The Deafening Silence

[FrankH]

Sermon preached by the Dean,The Very Rev.J.R. Da Costa, in the Cathedral of St. Mary and All Saints in Salisbury, Rhodesia , on Friday 8th September, 1978 at

THE SERVICE FOR THOSE WHO DIED AND WERE MASSACRED IN THE
VISCOUNT AIR DISASTER
SUNDAY, 3RD SEPTEMBER, 1978

There were 48 victims.

The co - leader of the Patriotic Front, Joshua Nkomo, claimed responsibility for the shooting down of this aircraft in a B.B.C. radio interview. 18 people survived the crash but 10 , including women and children , were machine-gunned to death as they awaited rescue in the Rhodesian bush.

http://www.gunsite.co.za/podcast/audio/track1.mp3

http://www.gunsite.co.za/podcast/audio/track2.mp3

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The Vickers Viscount aircraft named The Hunyani was operating a scheduled service between Kariba and Salisbury. Five minutes after taking off from Kariba, passengers heard a loud bang from one of the starboard engines. At 17:10 the commander, Captain John Hood, sent a distress call to air traffic control informing them that he had lost both starboard engines, and was going to crash. The explosion ruptured fuel and pressurized hydraulic lines, causing a fire that could not be extinguished.
Captain Hood managed to maintain control of the aircraft as it descended, and aimed it for a cotton field in the bush, west of Karoi in the Whamira Hills. The pilots attempted to belly-land the aircraft and told the passengers to brace for impact; seconds later, the fuselage and wings started scraping against the tops of trees. The landing initially looked like it would succeed, but a 4-metre (13 ft) wide donga that crossed the field caused the plane to pitch over and burst into flame.
Eighteen of the fifty-six passengers survived the crash, with most of these having been seated in the rear. Five of the survivors went to a local village to ask for water. However upon returning, they heard African voices and automatic gunfire - ZIPRA guerrillas killed 10 of the survivors before looting the aircraft.
Sunset was at 17:47 and by 18:33 (80 minutes after the attack) pitch darkness had set in. This allowed three crash survivors who initially remained at the aircraft to avoid being killed by running away and hiding in the bush but prevented rescue parties from arriving until the following morning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Rhodesia_Flight_825

[burger]

What a MESSAGE and sadly, still every bit as true.

[Lance76]

"and still the world does nothing"
still appropreate today in a lot of ways

[Chas Lotter]

Well do I remember....

I was on this follow-up; briefly -right at the beginning - before the heavies kicked us out and moved in.

I wrote a poem about my time there at that time and that place:-


LANDMINE

A ponderous, bloated contraption
Lumbers up the road,
Troopies peer over its sides, rifles at the ready,
Casually chatting
But with their eyes
In the bush; searching, seeking
For ambush.

But they cannot see, nor can the driver see
What sits beneath the road
Laid in the silent hours
To wait out its short, appointed time
Until
A massive wheel seeks, depresses

A switch
Then a deafening roar as the debris-cloud rises.
Our metallic protector lurches and skids
As the driver becomes
Another passenger.

In the truck behind muscles tighten and
Eyes swivel forward. Their driver brakes. But
They cannot help us. They are observers.
We are lost in the cloud as our shattering ride continues.

Debris is falling. Reaction ! We gather ourselves,
Grope for triggers; fire in case of ambush
Hopelessly.
For the danger's not out there.
It is past. It was beneath us.
Dust settles. Fire ceases.
We spring to life, urgently debussing.
Take cover in the bush nearby.

Two men remain lying on the truck.

We gather our senses. Look around.
The sky is still there. The earth remains firm
Beneath our feet.
The Dark Angel has only touched us. No more.
We look at each other.
A hard knot of resolution takes form
To catch and to kill
Those who did this to us.

[Lance76]

Sorry, a little off topic here, but you would not happen to be the Chas Lotter of "Echoes of an African War" are you?

[ikor]

I remember when the crash and massacre happened. It got about as much play in the US press as the day's stock quotes...maybe less. There was, of course, no internet then, and no instant comms to notify the world by, so it was weeks before news made it here to the states of the details. Even then they were deliberately witheld by our press...the commie-loving bastages that they were and still are.

Rhodesia...the closest thing to a multi-level democracy to ever exist in Africa... did, in fact, have supporters in America...just not enough.

[Paul]

Rhodesia was super!

[Chas Lotter]

Sorry, a little off topic here, but you would not happen to be the Chas Lotter of "Echoes of an African War" are you?

Guilty as charged - Echoes of an African War, Rhodesian Soldier and - with Peter Badcock - Faces of War.

[StefanM]

Sign my copies please?

[abhm]

Guilty as charged - Echoes of an African War, Rhodesian Soldier and - with Peter Badcock - Faces of War.

awesome books indeed!