Johannesburg – Salisbury – Brazzaville – Algiers – Nice – Paris

On December 26, 1958 at 12:52 PM, Johannesburg – Salisbury – Brazzaville – Algiers – Nice – Paris experienced a crash involving Douglas DC-6, operated by Union Aéromaritime de Transport - UAT, 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.

70 people were known to be on board, 3 fatalities were recorded, 67 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 4.3%.

Crew on board: 7, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 63, passenger fatalities: 3, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. The aircraft was operating UAT scheduled service UT736 from Johannesburg to Paris. It took off from Salisbury Airport at 1252LT for Brazzaville and during takeoff from runway 24 entered rain. The aircraft climbed to about 50 feet and then began to lose airspeed and height. Although the captain was using full power, had 20" of flap extended and the undercarriage retracted, he was unable to prevent the aircraft sinking back on to the ground. Fire broke out immediately after impact. Of the 7 crew and 63 passengers on board, three passengers were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration F-BGTZ, MSN 43827/337, year of manufacture 1953.

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