The downing of Air Rhodesia Viscounts by ZIPRA in Zimbabwe's armed struggle: Debating the strategic logic

Abstract

On Sunday, 3 September 1978, VP-WAS Air Rhodesia Flight RH 825 Viscount “Hunyani” was shot down around 5:10 pm by a surface-to-air missile (Strela), killing 38 passengers on board, while 10 of the 18 survivors were shot dead by Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) guerrillas. On 12 February 1979, VP-YND Flight RH 827 Viscount “Umniati” was similarly downed by the same forces, killing all 59 passengers and crew on board. This article contributes to controversies surrounding the shooting down of civilian airlines as military targets in conflict situations. Grounded in oral interviews with former armed operatives from Rhodesian Security Forces (RSF) and ZIPRA guerrillas, together with reviews of primary and secondary sources, I unpack debates over these tragedies. The research widens knowledge horizons to the enduring legacies of Zimbabwe’s armed struggle, where former Rhodesians not only remain aggrieved by the Viscount losses but have sharp divisions in their accounts of these disasters. Although the downing of the Viscounts represented victory on the part of insurgents, surviving former ZIPRA guerrillas linked to these operations live in apprehension as they think that former Rhodesians are still determined to avenge the deaths. The research adds knowledge to issues of civility of airlines in war, race and ethnicity in conflict, as well as insecurity dilemmas which haunt former combatants long after the end of armed conflict.