Article of the day for September 3, 2016
The Article of the day for September 3, 2016 is Air Rhodesia Flight 825.
Air Rhodesia Flight 825 was a passenger flight that was shot down by the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) on 3 September 1978, during the Rhodesian Bush War. The aircraft, a Vickers Viscount, was flying Air Rhodesia's scheduled service from Victoria Falls to the capital Salisbury, via the resort town of Kariba. Soon after its takeoff, ZIPRA guerrillas launched a Soviet-made Strela 2 surface-to-air missile at the plane. Attempting a belly landing in a cotton field west of Karoi, the plane hit an unseen ditch, cartwheeled, and exploded. Of the 52 passengers and four crew, 38 died in the crash. The insurgents then massacred 10 survivors with automatic gunfire. Joshua Nkomo, the ZIPRA leader, publicly claimed responsibility for the missile attack (but not for the massacre) on the BBC's Today programme the same evening, saying the aircraft had been used for military purposes. Most Rhodesians, black and white, saw the attack as an act of terrorism. Martial law and a fierce white Rhodesian backlash followed, even though few black Rhodesians supported the attack. Five months later, ZIPRA shot down Air Rhodesia Flight 827 in a similar incident.
Air Rhodesia Flight 825 was a passenger flight that was shot down by the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) on 3 September 1978, during the Rhodesian Bush War. The aircraft, a Vickers Viscount, was flying Air Rhodesia's scheduled service from Victoria Falls to the capital Salisbury, via the resort town of Kariba. Soon after its takeoff, ZIPRA guerrillas launched a Soviet-made Strela 2 surface-to-air missile at the plane. Attempting a belly landing in a cotton field west of Karoi, the plane hit an unseen ditch, cartwheeled, and exploded. Of the 52 passengers and four crew, 38 died in the crash. The insurgents then massacred 10 survivors with automatic gunfire. Joshua Nkomo, the ZIPRA leader, publicly claimed responsibility for the missile attack (but not for the massacre) on the BBC's Today programme the same evening, saying the aircraft had been used for military purposes. Most Rhodesians, black and white, saw the attack as an act of terrorism. Martial law and a fierce white Rhodesian backlash followed, even though few black Rhodesians supported the attack. Five months later, ZIPRA shot down Air Rhodesia Flight 827 in a similar incident.
