Devil's Peak (Cape Town) - 1971 Plane Crash

1971 Plane Crash

On 26 May 1971, three South African Air Force Hawker-Siddelley HS125 (Code named Mercurius) aircraft crashed into Devil's Peak, killing all 11 on board. The aircraft were flying in close formation, practicing for a fly past during the upcoming 10th anniversary Republic Day celebrations on 31 May. A low cloud base was cited as a contributory factor. The impact was heard throughout the surrounding suburbs and scars in the ground can still be seen today.

Read more about this topic:  Devil's Peak (Cape Town)

Famous quotes containing the words plane and/or crash:

    At the moment when a man openly makes known his difference of opinion from a well-known party leader, the whole world thinks that he must be angry with the latter. Sometimes, however, he is just on the point of ceasing to be angry with him. He ventures to put himself on the same plane as his opponent, and is free from the tortures of suppressed envy.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    Crash on crash of the sea,
    straining to wreck men, sea-boards, continents,
    raging against the world, furious.
    Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)