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Cecil Stanley Margo DSO DFC , QC, FRAeS (born 10 July 1915, Johannesburg, Transvaal, Union of South Africa, died 19 November 2000, Johannesburg, Gauteng) was an Allied World War II hero. Margo was also a Supreme Court Justice who oversaw a number of international air-crash investigations, including into the crash of South African Airways Flight 295.
Cecil Margo was the fifth child of Saul Lewis Margo and Amelia Hilson, South African immigrants of Eastern European Jewish descent. [1]
During World War II, Margo assumed command of 24 Bomber Squadron, flying over 190 strike missions by day and night against the enemy in North Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Margo was awarded two of the most prestigious British Commonwealth medals - the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) presented to him personally by King George VI, and the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). The Mail & Guardian, 26 February, 1999. "In the annals of wartime bomber command, Margo's name remains of legend." (Ibid.). Operational flying was perilous for bomber crews in World War II - according to the Imperial War Museum 51% of bomber crews were killed in action and only 24% survived the war unscathed. This was the highest attrition rate of any Allied unit during World War II. Despite the risks, Margo volunteered for multiple tours of operations - far more than required. At the end of the war, Margo was chosen to lead the victory fly-past of the Royal Air Forces, and the U.S. Army Air Forces over Austria.
In 1948, Margo had started a flourishing career as a trial lawyer aided by his record as a war hero. [2] One day, he returned to his chambers from court and found an urgent telegram from David Ben-Gurion. Ben Gurion asked Margo to come out to Israel to serve as Ben Gurion's chief advisor on the establishment and organization of the Israeli Air Force.
Though Cecil Margo had been in combat for years as a pilot in World War II and now had a wife and small child, he later wrote in his memoirs that he felt he had to go. The newly declared State of Israel had been attacked by the armies of five Arab countries and its prospects for survival were dim. [3] Ben Gurion, who knew that air power would be critical to Israel's immediate and long range survival, had heard of Margo from his commanders such as Yaakov Dori and Chaim Laskov. Margo's effectiveness as a squadron commander, his expertise in air warfare in both the Desert and Europe during World War II, and his experience of high-level command in the Royal Air Force as Operations Staff Officer, Advanced Air HQ, Desert Air Force, made Israel request his assistance.
When Margo arrived in Israel, he assessed the issues and needs of the fledgling Israeli Air Force and "threw himself into the problems of personnel, equipment, aerodromes, armaments, maintenance, training, operations, logistics and strategies. He hammered out plans for a small but efficient and powerful air force." [2] [4] Margo's plans became the foundation on which the modern-day Israeli Air Force was built. Ben Gurion, who developed an admiration and fondness for Margo, asked him to remain in Israel as commander of the Israeli Air Force with the rank of "Aluf" Major General. But Margo declined, preferring to return to the Union of South Africa to resume his legal practice. [3] Upon returning to South Africa, he participated in formulating and monitoring the Advanced Pilots Training Course in Germiston, where South Africans were trained as pilots for the Israeli Air Force. He remained a staunch supporter of Israel through the years, often returning and visiting Air Force bases. [3]
His assignment in Israel completed, Margo returned to the Johannesburg Bar and began legal practice. In 1959, he took silk and became a Queen's Counsel. In 1971, Margo was appointed to the bench as a Justice of the Supreme Court of South Africa. Soon after his appointment, Margo issued a landmark interdict against South Africa's notorious security police to protect the life of anti-apartheid activist Salim Essop. [5]
As a Justice, Margo also chaired commissions that reformed South Africa's tax, corporate and securities laws, as well as its aviation system.
Margo participated and led investigations into major air crashes. He was appointed to investigate the following high-profile air disasters:
While the Margo Commission could not determine a definite cause of the fire in the cargo hold that caused the Helderberg disaster, its findings resulted in changes that have reduced the risks of fires on international airliners and enhanced safety of aircraft that carry both passengers and cargo. Rumours about a cover-up of the cause of the Helderberg crash abounded for years - including the suggestion that the fire was caused by illicit cargo of rocket fuel and ammunition. But the credibility of the Margo Commission and its international panel of experts, including Astronaut and Eastern Airlines CEO Frank Borman, suggested otherwise. So did the fact that Margo insisted that the Helderberg's cockpit voice recorder be recovered from the wreckage, which lay on the ocean floor at a depth greater than that of the Titanic . Years later, South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission extensively investigated the findings of the Margo Commission and found that there was no evidence to justify repudiating the findings. [6]
Cecil Margo received numerous awards during his lifetime and was an honorary fellow of the South African Institute of Mechanical Engineers; Honorary Deputy President of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists; Honorary Fellow of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Fellow Of The Royal Aeronautical Society in London. He continued flying until his late 70's and died in 2000. He is survived by three sons from his marriage to Marguerite Gisele Margo and four grandchildren.
Margo was criticised for discrediting testimonies of black witnesses during the investigation into the 1961 Ndola United Nations DC-6 Crash that killed Dag Hammarskjöld. Charcoal burners of the township of Twapia testified that they saw a second plane in the air, but were considered unreliable. Board secretary of Twapia, Timothy Kankasa, testified to Margo that he alerted the Rhodesian authorities of the location of the wreck, six hours before the wreck was found. This testimony was "ridiculed" by Margo. [7]
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 ten destinations in Africa. 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.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1982.
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.
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.
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.
On 19 October 1986, a Tupolev Tu-134 jetliner with a Soviet crew carrying President Samora Machel and 43 others from Mbala, Zambia to the Mozambican capital Maputo crashed at Mbuzini, South Africa. Nine passengers and one crew member survived the crash, but President Machel and 33 others died, including several ministers and senior officials of the Mozambican government.
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, he 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 Flight 001, 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.
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