The Chiel

Rietbok: new evidence

THE true story of what really happened to the Rietbok, the SAA Vickers Viscount airliner that crashed into the sea off Kayser's Beach on the night of March 13, 1967 as it came in to land at East London, will probably never be told. All 25 people on board were killed.

But that doesn't stop bits and pieces of evidence, factual and speculative, being raised from time to time. Trouble is there is no way of testing it.

The latest evidence, albeit circumstantial, comes out in Justice Cecil Margo's recent book, Final Postponement, and points to structural failure. Margo, who presided at the commission of inquiry into the Rietbok crash, strangely ruled out structural failure when he delivered his findings at the time. He found, on a balance of probabilities, that the pilot had had a heart attack.

Former Daily Dispatch journalist, and now a reporter on the Daily News in Durban, Vincent Gilbey, read the book and did a bit of digging himself after noticing a trend.

He says that at the time of the Rietbok disaster, four Viscounts crashed. Two were found to have suffered structural failure. The other two disappeared into the sea and were never located. "The book reveals that Margo, when still a senior counsel, won a court case involving structural failure of a Central African Airways Viscount, before the 1967 Rietbok crash," Gilbey writes.

"However, he then found in the Rietbok investigation that 'on the overwhelming probabilities' the Rietbok was completely airworthy immediately before it hit the water."

Design negligence

SHORTLY after the Rietbok disaster, however, an Aer Lingus Viscount, on a flight to Ireland, also disappeared into the sea in similar circumstances. This was followed by a fourth crash in Australia, but in this case the Viscount disintegrated over land, and it was found that the main spar had failed, causing a wing to come adrift.

"So of four Viscounts that crashed during that period, two were found to have metal fatigue, and two disappeared into the sea, making it impossible to determine the cause of their crashes," he continues.

In Margo's CAA case a portion of one of the bolts that had secured the wing to the fuselage was found to have failed in fatigue. He wrote in his book that expert opinion was that Vickers "had been negligent in designing the wing bolts to remain as originally installed, without any provision for regular inspection, and without providing cadmium protection against corrosion". This view was confirmed to Gilbey in a private interview with a top SAA technician, who said that a weakness of the Viscount design was the difficulty in servicing the main spar.

SAA bought the Rietbok from Cuba. It had been Fidel Castro's personal aircraft. The technician said that certain mechanical work, that was supposed to have been undertaken before SAA took delivery from Vickers, was never done. This included replacing the turbine blades which had been corroded through the use of Russian booster fuel during take-offs. These blades had to be replaced in SAA's workshops.

Margo said in his book that the CAA Viscount case was the first of the "fatigue" cases, among which was the BOAC accident in which a Comet broke up over the island of Elba. Another Comet broke up in India, and a third near the site of the original flight, over Elba. He said several accidents were later solved by reference to fatigue failure of primary structures.

Gilbey continues: "Yet in the Rietbok investigation his inquiry accepted that the aircraft was 'completely airworthy' and concentrated on the possibility that the pilot had suffered a heart attack or stroke."

The Rietbok crash continues to create controversy because of the way the investigation was handled by the apartheid government, and intermittent claims that the aircraft was brought down by their agents.

The article by Gilbey raises several obvious questions. No space for them today, but we'll have a go in Monday's column.

Thought for today

If you're not feeling good about you, what you're wearing outside doesn't mean a thing. -- Leontyne Price, US opera singer (1927-).

Dealians honoured

From our files ...

April 20, 1951: Washington -- Maurice Chevalier, the popular French entertainer, has been refused a visa to enter the United States. The American Embassy in Paris has rejected his application because his admittance would be "contrary to the interests of the United States".

April 20, 1971: East London -- South African radio personality and singer, Peter Lotis, presented the East London pop group, The Dealians, with their gold disc award for the smash hit, Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow, on stage at the Colosseum last night. They performed live at the cinema before East London's premiere opening of Midnight Cowboy, voted South Africa's top film of 1970. Lotis took the opportunity to sing his own big hit, Walking in the Sunshine. A packed house cheered as he presented Mike Fuller, group leader, with the disc. The Dealians' new number, When Love Comes Knockin', is awaiting release throughout South Africa. *Midnight Cowboy starred Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight -- "Not for persons under 21".

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