Seventeen Killed as Dakota Smashes into Mountain
Headline news on Tuesday October 16, 1951, was that 17 people had been killed when a South African Airways (SAA) Dakota, the Paardeberg crashed into a mountain and exploded in the air. There were 13 passengers, including my maternal grandfather, Archie Cramer and four crew members.
It was reported to be the first major South African air crash involving an SAA plane.
The weather was described as very "unpleasant" with wind that had up to 50 miles an hour velocity and low visibility. There were also said to be "occasional cloud and thunder conditions". Its last known communication was at 3.48 pm when the pilot radioed their expected time of arrival at Stamford Hill (Durban) as 5.35 pm.
