Rhodesian external operations extended into Zambia after Nkomo 's ZIPRA nationalists shot down two unarmed Vickers Viscount civilian airliners with Soviet-supplied SA-7 heat-seeking missiles . Encamped beneath the path of ascent towards Salisbury from Kariba Airport , the ZIPRA cadres downed Air Rhodesia Flight 825 on 3 September 1978 and Air Rhodesia Flight 827 on 12 February 1979 . In the first incident , eighteen civilians on board survived , and five of these went away to find water . Half an hour later nine ZIPRA fighters arrived , promising help ; three of the thirteen survivors hid when they saw them . In the words of '' Time '' magazine , the ZIPRA cadres " herded together the ten people at the wreckage , robbed them of their valuables , and finally cut them down with automatic weapons fire " . Nkomo claimed responsibility for the attack and spoke of it to the BBC in a way Rhodesians considered gloating . In the second attack all 59 people on board were killed in the crash
Air Rhodesia Flight 825
Air Rhodesia Flight 825
Rhodesian Bush War