Before Lockerbie and 9/11 – The Silence was Deafening

The murder of civilians by Nkomo’s terrorists and the failure of the world to condemn aviation war crimes continues to baffle reason. The continuing unacceptable hush was dubbed “The Deafening Silence” by the Reverend Da Costa in a Memorial Service.

The fate of RH 827 followed similar circumstances to the to that of Air Rhodesia Flight 825 which was attacked just 5 months earlier. These atrocities were never addressed by the international community.

THE VISCOUNT ‘UMNIATI’

Air Rhodesia Flight RH 827 was a

scheduled flight between Kariba and Salisbury. It was shot down 12 February 1979 by ZIPRA guerrillas shortly after take-off. The weapon was a Strela 2 missile.

3 September 1978 …. Flight 825, was shot down by Zipra terrorists with a SAM 7 missile.

Survivors speak about the downing of Flight 825

It caused the deaths of 48 passengers and crew including 10 crash site survivors who were shot and bayoneted to death by a second group of terrorists. Despite ZIPRA leader Nkomo claiming responsibility for shooting down the Hunyani in an interview on the BBC’s Today program – No charges were ever brought.

While silence the from the West continues, others will never forget.

Casualties of the terrorist attack on Air Rhodesia Flight RH 827

Pilots



Captain Jan Andre du Plessis, 50

First Officer Michael Thomas Moolman, 37

Air Hostesses

Kathryn Jan Creigh-Smith, 29

Caroline Lynette du Chemin, 21

Regina Chigwada, 23

Passengers

Mrs Lynnette Ballentyne, 25

Mr Arthur Bensusan, 66

Mrs Brenda Betts, 36

Mark Betts, 11

Russell Betts, 9

Mrs Annette Billington, 35

Miss Martha Blignaut, 37

Mr Desmond Boyd, 53

Mrs Gladys Boyd, 49

Noel Boyd, 26

Ian Boyd, 25

Andrea Boyd, 16

Leonie Boyd, 14

Mr George Dardagan, 44

Mrs Ursula Dardagan, 47

Miss Margaret Davies, 35

Francis Deleplanque, 50

Mrs Pauline Delport, 26

Mr Ian Dempsey, 34

Mr Bertrand De Rham, 27

Mr Jules Descampe, 67

Mrs Adele Descampe, 66

Mr Derek Ebben, 59

Mr Edwin Fairlie, 76

Mrs Nancy Fairlie, 66

Mr William Francois, 30

Mr Christian Gobey, 52

Mr Donald Goldin, 46

Mr Peter Gray, 67

Andrew Hardinge, 14

Mr Michael Harraghy, 37

Patricia Ings, 36

Mr Ronald Isitt, 55

Mr Ide Maere, 54

Mrs Stephane Maere, 56

Lt Andrea Mason, 32

Miss Susan Morgan, 25

Miss Beauty Muzondo, 25

Mr Robert Plouvier, 55

Major Neville Powell, 45

Mrs Nerene Quinsee, 32

Miss Lynn Rees, 21

Miss Gillian Tabor, 22

Mr Paul Tasker, 19

Mr John Teede, 54

Mrs Sheila Teede, 54

Mrs Linda Thomson Mann, 22

Mr Hendrik van der Merwe, 33

Mrs Johanna Viljoen, 53

Miss Denise Viljoen, 17

Mr Robert Vergette, 30

Mrs Deirdre Wakefield, 41

Mr Edward Wigg, 37

Mr Loris Zucchini, 54

Attacking Rhodesian civilian aircraft proved successful in demoralising an entire nation and intimidating a government into submission. These attacks inspired other terrorist groups to employ this same concept to elsewhere.

Lockerbie and 9/11 followed. The outrage never broke the deafening silence around the attacks on Rhodesian civilian aircraft.

The Featured image is GNULIC found sourced here

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