Probably Leopoldville (Kinshasa) Airport 1963 photo

exzim | all galleries >> Galleries >> Pictures that have over 1000 hits > Probably Leopoldville (Kinshasa) Airport 1963

Probably Leopoldville (Kinshasa) Airport 1963

I can't remember where I took this, but the weight of evidence - the planes, which I'd agree after some research are C-46s seem to match those in the next photo. The balcony railing is different in the two pictures though - but it could have been a different building.

other sizes: small medium large auto

previous | next

Jason Anderson		19-Mar-2010 04:20
Here is the link to the accident report on Aviation-Safety.net -- it's sparse. From written off" I assume it really was a "landing accident" -- that the aircraft arrived near the ground in a reasonably intact state: http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19620111-0 Another site has this to say regarding a C-74 that was also sold to APASA -- "65408 (c/n 13919) to N8199H Mar 24, 1959 when owned by Akros Dynamic. Was flown to Cuba in an attempt to sell it to the new Castro government, to Aeronaves de Panama as HP-367 (probably a CIA-backed airline). Abandoned after the airline went out of business in 1963." So our suspicious minds are in good company: http://cgibin.rcn.com/jeremy.k/cgi-bin/gzUsafSearch.pl?target=&content=P-38

exzim		18-Mar-2010 15:28
Einar said 'landing accident' which does cover a multitude of sins though.

Jason Anderson		18-Mar-2010 03:16
Exzim: I don't think it takes a very suspicious mind to come to that conclusion. However, suggesting said 3rd party government shot it down themselves for some reason, might be pushing it. Might be.

exzim		30-Oct-2007 19:33
Please feel free to comment whenever you wish, comments are always welcome. That's a very interesting update. If I had a suspicious mind I would wonder what APASA aircraft would be doing in the Congo in 1963, under contract to a certain foreign government agency perhaps.

Einar Johannessen		30-Oct-2007 19:11
Forgive me for adding further to this theme, but I am quite fascinated by all the opportunities of research offered by the www in matters like these. From the pictures, it looks like the registration of the C-46s are 'HP' plus three digits starting with '3'. HP would be Panama, and it just so happens that a company called Aerovias Panama Airways - APASA lost a C-46 with the registration HP-312 in a landing accident on 11. January 1962. Where? You guessed it: Congo! So these would be the surviving sister ships.

exzim		30-Oct-2007 17:18
If they are C-46, and I agree they most probably are, then the airport is probably Leopoldville (Kinshasa) in the then Belgian Congo. And I remembered the airport wrongly. Although the railing is different from the building in the next picture (could have been a different building). The right hand C-46 does match the one in the next pic to some degree, we stopped to refuel for 60-90 minutes so there would be time for cars near the planes to move. But what an RAF Hastings would be doing there I don't know - best guess would be support for the UN troops that had restored some sort of order in the country.

Einar Johannessen		30-Oct-2007 16:40
Two C-46 on the either side, RAF Hastings in the background and (possibly) Dakotas at the far end, I would suggest. (Those two up front are definitely not Vikings - sorry.)

exzim		08-Aug-2007 14:17
Ray, I think they are Vickers Vikings, not C-46.

Ray :)		07-Aug-2007 23:59
Lovely to see two Curtiss C-46 Commandos in the foreground. Behind them is a Handley Page Hastings of the RAF and in the far distance a pair of Dakotas. Priceless!

Commenting on this page requires a PBase account.
Please login or register.