Air Rhodesia Flight 827 - Misplaced Pages

1979 aircraft incident in Zimbabwe

Air Rhodesia Flight 827
Airliner shootdown
A similar Air Rhodesia aircraft
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 / 16.417°S 29.433°E / -16.417; 29.433
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

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 this remained the deadliest aviation incident in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.

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. 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) and came down in rough terrain in the Vuti African Purchase Area east of Lake Kariba. None of the 59 passengers or crew survived.

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.

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.

References

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

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1979 (1979)
Jan 30 Varig Flight 967Feb 12 Air Rhodesia Flight 827Feb 17 Air New Zealand Flight 4374Mar 14 Alia Flight 600Mar 17 Aeroflot Flight 1691Mar 26 Interflug Ilyushin Il-18 crashMar 29 Quebecair Flight 255Apr 4 TWA Flight 841Apr 23 SAETA Flight 011May 25 American Airlines Flight 191May 30 Downeast Airlines Flight 46Jun 17 Air New England Flight 248Jun 20 American Airlines Flight 293Jul 11 Garuda Fokker F28 crashJul 26 Lufthansa Cargo Flight 527Jul 31 Dan-Air Flight 0034Aug 11 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collisionAug 29 Aeroflot Flight 5484Sep 14 Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 12Oct 7 Swissair Flight 316Oct 31 Western Airlines Flight 2605Nov 11 Manises UFO incidentNov 15 American Airlines Flight 444Nov 26 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 740Nov 28 Air New Zealand Flight 901Dec 18 Mosfellsheiði air crashesDec 23 Turkish Airlines Ankara crash
1978 ◄ ► 1980

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1979 (1979)

Jan 30 Varig Flight 967Feb 12 Air Rhodesia Flight 827Feb 17 Air New Zealand Flight 4374Mar 14 Alia Flight 600Mar 17 Aeroflot Flight 1691Mar 26 Interflug Ilyushin Il-18 crashMar 29 Quebecair Flight 255Apr 4 TWA Flight 841Apr 23 SAETA Flight 011May 25 American Airlines Flight 191May 30 Downeast Airlines Flight 46Jun 17 Air New England Flight 248Jun 20 American Airlines Flight 293Jul 11 Garuda Fokker F28 crashJul 26 Lufthansa Cargo Flight 527Jul 31 Dan-Air Flight 0034Aug 11 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collisionAug 29 Aeroflot Flight 5484Sep 14 Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 12Oct 7 Swissair Flight 316Oct 31 Western Airlines Flight 2605Nov 11 Manises UFO incidentNov 15 American Airlines Flight 444Nov 26 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 740Nov 28 Air New Zealand Flight 901Dec 18 Mosfellsheiði air crashesDec 23 Turkish Airlines Ankara crash

1978 ◄ ► 1980

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