The Aviation Historian — Issue 21 (October 2017)

90 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN Issue No 21

as a house. We arrived at the rendezvous well

prepared for an arduous climb of about a mile to

the World’s View, where Cecil Rhodes is buried

along with two other statesmen of the country.

On the 19th we bade farewell to all our kind

friends and set out for Livingstone at 0800hr,

keeping to the railway more or less the whole

time. The country beneath us was an almost

flat plain but the vegetation gradually changed

from dried-up scrub to dense tropical jungle. At

0940hr we passed over Wankie [now Hwange],

an important mining village which produces half

the coal found in the country.

the mighty falls

The visibility was excellent, and it was at this

time that I noticed a tiny cloud on the horizon.

As we approached it became evident that it

was spray rising from Victoria Falls, at least 70

miles [110km] away. We could discern the great

Zambezi flowing across the plain; suddenly the

whole river disappears into a chasm covered

by a cloud of spray, from which it emerges and

continues its course through a deep zig-zagging

ravine, which cuts through the country for

hundreds of miles as if fashioned by a gigantic

knife. We flew over the falls at about 1,500ft

[450m] and I was able to obtain some first-class

photographs. It was an unforgettable sight with

a brightly coloured rainbow bridging the chasm.

At 1015hr we landed at Livingstone in

Northern Rhodesia about ten miles from the

falls. It must be remembered that the Zambezi

forms the boundary between Northern and

Southern Rhodesia. The next morning saw

the arrival of the new Governor of Northern

Rhodesia, Sir Hubert Winthrop Young, whose

policy for colonial expansion is heavily tied to

aviation. Imagine our horror when we awoke

to find it pouring with rain, and the clouds at

between zero and 200ft [60m].

We drove down to the aerodrome in our hired

cars — an ancient Buick and a Chevrolet — and

it was decided that the Victorias should go to

meet his train and escort it back to Livingstone.

The weather conditions were unaltered when we

took off at 0945hr. Unfortunately, Shannon got

stuck in the mud when taxying and so we only

had three machines in the air. We managed to

join up in some sort of formation, and saw the

train just as it was coming over the bridge below

the Falls. The engine driver waved to us as we

flew by and circled around the Falls. They were

a terrifying sight; it was like looking into a white

ABOVE The remarkably clean interior of a Victoria (probably a factory-fresh example), looking aft. The type was

originally designed to a specification drafted in 1920 for a troop-carrying aeroplane capable of carrying 25 fully-

armed soldiers at 100 m.p.h. (160km/h) for 400 miles (640km). The prototype made its first flight in August 1922.

PHILIP JARRETT COLLECTION