
Green Leader
Operation Gatling, the Rhodesian Military's Response To The Viscount Tragedy
Ian Pringle(Author)
Helion & Company (Publisher)
Published on 19. December 2014
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-909982-93-2 (ISBN)
Description
"On 3 September 1978, a Russian-supplied heat-seeking missile shot down an Air Rhodesia Viscount civilian airliner shortly after it took off from the lakeside holiday resort of Kariba in the Zambezi Valley. Miraculously, 18 people, including small children, survived the crash only for most of them to be gunned down in cold blood shortly after the crash by terrorists loyal to the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) leader Joshua Nkomo. Just days before the plane was shot down, the Rhodesian leader, Ian Smith, had met secretly with Nkomo for discussions, brokered by Britain, Zambia and Nigeria. However, this event dramatically changed the political landscape and wrecked a plan by the British government to mould an alliance between Smith and the Ndebele leader Nkomo, and smoothed the path for the Shona leader Robert Mugabe to become the first leader of Zimbabwe. In this fascinating two-part account, Ian Pringle, describes the Viscount tragedy and the military response. He uses exclusive interviews with two survivors of the crash and the massacre, and with the first person to arrive at the horrendous crash scene (commanding officer of the Rhodesian SAS Regiment), as well as accounts from other key witnesses, to recreate the tragic event. He describes the white-hot anger felt by the small white community in Rhodesia, who howled for revenge and demanded martial law and total war."--Publisher.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Solihull
United Kingdom
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
50 color and b/w photos, maps
Dimensions
Height: 246 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
522 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-909982-93-2 (9781909982932)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Pringle Ian Pringle
Green Leader
Operation Gatling, the Rhodesian Military's Response To The Viscount Tragedy
E-Book
09/2016
Helion and Company
€19.49
Available for download
Person
After national service in the South African Air Force, Ian Pringle migrated to Rhodesia to work as an industrial chemist and flew aircraft as a hobby. He was drafted into the Police Reserve Air Wing as a pilot, and was involved in numerous enemy contacts. Pringle read his MBA in the UK and worked for Castrol International and BP plc at a senior executive level, spending much of his career in Asia and Europe. He learnt to fly helicopters and ex-military jets in England. He retired to Cape Town in 2004, bringing two Cold War jets with him, and he teamed up with Thunder City, where he still flies the Hawker Hunter, Buccaneer and aerobatic aircraft.