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Ray Hattingh has sent in this message: -

"Once or twice a week we worked later to accommodate a night flight from Jan Smuts or Durban.

These night flights saw us keenly looking at the departures from Jan Smuts. We dreaded that the Viscount would be ZS-CVA - acquired from 'Fidel Castro' - Compañía Cubana de Aviación S.A.

We called it 'Castro Vic' and it invariably suffered from one or other technical problem and its departure was therefore delayed. 'Castro Vic' was the 'Rietbok' which crashed a few years later while on approach to East London.

Some folk say she was jinxed, as was the 'Helderberg', which blew a tyre and punctured a wing tank on its maiden flight and then suffered from repeated generator failures and spurious smoke alarms."

ZS-CVA, a V.818 series Viscount had been built for Compañía Cubana de Aviación S.A. as CU-T621 and first flew on Monday, 3 November 1958 at Weybridge, Surrey, England powered by Rolls-Royce Dart 525 engines. Cubana sold it to South African Airways (SAA) / Suid Afrikaanse Lugdiens in March 1962.

On 13 March 1967, it crashed into the Indian Ocean off Kayser Bay, 35 km from East London, South Africa.

Flight number SA 406 from Port Elizabeth Airport, South Africa to East London Airport, South Africa was approaching East London in bad weather. At 17:09 UTC the crew reported at 2,000 feet with the coastline in sight. The aircraft crashed one minute later. All 5 crew and 20 passengers sadly died in the accident.

Click on this link to see 13 photos of this Viscount taken during its life - http://www.vickersviscount.net/Index/Vi ... hotos.aspx

VICKERS VISCOUNT NETWORK
Preserving the memory of the Viscount since 2005.

Share your Viscount memories and photos with our like-minded community on our Facebook page or email them to us at information@vickersviscount.net

Woody wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 12, 2021 1:17 pm

Ray Hattingh has sent in this message: -

"Once or twice a week we worked later to accommodate a night flight from Jan Smuts or Durban.

These night flights saw us keenly looking at the departures from Jan Smuts. We dreaded that the Viscount would be ZS-CVA - acquired from 'Fidel Castro' - Compañía Cubana de Aviación S.A.

We called it 'Castro Vic' and it invariably suffered from one or other technical problem and its departure was therefore delayed. 'Castro Vic' was the 'Rietbok' which crashed a few years later while on approach to East London.

TheGreenGoblin wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 12, 2021 8:29 pm

Interesting article Woody. I wasn't aware of the provenance of the aircraft ref. Castro.

The Rietbok accident may very well have been due to sabotage!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Afr ... Flight_406


https://mg.co.za/article/1998-04-09-was ... bok-crash/

The Security Police in the Eastern Cape were very much out of control and some of the most violent and ruthless of the lot in SA!

Decorated fighter pilot
The pilot on this fateful flight was Captain Gordon Benjamin Lipawsky, one of the most decorated South African fighter pilots. Seeing service during WW2, he commanded No. 1 Fighter Squadron in Italy, being awarded the DFC and bar. After the war and with flying still in his blood, Lipawsky joined the Permanent Force being based in Durban in 1948 as the officer in charge of a detachment of Spitfires at Stamford Hill Aerodrome. The Spitfires were attached to No. 35 Squadron, Durban. With their withdrawal from service, “Lippy” joined 35 Squadron and converted to Sunderland Flying Boats.

As if one war was insufficient to sate his thirst for wartime flying, Lippy served with the flying Cheetahs during the Korean War for which he was awarded the American Distinguished Flying Cross. On his return to South Africa, he bade farewell to military flying, accepting a less perilous occupation as a pilot for SAA. Colleagues described him as “colourful and cautious” being a stickler for regulations who always “stressed the necessity of safe flying.”

Even though Lipawsky’s co-pilot did not possess the same level of experience, nonetheless Brian Trenworth was also well-qualified having been with SAA since 1953.

The SAAF detachment was thrown into a major air effort to attempt to halt the massive onslaught. On 27 November it was estimated that some 200 000 Chinese troops were now engaged in a major offensive which struck at the spread-out UN forces, causing them to retreat rapidly. The ground crews of 2 Squadron detachment produced magnificent efforts as they repaired aircraft and refuelled them while the armourers loaded machine guns and attached rockets and bombs out in the open in freezing weather conditions to ensure that the few Mustangs operated by the SAAF would play their full role in close support operations of the hard pressed UN forces.

On 1 December the detachment at K-24 was given three days to get out of its base and move back to K-13 at Suwon, which it reached on 4 December. Back in Japan the last days of November had been filled with frustration and disappointment for the bulk of the squadron. Orders had come through for the squadron to move to K-24 on the 27th and all were keen to join their hard-pressed companions, but the move was postponed and then cancelled owing to the evacuation of K-24.

At K-13 the conditions were appalling. The countryside was completely covered in snow and tents were pitched on the snow-covered ground jwhich soon turned into mud inside the tents. Temperatures as low as -13.0C delayed flying in the early morning as the snow which had fallen during the night froze on the wing surfaces of the aircraft and had to be laboriously removed by hand before the aircraft could take off. The handful of pilots continued to attack enemy troops, trucks and supplies at every opportunity, but at this stage the detachment had only 6 aircraft, 11 pilots and 20 ground crew in Korea.

On 5 December the detachment lost its first aircraft when rockets fired by Capt Davis struck a railway truck loaded with explosives which blew up with a terrific explosion and Capt Davis was temporarily knocked unconscious. His aircraft had been severely damaged and he was forced to crash land it. His no 2, Capt Lipawsky, covered him and called for rescue services. A US L5 aircraft arrived at the scene and the pilot made a skilful landing on a narrow road adjacent to the downed aircraft and the observer, Capt Millet, gave up his seat to Capt Davis. This was an outstanding act of bravery as the area was surrounded by enemy troops and when the L5 later returned to the scene Capt Millet had disappeared and no trace of him could be found. Capt Lawrence later returned to the area and just before darkness found and picked up Capt Millet.

On 10 December five more pilots and their aircraft left Japan to join the detachment in Korea as well as 18 other ranks who were immediately employed in assisting the already worn-out ground crews there who had had to endure much more than was originally expected of them. On 12 December a maximum effort was made when four missions, comprising 16 sorties, were flown and in spite of low cloud and drizzling rain the detachment continued to provide close support for the hard-pressed ground forces by attacking rolling stock, supplies and troops.

The news was now received that the squadron detachment was to move back to K-10 at Chinae, only 48 km from K-9 where it had originally started. This airfield was situated on the edge of a small bay and nearby mountains provided a hazard to flying in the bad weather conditions which so often prevailed. However, it was a great improvement on the mud and cold of K-24 and K-13. On 17 December the remainder of the squadron moved across to K-10 and on 4 January 1951 the detachment at K-13 also moved back to K-10, so the whole squadron was together at last at a base which they were to occupy for over two years until they were re-equipped with F-86F Sabre aircraft in January 1953.