Rhodesian Air Services (RAS) was an airline from

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

(today's Zimbabwe, until 1963 part of the

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation (CAF), was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the Self-governing colony, self-governing British colony of Southern ...

) from 1960 to 1965. Formed by

Jack Malloch John McVicar Malloch ICD, was a South African-born Rhodesian bush pilot, gun-runner and ''sanctions-buster'' who flew in World War II and in various legal and illegal roles around Africa and the Middle East until the early 1980s. In 1978, he ...

and headquartered in

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

, it operated scheduled and chartered passenger flights on regional routes.

Route network

In 1965, RAS offered scheduled flights to the following destinations in Southern Rhodesia: *

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

- Bulawayo Airport * Chiredzi - Buffalo Range Airport * Fort Victoria *

- Salisbury Airport (base) *

Triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

Fleet

Upon closure, the Rhodesian Air Services fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents

*On 22 November 1961, a Rhodesian Air Services

Douglas C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for tro ...

( registered VP-YRX) crashed near Salisbury Airport, killing two of the three occupants that had intended to fly the aircraft to Livingstone. Shortly after take-off, an engine problem had been encountered, which the pilot had failed to address properly so that control was lost.

References

{{reflist, 2 Airlines of Rhodesia Airlines established in 1960 Airlines disestablished in 1965