It was late January 1979 when South African forces in SWA learned that a large concentration of ZIPRA were undergoing training under Russian and Cuban instructors at Luso Boma in Angola. Rhodesian SAS deployed confirmed this intel including a large contingent of SAANC terrorists at that site. After ZIPRA shot down the second Air Rhodesia Viscount passenger plane on 12 February 1979 the Rhodesian military decided to attack that base. Rhodesian Air Force only had 4 operational Canberra and Luso Boma was too large for only 4 Canberra to seriously damage it. An air raid on that target was at the extreme limit range for the Rhodesian Canberra so the plan was to climb to 30,000 feet, close down an engine and cruise to target, then both engines used for decent and attack and one engine turned off for the return to Victoria Falls. Because of SAANC presence, the SAAF committed 3 Canberras who flew to Fielde airbase near Hartley in Rhodesia - Fielde was built by South Africa incase they needed a base to operate Mirage from. The SAAF Canberras were newer and had better fuel capacity so could manage the 2000 km round trip. Rudie Knotsinger, Roley Jones and Willie Meyer captained these 3 Canberras The 7 Canberras were to go it alone without Hunter or Mirage fighter protection - the risk being the Zambian or Angolan Air Force committing their MiG The non directional beacon at Luso was to be used to direct the formation but it was found to be out of order so navigation was by map read They attacked the base in a wide flat Vic position in heavy rain so pilots had to hold heading and height on instruments 1,800 Alpha bombs were dropped plus a group of 1,000 lb delay fused bombs into the main barracks Two Zambian MiG 19 were deployed as the returning bombers were picked up by the radar supplied to Zambia by the UK for protection against Rhodesian air attacks but they did not locate the Canberras The bad weather had caused most terrorists to go back to barracks and the Alpha bombs were not as effective as they would have been if the terrorists were out doors Many hundreds of ZIPRA AND SAANC terrorists plus Cuban instructors were killed and seriously wounded (Retribution, novel set in war torn Rhodesia, tells an important story retributionbook and Retribution Facebook with pictures linked to chapters in the book - best availability is The Book Depository - using Retribution by John Frame search tag)
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 10:34:16 +0000
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