Operation Vanity was a Rhodesian

military operation A military operation (op) is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operati ...

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

with clandestine assistance from the

South African Air Force The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...

(SAAF) during the

Rhodesian Bush War The Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Rhodesian Civil War, Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country U.D.I. ...

. The

Rhodesian Air Force The Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) was an air force based in Salisbury (now Harare) which represented several entities under various names between 1935 and 1980: originally serving the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, it was th ...

planned a retaliatory raid against a

ZIPRA Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), a Marxist–Leninist political party in Rhodesia. It participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule of Rhode ...

camp in Angola after a second Air Rhodesia Viscount was shot down on 12 February 1979.

Operation

In retaliation for the downing of Air Rhodesia Flight 827, the Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) planned a bombing raid against a ZIPRA training camp situated nearby the town of Luso in Angola. The Rhodesians estimated that there were 3000 ZIPRA soldiers, as well as Cuban and East German advisors, based there. The Rhodesians were only able to provide four Canberra bombers for the raid and required three additional aircraft which would be provided clandestinely by the

(SAAF). Three SAAF Canberra bombers of 12 Squadron, under the command of Major Hannes Bekker, were armed with Alpha

cluster bomb A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehi ...

s and took off around 18:15 hours from

Air Force Base Waterkloof Air Force Base Waterkloof is an airbase of the South African Air Force. It is situated on the outskirts of Pretoria, and is the SAAF's busiest airbase. The base's name means "water ravine" in Afrikaans and in Dutch. Despite the name, this base i ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

on 25 February 1979. From there they flew northwards to the Victoria Falls airfield in Rhodesia and landed after dark. There the navigators planned the raid for the following morning. The strike leader was Squadron Leader Chris Dixon, 5 Squadron Rhodesian Air Force, call-sign Green Leader. Three SAAF and three RhAF aircraft were armed with 5 Alpha bombs each while the last Rhodesian Canberra bomber was armed with six 1000 lb bombs. The flight of seven bombers took off at 06h30 on 26 February 1979 headed for the target, which was located to the north-west. Additional Rhodesian aircraft were provided in the form of one

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota ...

command and control aircraft and two

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet propulsion, jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly dev ...

fighters. Initially command passed to Flight Lieutenant Ted Brent because of radio problems, but would return to Chris Dixon later in the flight. The flight headed over

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

and then into Angola, dodging both countries' air defence radars, before turning towards the

Benguela Railway The Benguela Railway () is a 3 ft 6 in gauge railways, Cape gauge railway line that runs through Angola from west to east, being the largest and most important railway line in the country. It also connects to Tenke, Democratic Republic of the C ...

west of Luso which followed east toward the target. By this time they had formed into two formations of four and three bombers, line abreast, hitting a rainstorm which cleared up two minutes from the target. The bombers, now line-abreast dropped to a height of 300 ft so that the Alpha bombs, a type of

, would cover an area 300 by 1000 meters. As they attacked, rows and rows of bungalows could be seen by the pilots with no anti-aircraft fire received, nor vehicles seen nor anyone on the parade ground, giving the pilots the impression of an empty camp.

Aftermath

Having attacked the target successfully, the bombers returned to Rhodesia, the SAAF bombers to Flyde near Hartley while the RhAF bombers flew back to Victoria Falls with one 1000 lb bomb before refueling and joining the SAAF aircraft. Photographic evidence captured by a SAAF bomber showed the camp was occupied and there were anti-aircraft guns. It was said 160 ZIPRA soldiers died and another 530 were wounded.

Operation

Aftermath

References

Further reading

See also