South African Airways (SAA) is the flag carrier of South Africa. Founded in 1934, the airline is headquartered in Airways Park at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and operates a hub-and-spoke network, serving 13 destinations in Africa and two intercontinental destinations to Perth, Australia and São Paulo, Brazil. The carrier joined Star Alliance in April 2006, making it the first African carrier to sign with one of the three major airline alliances.
Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961. As of 2024, he remains the youngest person to have held the post, having been only 47 years old when he was appointed. He was a son of Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1914 to 1917.
South African Airways Flight 295 (SA295/SAA295) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, Taipei, Taiwan, to Jan Smuts International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa, with a stopover in Plaisance Airport, Plaine Magnien, Mauritius. On 28 November 1987, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 747-200 Combi named Helderberg, experienced a catastrophic in-flight fire in the cargo area, broke up in mid-air, and crashed into the Indian Ocean east of Mauritius, killing all 159 people on board. An extensive salvage operation was mounted to try to recover the aircraft's flight recorders, one of which was recovered from a depth of 4,900 metres (16,100 ft).
Edwin (Ted) Essery Swales VC DFC was a South African pilot and Second World War hero. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and posthumously the Victoria Cross.
Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia in terms of size and population, with a population of 627,503, after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development after Lusaka. It is the industrial and commercial center of the Copperbelt, Zambia's copper-mining region, and capital of Copperbelt Province. It lies just 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the border with DR Congo. It is also home to Zambia's first modern stadium, the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.
The following lists events that happened during 1987 in South Africa.
Rand Airport is an airport in Germiston, South Africa. It was constructed in the 1920s as the main airport for Johannesburg, but the city outgrew it and replaced the airport with Palmietfontein Airport in 1948.
Marmaduke Thomas St John Pattle,, usually known as Pat Pattle, was a South African-born English Second World War fighter pilot and flying ace of the Royal Air Force (RAF).
The 1940 Canberra air disaster was an aircraft crash that occurred near Canberra, the capital of Australia, on 13 August 1940, during World War II. All ten people on board were killed: six passengers, including three members of the Australian Cabinet and the Chief of the General Staff; and four crew. The aircraft is believed to have stalled on its landing approach, when it was too low to recover.
Peter Zuze Air Force Base is an airbase located in the city of Ndola in the Copperbelt Province in northern Zambia. It used to be the premises of the Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport until late 2021, when Ndola's airport moved its operations 15 km (9.3 mi) to the west and this old airport address ceased to be a commercial airport. It now belongs to the Zambian Air Force.
Ralph Hammond Cecil Barker was an English non-fiction author with over twenty-five books to his credit. He wrote mainly about the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Air Force (RAF) operations in the First and Second World Wars, and about cricket.
South African Airways Flight 406, also known as The Rietbok Crash, was a scheduled passenger flight on 13 March 1967 that crashed into the sea on approach to East London, South Africa. All 25 passengers and crew on board were killed. The cause of the accident was never determined. However, the air accident report speculated, without supporting evidence, that the captain of the plane suffered a heart attack while on approach and the first officer was unable to regain control of the aircraft. Like the crash of South African Airways Flight 295 two decades later, there was, and still is great contention about the ultimate cause of the aircraft accident.
The Rotem Crisis was a confrontation between Israel and the United Arab Republic (UAR) in February–March 1960. Prompted by tensions along the Israeli–Syrian border, Egypt deployed its armed forces on Israel's largely undefended southern front, catching Israel off guard. Although hostilities did not break out, the crisis influenced events leading up to the 1967 Six-Day War.
Westpark Cemetery is a large cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is the resting place of some of the country's well-known citizens. It is a non-denomination designated burial ground, and thus has Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Chinese burial areas. The Jewish section contains a Holocaust Memorial, erected in 1959.
The Katangese Air Force, officially the Katangese Military Aviation, was the air force of the short lived secessionist state the State of Katanga. Established in 1960 under the command of Jan Zumbach, the force consisted predominantly of Belgian, French, and British mercenary pilots, operating a small number of helicopters and smaller number of fixed wing planes, including three attack aircraft delivered by the CIA.
On 18 September 1961, a DC-6 passenger aircraft of Transair Sweden operating for the United Nations crashed near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia. The crash resulted in the deaths of all people on board, including Dag Hammarskjöld, the second secretary-general of the United Nations, and 15 others. Hammarskjöld had been en route to ceasefire negotiations with Moïse Tshombe during the Congo Crisis. Three official inquiries failed to conclusively determine the cause. Some historians and military experts like Susan Williams have criticized the official inquiries, pointing to evidence of foul play that had been omitted from the inquiries.
Cold Case Hammarskjöld is a 2019 documentary film by Danish film maker Mads Brügger. It depicts the death of Dag Hammarskjöld in the 1961 Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash and proposes a theory that a white supremacist organization attempted to spread HIV/AIDS among black Africans. The film investigates the possibility that Hammarskjöld's plane, which crashed in Northern Rhodesia, was shot down by Belgian-British mercenary pilot Jan van Risseghem. After unsuccessful attempts to conclusively prove that theory, the film veers off to investigate the mysterious mercenary organization South African Institute for Maritime Research (SAIMR), managing to contact two new witnesses that claim to have been involved with the organization. Parts of the movie are meta-cinematic, reflecting upon theatrical methods used and the true motivations of the filmmaker.
Hurrylall Goburdhun,, also known as "Harry Goburdhun" was a lawyer and Judge of the Supreme Court of Mauritius. He was also a Director of the transportation firm Rose Hill Transport.
Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport is an international airport located in Ndola, Copperbelt Province, Zambia. It was officially known as Ndola Airport before being renamed in 2011 in honour of Simon Kapwepwe, the nation's former vice president. It is located adjacent to the Dag Hammarskjöld Crash Site Memorial about fifteen kilometres (9.3 mi) west of the city centre. It is accessed by using the Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial Access Road off the T3 road.
Sir Henry John Clayden was a Transvaal Colony-born judge who served as Chief Justice of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 1960 to 1964. He chaired the Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry into the 1961 Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash, which killed Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
