Buffalo 461 was a

Canadian military } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force ...

de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo The de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo is a short takeoff and landing ( STOL) utility transport turboprop aircraft developed from the earlier piston-powered DHC-4 Caribou. The aircraft has extraordinary STOL performance and is able to take off ...

assigned to the second

United Nations Emergency Force The United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was a military and peacekeeping operation established by the United Nations General Assembly to secure an end to the Suez Crisis of 1956 through the establishment of international peacekeepers on the bor ...

force in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in support of United Nations Security Council Resolution 340. Assigned to a

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare. Within the United ...

force, Buffalo 461 was shot down by three Syrian

missiles In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...

home.cogeco.ca,
The last mission of Buffalo 461
'', retrieved 27 June 2009 on August 9, 1974 killing all nine passengers and crew. The loss of Buffalo 461 remains the largest single-incident loss of life in the history of

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

peacekeeping operations.buffalo461.ca,
Buffalo 461 – Last Flight
', retrieved 27 June 2009

UN Flight 51

The second

was authorized by the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, ...

to supervise the ceasefire between Egypt and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

following the end of the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...

. Besides preventing additional flare-ups of fighting, the peacekeeping force was also tasked with assisting the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

with humanitarian efforts in the region. Canada was a leader in these peacekeeping efforts and was providing logistics, signals and air and service units. Their three Buffalo aircraft were flying six-day-a-week schedules. UN Flight 51 was Buffalo 461's last flight designation, for a routine scheduled supply trip from

Ismailia Ismailia ( ar, الإسماعيلية ', ) is a city in north-eastern Egypt. Situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal, it is the capital of the Ismailia Governorate. The city has a population of 1,406,699 (or approximately 750,000, includi ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

, Syria. Five crew members and four military passengers were on board when the aircraft took off from

Beirut International Airport Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint of ...

after a stopover. The First Officer,

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Keith Mirau, received clearance to enter Syrian airspace from the Damascus air traffic control centre at 0945

GMT Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...

. Shortly after crossing from

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

into Syria the plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile launched from a Syrian airfield. Moments later two more missiles struck and destroyed the plane, scattering wreckage across a field near the Syrian town of Ad Dimas. All nine on board were killed.

Aircraft

The aircraft, the 16th Buffalo built, first flown in 1968, was a twin-engined

(CC-115 – Canadian military designation) utility transport with Canadian military serial number ''115461''.

Aftermath and legacy

The Canadian Department of National Defence launched a

board of Inquiry A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal commission in that ...

to investigate the loss of Buffalo 461. The board was led by LCol J.A. Cann who was unable to determine if the missile attack was accidental or done intentionally to put pressure on the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

to curtail Israeli flights over Syrian airspace. The

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is an aviation museum located at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Mount Hope, Ontario, Canada. The museum has 47 military jets and propeller-driven aircraft on display. Displayed is a co ...

has undertaken a project to rebuild an ex-

Sudanese Air Force The Sudanese Air Force ( ar, القوّات الجوّيّة السودانيّة, Al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya As-Sudaniya) is the air force operated by the Republic of the Sudan. As such it is part of the Sudanese Armed Forces. History The Sudanese A ...

DHC-5D to represent Buffalo 461 as a tribute to those lost on Buffalo 461 and all Canadian peacekeepers. In 1993 British Columbia established August 9 as '' Peacekeepers' Day'' and this was recognized nationally in 2008 by the

Canadian government The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in-C ...

. A fragment of the original aircraft is on display at the

Canadian War Museum The Canadian War Museum (french: link=no, Musée canadien de la guerre; CWM) is a national museum on the country's military history in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military history, in a ...

as a memorial to the lost crew members and passengers, who have become known as the ''Buffalo Nine'', and a memorial has also been erected at

Buffalo Park Buffalo Park is a cricket ground located in East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is one of the home grounds for the Warriors cricket team, and the principal home ground for Border. It can hold up to 20,000 spectators. Buffalo Park supers ...

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

References

External links

Canadian Landmine Foundation

Chief of Defence Staff Announcement

The Blue Beret – Canadian Armed Forces Veterans Newsletter
{{coord missing, Syria Aviation accidents and incidents in 1974 Aviation accidents and incidents in Syria 20th-century aircraft shootdown incidents Accidents and incidents involving the de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo Accidents and incidents involving military aircraft 1974 in Syria Individual aircraft August 1974 events in Asia 1974 disasters in Syria

UN Flight 51

Aircraft

Aftermath and legacy

See also

References

External links