Royal Canadian Air Force in United Nations Operations

The United Nations Operation in the Congo (Opération des Nations Unies au Congo, or ONUC), which took place in the Republic of the Congo from July 1960 until June 1964, marked a milestone in the history of United Nations peacekeeping in terms of the responsibilities it had to assume, the size of its area of operation and the manpower involved. It included, in addition to a peacekeeping force which comprised at its peak strength nearly 20,000 officers and men, an important Civilian Operations component. Originally mandated to provide the Congolese Government with the military and technical assistance it required following the collapse of many essential services and the military intervention by Belgian troops, ONUC became embroiled by the force of circumstances in a chaotic internal situation of extreme complexity and had to assume certain responsibilities which went beyond normal peacekeeping duties. [ More info … ]

The United Nations Emergency Force 1 in the Middle East came into being after the Suez crisis of 1956. The role of UNEF1 – established 24 November 1956 – was to separate the opposing Forces and to supervise the cease fire between Israel and Egypt. After the Israelis withdrew from the joint French, British, Israeli invasion of the Suez Canal the new UNEF peacekeeping contingent moved from the Canal Zone to their “new homes to be “at Gaza, Rafah and for the Canadian air element, El Arish airport.

The First United Nations Emergency Force was made up of Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Colombia, Finland, India, Brazil, Indonesia and Yugoslavia. By 1962 UNEF 1 was down to a seven a contingent force: Columbia, Indonesia to withdraw their contingents. [ More info … ]

On a typical flight in theatre, crews would be on a one-week rotation. After a comfortable night’s stay at a nice hotel in Beirut, they would fly out in the morning to Ismailia, to pick up passengers and material. They would overfly Beirut, finish up in Damascus, turn around and return to Beirut.
On 9 Aug., 1974, just as Buffalo 115461 was crossing the border into Syria flying to Damascus, three SAM (surface-to-air) missiles were fired at the aircraft. It was hit and crashed near the Syrian village of Ad Dimas. Five crew members and four passengers aboard the aircraft perished. Photos of the wreckage showed the devastating impact of the crash. [ More info … ]