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 ...

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 So ...

(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 ...

) 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 ...

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 Rhod ...

(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 guid ...

missile. The circumstances were very similar to the shooting down of Air Rhodesia Flight 825 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 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 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 guid ...

missile and came down in rough terrain in the

Vuti Vuti is a village in the province of Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe. It is located about 60 km north-west of Karoi Karoi is a town in Zimbabwe. Location Karoi is located in Karoi District, Mashonaland West Province, in central northern ...

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 K ...

. None of the 59 passengers or crew survived.

Aftermath

Following the second incident, Air Rhodesia 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 judicia ...

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, reflect ...

, 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 ra ...

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 = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , 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 and a border t ...

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 t ...

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