Air Rhodesia

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Air Rhodesia
Air Rhodesia Logo.svg
Air Rhodesia Vickers 748D Viscount
IATA code : RH
ICAO code : RH
Call sign : Rhodesia
Founding: 1967
Operation stopped: 1979
Seat: Salisbury
Fleet size: 8th
Aims: National and international
Air Rhodesia ceased operations in 1979. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.
An Air Rhodesia Boeing 720 , which still has the color scheme of the German Calair .

Air Rhodesia Corporation was founded on September 1, 1967 after the previous Central African Airways (CAA) was split up . The aircraft fleet, consisting of Vickers Viscount , was shared with Air Malawi . The BAC 1-11 , which were no longer delivered to the CAA, were given to Zambia Airways . Air Rhodesia aircraft have been given new colors (white roof and blue sides) and new lettering. In addition to inner-Rhodesian flights, there were also flights to South Africa, then to Mozambique, which was then Portuguese, and to Malawi. Relations with Malawi cooled, but the flights continued and even expanded, similar to those to South Africa.

Air Rhodesia succeeded in the following years to increase its economic success compared to the times of the CAA. The company introduced a new route to Kariba and improved the flight offer to Hwange by replacing the Douglas DC-3 originally used there by Vickers Viscount .

On its routes to South Africa, Air Rhodesia found itself in ever more intense competition with SAA, which used the larger and faster Boeing 727 , so that the aircraft fleet had to be modernized. On April 14, 1973, the company took over three Boeing 720-025s , which had previously been used by the liquidated German airline Calair , bypassing the international trade sanctions imposed on Rhodesia . The first flight took place on June 6, 1973 to Durban. They were not used in regular operation until November 1973. Before that, the Yom Kippur War took place, which led to the oil crisis and from then on made fuel extremely expensive. Since the Boeing 720 consumed a lot of fuel, that drove up costs by 35%. However, they remained in service until Boeing 707 machines were acquired in 1980 . The DC-3 were taken out of service in 1973.

Air Rhodesia aircraft fell victim to guerrilla warfare twice (see below, incidents). In order to avoid further kills, the shiny metal surface of these aircraft was painted a matt yellow green and the engines were equipped with a protection that mimicked the missiles' infrared eye. This reduced the speed and cargo capacity of these aircraft, but no more were shot down afterwards.

As a result of the political development in Rhodesia, after the Lancaster House Agreement , which ended the guerrilla war and initiated the process of the internationally recognized independence of Zimbabwe , Air Rhodesia first became Air Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979 and finally Air Zimbabwe in February 1980 . This took up its service on April 2, 1980 with all rights of the previous Air Rhodesia.

Incidents

  • On February 12, 1979 another Vickers Viscount 748D of Air Rhodesia (VP-YND) was shot down with an anti-aircraft missile by Joshua Nkomo's terrorist group ZIPRA after taking off from Kariba airport ( Rhodesia ) . The machine was on its way to Salisbury Airport . It was hit on engine 2 (inside left), caught fire and crashed uncontrollably. All 59 occupants, 5 crew members and 54 passengers, were killed (see also Air Rhodesia flight 827 ) .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Accident report Viscount 782D VP-WAS , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 12, 2020.
  2. ↑ Accident report Viscount 748D VP-YND , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 12, 2020.