdown incidents
1979 in Rhodesia
Accidents and incidents involving the Vickers Viscount
Airliner shootdown incidents
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1979
Aviation accidents and incidents in Rhodesia
February 1979 events in Africa
Mass murder in 1979
Rhodesian Bush War
Terrorism in Rhodesia
Terrorist incidents in Zimbabwe
Massacres in Rhodesia