Air Rhodesia Flight 827

Air Rhodesia Flight 827, operated by Vickers Viscount VP-YND 'Umniati' was a scheduled civilian flight between Kariba, and the capital Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe), that was shot down soon after takeoff on 12 February 1979 by Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) guerrillas using a Strela 2 missile. The circumstances were very similar to the shooting down of Air Rhodesia Flight 825 five months earlier. As of 2022^[update] it remains the deadliest aviation incident in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.^[1]

Air Rhodesia Flight 827

Similar Air Rhodesia aircraft
Airliner shootdown
Date	12 February 1979
Summary	Shot down with a Strela 2 missile by ZIPRA guerrillas
Site	Vuti African Purchase Area 16°25′S 29°26′E
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Vickers Viscount
Operator	Air Rhodesia
Registration	VP-YND
Flight origin	Salisbury International Airport, Rhodesia
Last stopover	Kariba, Rhodesia
Destination	Salisbury International Airport, Rhodesia
Passengers	55
Crew	4
Fatalities	59
Survivors	0

Incident description

The flight's departure from Kariba had been delayed, and so the pilots 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.^{[citation needed]} ZIPRA had information that the Rhodesian Security Forces Commander General Peter Walls was on board, and they tried to assassinate him. However, he and his wife were on a second (similar) aircraft that took-off 15 minutes later, immediately executing maneuvers designed to evade missiles, and landing safely in Salisbury.

As with the similar incident five months earlier, Flight 827 was damaged by one or more Strela-2 missiles (commonly known at the time as 'SAM-7', NATO reporting name SA-7) ^[2] and came down in rough terrain in the Vuti African Purchase Area east of Lake Kariba.^[3] None of the 59 passengers or crew survived.^[1]

Aftermath

Following the second incident, Air Rhodesia added shrouding to the exhaust pipes of their Viscount aircraft to reduce their infrared signature, and painted the aircraft with a low-radiation paint as countermeasures against heat-seeking missiles.^[4]

On 25 February 1979, the Rhodesian Air Force, with covert assistance from the South African Air Force, launched Operation Vanity, a retaliatory bombing raid against a ZIPRA camp near Livingstone, Zambia.^[5]

References

1. Ranter, Harro (1979). "Description of Air Rhodesia Flight RH827". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation.
2. "Again, death on 'Flight SAM-7'". Time. 26 February 1979.
3. Nyarota, Geoffrey (2006). Against the Grain: Memoirs of a Zimbabwean Newsman. Zebra Books. ISBN 9781770071124. Retrieved 18 May 2008.
4. Petter-Bowyer, P J H (2005) [2003]. Winds of Destruction: the Autobiography of a Rhodesian Combat Pilot. Johannesburg: 30° South Publishers. p. 331. ISBN 978-0-9584890-3-4.
5. Ottaway, David B. (18 February 1979). "Rhodesian Aircraft Attack Guerrilla Camps in Zambia". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286.