Salisbury – Lusaka

On February 23, 1955 at 09:20 AM, Salisbury – Lusaka experienced a crash involving Douglas C-47 Skytrain (DC-3), operated by Central African Airways - CAA, with the event recorded near Harare Harare Province.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

26 people were known to be on board, 1 fatalities were recorded, 25 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 3.8%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 21, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. Just after liftoff from runway 09, while in initial climb, the crew raised the gear when smoke spread into the cockpit. The captain decided to land immediately. The aircraft belly landed and skidded for dozen yards before it overran and came to rest on a railway. Twenty-five occupants evacuated safely while the flight engineer was killed by a propeller blade coming from the left engine that penetrated the cockpit.

Aircraft reference details include registration VP-YKO, MSN 15109/26554, year of manufacture 1944.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -17.8261°, 31.0495°.