1953 Central African Airways Vickers Viking accident
Vickers 616 Viking 1B · On 29 March 1953 the Central African Airways Vickers Viking accident occurred
From Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) to Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 13 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Vickers 616 Viking 1B
- Aircraft type
- Vickers 616
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- VP-YEY
- Operator
- Central African Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- 13
- Route
- From Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)To Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft structures
- Aircraft › Aircraft handling/service
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
On 29 March 1953 the Central African Airways Vickers Viking accident occurred. The Central African Airways Vickers 616 Viking 1B was on a scheduled flight from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam and broke up in the air over the Tanga region in northern Tanganyika. All 13 occupants were killed in the accident.
Investigation and cause
Cause
On the Viking, the main spar of the centre section of the wing ran in a tunnel through the fuselage to a point "outboard" of each engine, dividing the passenger cabin into two compartments. Unlike the I-spar of the outer wings, this central spar section was designed as a lattice spar, with the booms at the top and bottom formed by tubes.
It turned out that the type of grease used during maintenance when fitting the press-fit bolts, which were used in attaching the outer wings to the centre wing, had caused corrosion at the joints. Together with material fatigue, this led, in a gust of wind, to the fracture of the lower boom tubes of the central spar and thus to the failure of the wing structure.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall einer Vickers Viking der Central African Airways 1953” (revision 264344302, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall einer Vickers Viking der Central African Airways 1953
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 264344302 · 2026-02-16 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q93990430
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall einer Vickers Viking der Central African Airways 1953" (page 11270172, revision 264344302), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an airline in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.