In Memoriam.
By Mitch Stirling (Air Rhodesia)
Memories of
Vickers Viscounts are deeply etched in the Rhodesian psyche. They played a vital
role in the history of "our land of lost content".
If you lived
in Salisbury, and listened carefully, you could even set your clock to the
distinctive high-pitched whine of 4 Rolls Royce Dart engines, as RH 828 turned
left off runway 06 and headed out across the city to Kariba, Wankie and Victoria
Falls. Black or white, big or small, young or old, you loved the Viscounts
— those elegant, graceful old ndege. "You could balance a coin on edge
during flight". Millions of people travelled on the Viscounts; many of them were
famous celebrities, prime ministers, presidents and monarchs. The Queen Mum was
a favourite.
But, like any great love story, there was heartache as well. Central African Airways, forerunner of Air Rhodesia, lost its first Viscount in a part of the world that is making history today — Libya. But that was a long time ago and only the older Rhodesians, the madalas, would remember the shocking news on that fateful night of August 1958 when Viscount VP-YNE Mpika crashed on a scheduled Zambezi service to London. During a night approach in good weather at Benina airport, near Benghazi, the aircraft hit high ground approximately five miles short of the runway and broke up. Miraculously 15 passengers and three crew members survived the crash; tragically 32 were killed. Captain CL Sindall, First Officer IJ Gow and Radio Officer EC Hoar were highly experienced airmen. With them was a dedicated cabin crew who had flown the route Entebbe-Khartoum-Wadi Halfa-Benina many times before.
Something went
terribly wrong that night, after they were cleared for a standard instrument
approach onto runway 33 Right. There were no indications of engine or airframe
malfunction, so the accident investigation concluded, coldly, that it was a
"controlled flight into terrain". A contributory factor could have been an
incorrect altimeter setting on the part of the pilots. But the unknown "human
factor" in aviation tragedies can never be fully explained and we will never
know what really happened on that dark, desert night.
One of the
survivors, Bill Mann, was sitting in the back as a passenger to London. Bill was
later to become a well known Air Rhodesia/Air Zimbabwe captain. And a wrist
watch, on its way to London for repair, belonging to my old friend Ralph Ward
(radio operator CAA) was recovered from the wreck. Ralph was still wearing it
when he died in Harare a few years ago. Sadly Clifford du Pont lost his children
in the crash.
Air Rhodesia
experienced two more Viscount disasters which involved total hull loss
and heartbreaking fatalities. But they were certainly not caused by pilot error.
The "inhuman factor" was at work here. In the late 1970's, communist inspired
terrorists fired Russian manufactured Grail missiles (SAM 7s) at Viscounts
VP-WAS Hunyani and VP-YND Umniati as they departed the holiday
resort of Kariba in the Zambezi Valley.
All but a few
survivors were killed in the ensuing crash of Hunyani. In an act of
unspeakable barbarity, some of them were brutally murdered at the crash site.
Viscount
Umniati plummeted straight into the ground, with no chance of survivors.
The
perpetrators of these crimes against humanity, and their supporters, will burn
in purgatory forever.
Much has been
written about "our" Vickers Viscounts; they have been eulogized by others far
more qualified than me. But here are a few interesting facts about them that
some of us may not know and others may have forgotten. The Viscount was the
first successful airliner powered by turbine engines in the world and it
heralded a new era in quiet, comfortable air travel. VP-YNA was the first of our
Viscounts. It arrived in Southern Rhodesia, brand new off the production line at
Hurn, England. Named Malvern it was our flag ship and arrived at
Salisbury's new International Airport in April 1956, decked out in silver, dark
blue and white and crewed by Rob Orbell, Gar Nash, Bob Hodgson and Jock
Elphinstone. In her long and distinguished life she carried hundreds of
thousands of passengers, her engines were changed 139 times and she made more
than 25 000 landings.
 |
| Delivery flight at Benghazi. |
 |
| RMA Malvern arrives Salisbury. |
Over the years our Viscounts were modified, upgraded, panel beaten, re-sprayed, hired out, re-sold and even belly-landed on occasions. VP-YNB Shangani had over 50 000 hours in her log book and over 25 000 landings when she was scrapped. Her engines were changed over 130 times. CAA and Air Rhodesia operated a total of 14 Viscounts, some of which came from other air carriers before their arrival in Central Africa — Middle East Airlines (MEA), Trans Australian, the Union of Burma, Jordanian Airways and Jersey Airline. All the Viscounts in the fleet were much-loved by pilots and passengers alike.
 |
| VP-WAS Hunyani type 782D constructor's No 298. Built at Weybridge. Operated by the government of Iran before delivery. Destroyed 3 September 1978. Total hours 30 074. |
 |
| Decimalization of currency 1970 |
 |
| VP-YND Umniati type 748D constructor's No 101. Built at Hurn. Visited Russia before delivery. The first Viscount, and the first prop jet aircraft, to enter the Soviet Union. Destroyed 12 February 1979. Total hours 42 050. |
 |
| VP-YNB Shangani with anti-strela paint. Type 748D constructor's No 99. Built at Hurn. Total hours when scrapped 50 054. |
 |
| Memorial in Pretoria |
 |
| Wreath from Air Rhodesia employees |
"... they
shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they
shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31
Photo
credits: Nicky
(Elphinstone) Pearce, Phil Evans, Al Fraser, Tony Rose, Larry Ridler, Neil
Burton and the book "They Served Africa with Wings". Special thanks to Rogan
Taylor for his gift that arrived in my post box recently from the USA — his
lovely water colour print of the Viscount.
End
Thanks to
Mitch for sharing his memories with ORAFs. Thanks also to those that made photographs availableEnd
Comments are always welcome, please mail them to Eddy Norris at orafs11@gmail.com
Ref. Rhodesia
I worked for CAA 1956 to 1960. Remeber well the Viscount Crash we were in the new airport in Bulawayo by then - I joined when they were still in Kumalo. Was posted. I worked in Traffic and was posted aroound a bit - Livingstone,Salisbury, Ndola ending up finally for a years tenure in Mongu, Barotseland - Loved the job!
ReplyDeleteI worked for Air Rhodesia as a traffic assistant in 1969/1970. Every 4 weeks I took advantage of the 90 percent employee discount and flew to Joberg for the long weekends in the Vicounts. So smooth were the take offs and landings that at times you didn't realise you had left the ground or returned to it. The skill of the pilots and a wonderful comfortable aeroplane. I remember them fondly.
ReplyDeleteGrew up in Salisbury and have great affection for the Viscounts, well remembering the arrival of CAA's first five from 1956 at the newly-opened civil airport at Kentucky, which replaced Belvedere.
ReplyDeleteRe the accident of VP-YNE at Benina in 1958 (when I was 11), we lost a family friend, John Gantry. He was from the same town in England as us, and had been a Constable in the BSAP for a couple of years. His father, who as a fireman had once been buried when a building collapsed on him in London during the Blitz, had died unexpectedly and John, the only son, had less than a fortnight to return to Surrey and support his mother at the funeral.
The air fare was beyond his means, so he had to borrow some of it. No seat was available on the cheapest flight, the CAA Zambesi service, so he booked via Paris on UAT.
When we got up on the Saturday morning, the FBC was already reporting the accident. My older brother and I bemoaned the loss of an aeroplane we knew; our parents were more shocked by the loss of so many lives. Later in the day, another BSAP officer who was John's friend came to tell us that John had died on the flight. It turned out that, on the afternoon before the departure, the travel agent had contacted John to offer him a seat on the Zambesi service. He was apparently seated near the front of the cabin and was said to have died instantly.
Not relevant to the cause, but an ICAO circular which includes the accident...
https://www.baaa-acro.com/sites/default/files/import/uploads/2017/08/VP-YNE.pdf
...suggests there was a flight navigator on board. None is listed with the fatalities. Was there one, or was the R/O doing the navigation?
I didn't fly as a passenger on a CAA V748D until five years later, when I was struck by the size of the windows, almost all of which doubled as emergency exits and gave a terrific view.
R.I.P., John.
Chris Scott (retired aircrew)
I was brought up in Southern Rhodesia having been adopted in the U.K in 1956.
ReplyDeleteI destinctly remember being taken to visit a friend of my adoptive parents,near Salisbury and being told that the little girl ,equally the adopted daughter of the aforementionned widower had survived the airliner crash in Benghazi in which her mother had died.This even at that age seemed horribly tragic.Is there a passenger list available somewhere ?
See previous comment.With email address this time .
ReplyDelete