Tag Archives: Fouga Magister

Valuing the Evidence of Harold Julien: Part Three

In September 2021, I posted Joe Majerle’s analysis of the Albertina crash here for everyone to read. He has revised his analysis, dated 7 June 2023, “based on information found in the personal files of the late Bo Virving, Chief Engineer of Transair Sweden, A.B., made available by his son, Bjorn Virving.” I am sharing this in connection to the testimony of Sgt. Harold Julien – and, also, to stress the importance of Bo Virving’s documents and observations. From Majerle’s analysis, pages 25-26:

“THE PRECIPITATING EVENT“

“To my observation, in the study of aircraft accidents throughout the course of my life, there is almost always a precipitating event that sets off a chain of actions, reactions, counteractions, etc. that result in the crashed aircraft somewhere on the surface of earth. In this case, it is known from Annex II that the captain communicated to Ndola tower that all was well and within minutes the aircraft was being incinerated with its own wing fuel and that fifteen of the sixteen occupants’ lives has ended, and that the last would succumb in less than a week. That person, Sgt. [Harold] Julien, was the only eyewitness to the crash.

“To my experience, eyewitness testimony is considered evidence in a court of law, at least in this country. I am unfamiliar with Rhodesian law in the 1960’s, but in the USA in the 1960’s Sgt. Julien’s statements would have been considered evidence in a crash investigation. Since there is no other actual evidence to the contrary, and testimony of ground observers about the airport over-flight and entry to the instrument approach procedure are insufficiently conclusive to determine externally what the precipitating event was, it seems logical to me that Sgt. Julien’s statements, as brief as they are, are the only thing that can be considered as evidence in a search for the cause of the chain of events leading to the crash.

“In the UN Commission report, par. 129., Senior Inspector Allen testified to the UN Commission that he spoke with Sgt. Julien and asked him three questions; 1.”What happened? He said: ‘It blew up’.” 2.”Was this over the runway? And he said ‘yes’. 3.”What happened then? And he replied: ‘There was great speed – great speed’.”

“It blew up–“

“–over the runway”

“I have read all three of these reports several times and still don’t understand the reluctance of the investigators, including the UN and the Swedish observers, to not make those six words the central point, the number one item on the list of where to begin to find the truth about what happened. Especially from the standpoint of determining whether or not there is fault to be assigned to the flight crew.

“Assuming Sgt. Julien was belted into any seat in the forward cabin, looking out the side window on whichever side he was sitting on, he may or may not have had a view of the lighted runway and the town of Ndola but it is likely that the captain would have informed the passengers that they had arrived overhead Ndola and would be setting up to land there. It would have been the last thing he could identify location-wise and anywhere in that vicinity for him would be “over the runway”. I don’t know if Inspector Allen was deliberately trying to trip him up or why he asked him if it was over the runway when he knew that the aircraft had overflown the runway and not blown up there, but, it seems to me, it was an unusual question to ask a person in Sgt. Julien’s condition. What I am getting at here is that Sgt. Julien knew where the runway was and that the aircraft had blown up. They sound like lucid answers to me, and not as though he was thinking about horses or submarines, for example.

“In my view, in light of all the data and evidence of all of the pages of all the reports and the information displayed in all of the images of all the photographs in the UN file, the only thing I can see that qualifies as a precipitating event is Sgt. Julien’s: “It blew up”.

“And he was the only one left that was there when it happened.”

As I pointed out in part two of this series, Hugo Blandori was a “retired” FBI agent, turned private investigator, who was hired by the UN as a consultant to this investigation. It is extremely upsetting to me that an FBI agent was involved, not only because of the racist history of that organization, but because of the role the FBI played during the McCarthy witch-hunt on United Nations staff members in 1953. Trygve Lie, the first UN Secretary-General, gave the FBI carte blanche of headquarters “for the convenience”, and it was his successor Dag Hammarskjold who protected his staff and kicked out the FBI by November 1953. Within every organization, including the UN, there have always been members who are actively working against the good that that organization is trying to achieve, and that is how I believe Hugo Blandori got the job of consultant. This is also how Dr. Max Frei-Sulzer – a Swiss police official that believed Hitler’s diaries were real – was appointed by the UN commission to examine the wreckage of the Secretary-General’s plane, and “who reported that there were no bullet holes in the plane and no evidence of explosives that would have been needed for a time bomb or other means of sabotaging the plane”. In my view, the contributions of Blandori and Frei-Sulzer are not just highly suspect, they discredit the investigation – I believe intentionally so!

This is why I am grateful for Bo Virving (and his son, Bjorn!), who was the smartest man on the scene in Ndola – an honest man – who saved important documents from the investigation, convinced that the crash was not an accident and that African witnesses testimony were deliberately ignored.

From Virving’s documents, “Memoranda submitted by Mr. Hugo Blandori, Consultant”, 21 February 1962, pages 8-9:

“Mr. Virving, in his appearance before the Commission, presented a theory wherein he claimed that aircraft SE-BDY had been shot down or forced down by a plane above it. He based his theory primarily on the statements of African witnesses that had been interviewed in Ndola. I talked with Mr. Virving at length after his appearance before the Commission, but he could not elaborate nor could he suggest any ways and means of confirming his beliefs. He made it known that the Rhodesian authorities had sought to suppress those witnesses whose testimonies were embarrassing to the Rhodesians and to emphasize those who vindicated their stand.

“Virving stated that he was limited in his movements and was unable to undertake an independent investigation to further his theory.”

From pages 9-10, Blandori writes this about the African witnesses:

“Concerning African witnesses, I wish to point out that it is most difficult to distinguish from their testimony what is truth and what is fiction or imagination. There were so many inconsistencies and discrepancies in their stories that to have believed them would refute the testimony of other witnesses who are generally reliable.

[…]

“As a consequence, I am of the opinion that the testimony of the African witnesses to the effect that they saw one or more small crafts flying along with SE-BDY just prior to its crash, has to be accepted with a grain of salt.”

From “Report of the UN Commission of Investigation, 1962” p.46, par.143:

“Mr. Virving, a Transair official, put before the Commission a theory that SE-BDY might have been attacked and shot down by a plane armed with rockets. This theory was based in part on an analysis of the statements of various witnesses concerning their observations of planes and of flashes in the sky. No substantial evidence was submitted in support of this theory and the Commission is of the opinion that most of the phenomena referred to by Mr. Virving are susceptible of other and more logical explanations. The Commission also consulted rocket experts with ONUC who expressed considerable doubt concerning the possibility of such an attack. Finally, as already noted, no signs of a pre-crash explosion or traces of a rocket were found in the wreckage.”

From Susan Williams’ “Who Killed Hammarskjold?”, 2016 edition, chapter 7, p. 99:

“All these [African] witnesses were challenged by the Federal examiner. Afterwards, Bo Virving followed [Dickson] Buleni and [Davidson] Simango from the court and interviewed them privately about what they had seen. They repeated their claim that they had seen two aircraft and not just one but were reluctant to talk too much to Virving, as they were being observed by a white police officer. According to Virving, their answers were reliable and tallied exactly with his own technical calculations.”

Daily Express, UK, 19 September 1961, page 2

Back in January 2014, I wrote here that I was convinced that the Albertina was shot down by Fouga Magisters. I am still convinced it was shot down, but I was wrong to believe it was a Fouga. I was misdirected by all the reports in the newspapers I was looking at, and I think that was the point – that these reports on Fougas were a red herring in the press. Bo Virving’s observations led him to believe that the Albertina was shot down by a Dove, and his theory rings true for me. From “Who Killed Hammarskjold?”, chapter 15, pages 185-187:

“Bo Virving had gathered ‘overwhelming evidence’, believed [George Ivan] Smith, that Hammarskjold’s plane was ‘forced down and crashed as a result of actions from an unidentified aircraft’. This evidence was carefully explored in a series of programmes about Hammarskjold which were produced by Gunnar Mollerstedt and shown on Swedish television. Mollerstedt had spent a year gathering material–including the interviews with Timothy Jiranda Kankasa and Dickson Buleni.

“Virving stated that there were five Doves in service in the Katangese air force in September 1961 at Kolwezi and Jadotville airports. They could stay airborne for three or four hours and their speed could match that of Hammarskjold’s DC6 in level flight; and in a dive from above they could increase their speed. It would be possible for the crew of the Dove to drop a small explosive device on to an aircraft below, then pull out of the dive. Virving had developed this theory about a Dove because on the day that Hammarskjold’s body was flown out to Sweden, he had seen a Dove at Ndola airport and discovered that it had a hole in its floor, which was apparently used for aerial photography. A man could lie there, he realized, telling the pilot ‘right, left, up, down’ and at a given moment let fall a small projectile.

“The theory that a Dove could be used in this way was later confirmed by Mercenary Commander, the memoir of the mercenary Jerry Puren–which was published six years after Mollerstedt’s programme. With evident pride, Puren describes in this book his technique of dropping bombs through a hole in the floor of a Dove aeroplane, by means of a rack system rigged along the fuselage. The racks were fitted to take bombs of 12.5 kg, which were despatched one at a time through the hatch in the floor when a lever was pulled. A bombing crew consisted of a pilot, a bomb aimer and a bombardier; usually Puren flew on these bombing missions with his friend Max Glasspole, the gum-chewing Canadian pilot, or the Hungarian pilot Sandor Gurkitz–both of whom were at Ndola airport on 17-18 September 1961, when he arrived that afternoon from South Africa. According to Puren, 12.5 kg bombs were turned out by Union Miniere workshops by the thousand; each had a contact fuse in the tail section which unwound and armed the bomb when lobbed from the aircraft.

“The Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry Report acknowledged that a Dove with a bombing capacity was found in September 1961 at Ndola–but after the crash. ‘One De Havilland Dove belonging to the Katanga Government,’ it stated, ‘was after the 18th September armed by removing a door and placing a machine gun on the floor to fire through the opening.’ The Dove had not, it stated, been at Ndola on the day of the crash, but elsewhere: ‘On 17th September this and possibly another were in the hands of the United Nations at Elisabethville. Three Doves were then in the Republic of South Africa undergoing examination.'”

[…]

“Virving’s suspicions about the use of a Dove against the Albertina were heightened when he went to Elisabethville in 1962 and found that the Katangese Doves had disappeared during the August 1961 UN action to expel mercenaries [Operation Rum Punch]. Significantly, their logbooks had been left behind. Then Virving found the Pretoria workshop where the Doves would normally have been serviced and sought information ‘for historical purposes’; but after two years’ wait he was told that no information could be given.”

Jerry Puren was one of the 79 mercenaries working for Katanga that uncle Vlado had arrested during Operation Rum Punch–he was also in the bar at Ndola airport the night of 17-18 September 1961, waiting for Hammarskjold’s plane to arrive. I believe that he was one of the men flying the Dove that shot down the Albertina. It wasn’t just glory he was after, it was personal revenge against Vlado and the UN for arresting him. From page 225-226 of “Who Killed Hammarskjold?”:

“[…]Puren’s behaviour at Ndola airport that evening seems totally out of character: for even though ‘excitement ran high, history was unfolding, and we were right on the spot,’ as he himself writes, he and fellow mercenary pilot Glasspole (who was also at Ndola airport) decided to have an early night:

Shortly after 22h00 there was a rustle of excitement among the chilled gathering. Several people claimed they had heard the sound of an aircraft’s engine, others said they saw lights disappearing low in the west. We saw nothing. Eventually Glasspole and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and returned to our welcoming beds at the Savoy Hotel.

“This is a very different Jerry Puren from the man of action described in the rest of his memoir: who fearlessly, for example, escaped the UN after his capture during Rumpunch, disguised as a priest.”

[…]

“Puren’s and Glasspole’s unlikely early night at Ndola does make me wonder about the Dove found by Bo Virving at Ndola airport the following day–with a hole in the bottom, through which Puren and Glasspole had become adept at dropping bombs on to Baluba villages. Furthermore, Puren was rewarded by Tshombe just a few days after this episode, by being made Chief of Operations of the Katangese Air Force, at an impromptu parade.

“One intriguing aspect of Puren’s mercenary career is that he later became involved in the failed Seychelles invasion in 1981, with which SAIMR was apparently associated.”

Lastly, in connection to mercenaries and Doves, this brief interview with author and journalist Maurin Picard:

Valuing the Evidence of Harold Julien: Part Two

Here are more newspapers from New York, from September 19, 1961 to May 3, 1962, which support the evidence of the only survivor of the Albertina, Sgt. Harry Julien. For context of these events, please read Susan Williams’ most recent essay, published in The Yale Review, “Revisiting Dag Hammarskjold’s Mysterious Death”. Part one of this series can be found here.

The NYT, 19 September 1961. From article “Hostile Jet Cited in Crash”: “Jacques Poujoulat, personal assistant to Dr. Sture C. Linner, chief of the United Nations mission in the Congo, described the circumstances off the ill-fated flight. He said he “could not answer” when he was asked whether the possibilty that the plane might have been shot down could be ruled out. He declared, however, that the United Nations had been “unable to make daylight flights” because of constant attacks by enemy jet aircraft. He said that the timing of the Secretary General’s night flight to Northern Rhodesia was “at least partly” because of the attacks by enemy aircraft.”

The NYT, 19 September 1961. “[Poujoulat] said that seven hours after the plane took off from Leopoldville yesterday an “unidentified aircraft” flew over Ndola airport and that at about the same time the police reported a “flash in the sky.”

The NYT, 19 September 1961. “The jet fighter has been the greatest single threat to the United Nations troops in Katanga, the pilot, who flies two planes alternately, has been strafing and bombing United Nations forces in Elisabethville, Kamina and Jadotville every day. United Nations officials believe that one of the two planes is being reloaded and refueled while the other is in action. The United Nations announced yesterday that three Ethiopian jet fighters were “on their way” to Katanga to oppose enemy fighter planes. Today it was learned from qualified sources that the planes had not arrived because British authorities in Uganda had refused to let them make a refueling stop.”

New York Herald Tribune, 19 September 1961. From article “Survivor Says Blasts Shook Plane”: “The wreck was reported first spotted by a Negro charcoal burner, then by a Royal Rhodesian Air Force crew. It was still smouldering when a ground search party arrived in mid-afternoon.”

New York Mirror, 19 September 1961. Col. Don Taylor is a typo for Col. Don Gaylor, who was sent to Ndola by the Pentagon on September 15. “Col. Don Taylor[sic], U.S. air attache in Pretoria, South Africa, who circled the wreck area until ground parties arrived, said it seemed obvious the plane was making an approach to Ndola Airport when it crashed about six miles away. Taylor said it looked to him as though the pilot misjudged the height and that the plane’s undercarriage caught in tree tops.”

From Susan Williams’ essay: “One other aspect of Gaylor’s involvement is worth noting. After the Albertina failed to land, a team of Norwegian U.N. soldiers flew to Ndola to assist in the search. Their aircraft was parked near Gaylor’s DC-3. Because of white Rhodesians’ hostility to U.N. personnel, they were not allowed to enter the airport terminal. So Gaylor’s crew invited them on board to get some food. To the surprise of U.N. soldiers, they discovered that the American plane was packed with highly sophisticated radio equipment.

“We know from other testimony that the U.S. Embassy in Leopoldville was communicating with Ndola via a U.S. aircraft, which presumably was Gaylor’s DC-3. And that may explain an intriguing aspect of the story, namely that Edmund A. Gullion, the U.S. ambassador in the Congo, sent a cable to Washington on the morning of September 18 that explicity referred to the possibility that the plane was shot down. “Hammarskjold’s plane believed lost in vicinity Rhodesian border near Ndola,” the cable read. “There is possibility he was shot down by single pilot who has harassed U.N. operations and who has been identified by one usually reliable source as van Riesseghel, Belgian, who accepted training lessons with so-called Katangan Air Force.” (The ambassador’s communique included an error — the name of the pilot in question was Jan van Risseghem.)”

The NYT, 20 January 1962. “NDOLA, Northern Rhodesia, Jan. 19 (Reuters) — Two planes passed over Ndola shortly before Mr. Hammarskjold and fifteen other persons died in the air crash near here, a witness told an inquiry here today. T. J. Kankasa, an African municipal official, told the Rhodesian federal inquiry that one of the planes had its lights on and appeared to be a transport while the other was a “smaller aircraft without lights.” “It seemed as if the smaller plane was beaming lights on the large aircraft,” he said.”

From Susan Williams’ book, “Who Killed Hammarskjold?”, pages 107 and 109: “The UN Commission supplemented its findings by employing a consultant named Hugo Blandori to carry out some background research in Ndola.” […] “Blandori included in his memorandum some observations on the appearance of Bo Virving at the Commission hearings. Virving, he reported, had put forward the theory that the Albertina had been shot down or forced down by a plane above it. He based his theory primarily on the statements of African witnesses and told Blandori that he believed the Rhodesian authorities had suppressed their evidence.

“It was Blandori’s view that the Africans giving testimony had no experience of aircraft, so didn’t know what they were talking about. But this was not the case. For one thing, the witnesses lived very near the airport and had daily experience of the comings and goings of planes; and for another, some of them, such as Timothy Kankasa, had worked with planes during the Second World War[as a signalman].”

Who was Hugo Blandori? According to this article by Jerry Dumas, “Hugo Blandori [was an] F.B.I. agent and also a YMCA regular, who died beside me on the Y handball court”. And according to this article about Anne Cioffi, who was his former secretary, Blandori was an F.B.I. agent who later became a private investigator, but I don’t know when exactly that change happened. From the article:

“I used to babysit his kids,” she said.

One day Blandori told her he needed a secretary and she took the job.

“He taught me every angle of his business,” she said, adding that was unusual in those days because women weren’t often afforded such opportunities.

Cioffi said Blandori was affiliated with former FBI agents who did private investigating all over the world and, with her as his secretary, specialized in pre-employment screenings.

“Years ago you could do that,” she said.

The company also conducted insurance and fraud investigations, and occasionally cheating-spouse cases.

“I didn’t like those very much,” said Cioffi.

She said the two worked together until the day Blandori went to play handball in Greenwich and died of a heart attack.

“He was only 50,” she said.

Cioffi said Blandori’s widow knew nothing about the business so Cioffi ran the business herself until another former FBI agent bought it.

[…]

She said her husband, Carmine, and all her connections from her time with Blandori encouraged her to get her own private investigator’s license, so that’s what she did.

“I had my own office in Norwalk,” she said saying she did a lot of work for former FBI agents and even worked on a case or two for Interpol.

“It worked out very well.”

The NYT, 3 May 1962, “Cause of Hammarskjold Crash Still a Mystery as Inquiry Ends”: “[…] Dr. M. Frei-Sulzer, a Swiss police official, who was appointed by the commission to examine the wreckage of the Secretary General’s plane, which crashed near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, attributed the disaster to the plane’s low altitude as it approached the airfield at Ndola after it had been cleared by the tower for landing.” [note: The Albertina was equipped with radar!] […] “Dr. Frei-Sulzer reported that “the only abnormal fact was the dangerously low altitude of the aircraft in relation to the airport elevation, probably due to human failure.” Dr. Frei-Sulzer is chief of the scientific department of the Zurich police and professor of science at the University of Zurich.” […] “The commission, which was appointed by the General Assembly last October, completed its report in Geneva March 8, three weeks before Dr. Frei-Sulzer submitted his findings to it.” […] “The [UN] commission criticized Rhodesian authorities for the fact that the wreckage was not found until fifteen hours after the crash. It said that Harold Julien, a United Nations guard who died several days after the crash, would have had a better chance for survival if the Rhodesians had shown more diligence. A report by the Royal Medical Board of Sweden said that a post-mortem indicated that, contrary to reports at the time, the Secretary General “lived for a certain period of time after the crash.” It said that he was the only person aboard the plane who had completely escaped burns.” […] “The Rhodesian and Swedish doctors agreed that bullets found in bodies of Mr. Hammarskjold’s guards had been exploded by the fire that consumed the wreckage and had not been fired from a weapon. Their finding were supplemented by Dr. Frei-Sulzer, who reported that there were no bullet holes in the plane and no evidence of explosives that would have been needed for a time bomb or other means of sabotaging the plane. However, the United Nations Commission examined at length the question whether a Fouga Magister fighter plane of the Katanga forces, “which had been operating against the United Nations in Katanga,” or some other plane [note: **De Havilland Dove**], had shot down the United Nations craft. It noted the reports of the Rhodesian inquiry board that the plane did not have sufficient range to fly from its base at Kolwezi and that the pilot had stated that it was on the ground on the night of the tragedy.”

Who was Dr. Max Frei-Sulzer? It is hard to take him seriously, considering that he investigated the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and he believed that Hitler’s diaries were real; and another case, which resulted in the imprisonment of an innocent man, who was released after 12 years!

New York Herald Tribune, 3 May 1962, This article continues the narrative of down-playing and discounting the testimony of Sgt. Harry Julien, “Dag’s Death Probe: Still a Whodunit”: “Sgt. Harold Julien, Mr. Hammarskjold’s chief security officer, was the single survivor found when the search party reached the area. He lay tortured in the hot tropical sun for twelve hours of daylight. **Badly injured and under heavy sedation, he gave some sketchy and inconclusive information before he died** three days later. With his death disappeared any apparent chance of solving the mystery of the crash.”

New York Herald Tribune, 3 May 1961. From the same article, “Dag’s Death Probe”: […]In the last glimmering of first-hand information on what happened in the final moments of the accident, this conversation was reported between a Northern Rhodesian police inspector, A. V. Allen, and Sgt. Harold Julien who was semi-coherent at best. Allen: “The last we heard from you, you were over Ndola runway. What happened?” Julien: “It blew up.” Allen: “Was this over the runway?” Julien: “Yes.” Allen: “What happened then?” Julien: “There was great speed. Great speed.” Allen: “What happened then?” Julien: “There were lots of little explosions all around.” Allen: “How did you get out?” Julien: “I pulled the emergency tab and I ran out.” Allen: “What about the others?” Julien: “They were just trapped.”

Valuing the Evidence of Harold Julien

With gratitude to Susan Williams for her most recent essay, published in The Yale Review, “Revisiting Dag Hammarskjold’s Mysterious Death”, here is a larger selection of international papers from my archive, 19-27 September 1961. Harold Julien was the only survivor of the Albertina crash, and for too long his testimony has been undervalued and deliberately suppressed, it is time to take his evidence seriously.

From her essay: “In 2019, new information emerged relating to Julien’s stay in the Ndola hospital, provided by the government of Zimbabwe to the current U.N. inquiry. This fresh information reveals that Rhodesian authorities actively sought to prevent Julien’s statements from being made public. A senior Rhodesian intelligence official instructed Julien’s medical superintendent that “no one of his hospital staff must talk about this,” in relation to Julien’s statements that he had seen sparks in the sky. The superintendent and another doctor were warned about “the security angle” and asked “to make sure that none of their staff talked.

“Justice Othman views this new evidence as significant. In his view, “a general undervaluing of the evidence of Harold Julien…may have affected the exhaustiveness of the earlier inquiries’ consideration of the possible hypotheses.”

Daily Mail, 19 December 1961 “Airline mystery of flashes in the sky – Dag’s last command – UN chief told pilot to change course”

Daily Mail, September 19 “Sergeant Harold Julian, of the United States, a security guard on the plane, who was the lone survivor, said there was a series of explosions in the plane. Sergeant Julian, lying seriously injured and burned in Ndola Hospital, also said Mr. Hammarskjold changed his mind about landing at Ndola and told the pilot to alter course for another destination.” […] “Police in Ndola saw a huge flash in the sky just before the crash. […] “Officials of Transair, the Swedish charter company which owned the plane, said in Leopoldville that they believed the aircraft was shot down by a Katanga jet fighter. A UN spokeman said he could not definitely rule out sabotage or shooting down as the cause of the crash. He said Mr. Hammarskjold was flying at night to avoid the two jet planes in Katanga’s Air Force which for days have been straffing UN troops and bombing their airfields.”

Daily Mail, September 19 ” “Overdue procedure” was started. Checks were made at Congolese and Rhodesian towns. At dawn an all-out search began. But an African charcoal burner was the first man to find the smouldering wreckage. Then the pilot of a Rhodesian Air Force Provost plane saw the DC-6 and guided rescuers to the scene.”

From Williams’ essay: “[…]the 1961-62 official inquiries concluded that the first sighting of the crash site was at 3:10 p.m. on September 18 by a RRAF pilot flying overhead; at around the same time, there was a report of a sighting by the two aforementioned charcoal burners. Following these reports, police vehicles and ambulances were immediately sent to the site.

“But a mass of evidence has emerged that shows that many people knew that the plane had crashed – and where – long before it was officially located. Indeed, the crash site was reported to the Northern Rhodesian authorities between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. by Timothy Kankasa. Some charcoal burners had come across the burning plane in the morning and, in great concern, rushed to tell him. The men reported the crash to him, rather than to the police, because they mistrusted and feared the white authorities.”

Daily Mail, September 19 “Colonel Don Gaylor, U.S. Air Attache in Pretoria, who flew over the area helping to guide search parties, said he believed the crash took place between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m. It seemed clear that the pilot was making a direct approach to the airfield when he crashed, said Colonel Gaylor.”

From Williams’ essay: “[…] Colonel Don G. Gaylor […] was sent to Ndola on September 15 by the Pentagon.[…] Gaylor was one of three U.S. air attaches who are known to have flown to Ndola airport during the period of September 15-18. […] According to a letter Gaylor wrote to an official Swedish investigator in 1994 (a letter I was recently sent by Hans Kristian Simensen, a Norwegian researcher who, like me, is assisting Justice Othman on a voluntary basis), Gaylor was in the control tower at Ndola airport on the night of September 17-18, waiting for Hammarskjold’s aircraft. The letter states that after the plane failed to arrive, he and his crew prepared for takeoff at first light to look for a crash site. Gaylor wrote that he spotted the wreckage shortly after dawn and immediately contacted the “Ndola rescue frequency and gave them the map coordinates of the site.” His letter adds: “Then I circled the site for a considerable period to give the ground party a point of reference.” This account is consistent with Gaylor’s memoir.”

“It should be noted that there is a discrepancy between this claim by Gaylor and a report by Matlick to the U.S. Secretary of State on September 22, which states that Gaylor had wanted to search in the morning but was not allowed to do so by the Rhodesian civil authorities. Matlick adds that Gaylor flew the second aircraft to spot the crash site in the afternoon, following a sighting by a RRAF aircraft; this was echoed by Squadron Leader John Mussell in his testimony to the Rhodesian Board of Investigation.

“Without further documentary evidence, we cannot resolve these conflicting pieces of evidence, or verify Gaylor’s claim that he found the crash site shortly after dawn. This makes it all the more important to obtain and study the report that Gaylor said he sent to the Pentagon: “My report to my superiors in the Pentagon was acknowledged with some accolades.”

Daily Express, September 19 “…The survivor is identified as an American sergeant with the UNO forces, Harold Julian[sic]. He is severly burned. His report of explosions in the plane supports the theory of sabotage. Another theory is that it was shot down by a jet fighter from Katanga. […] Practically all the bodies were burned. Only Mr. Hammarskjold was immediately recognisable. Incredibly Sergeant Julian was still alive. He had lain all those hours in agony. Tonight hospital doctors give him a a “fair” chance of life.”

From Williams’ essay: “On Tuesday, September 19, the day after Julien had been taken to the hospital, he was “slightly better.” Though “still dangerously ill,” he was expected to survive. A day later, he was reported as “holding his own.”

Daily Express, 19 September, page 2. “1,800 aircraft men threaten strike. A meeting of 1,800 workers at the De Havilland factory at Portsmouth decided yesterday to strike as soon as redundancy notices are issued. About 1,500 are likely to become redundant soon, according to the management.”

From Susan Williams’ book “Who Killed Hammarskjold?”, pages 186 and 187:

“[Bo] Virving stated that there were five [De Havilland] Doves in service of the Katangese air force in September 1961 at Kolwezi and Jadotville airports. They could stay airborne for three or four hours and their speed could match that of Hammarskjold’s DC6 in level flight; and in a dive from above they could increase their speed. It would be possible for the crew of the Dove to drop a small explosive device on to an aircraft below, then pull out of the dive. Virving had developed this theory about a Dove because on the day that Hammarskjold’s body was flown out to Sweden, he had seen a Dove at Ndola airport and discovered that it had a hole in its floor, which was apparently used for aerial photography. A man could lie there, he realized, telling the pilot ‘right, left, up, down’ and at a given moment let fall a small projectile.

“The theory that a Dove could be used in this way was later confirmed by Mercenary Commander, the memoir of the mercenary Jerry Puren[…]

“The Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry Report acknowledged that a Dove with bombing capacity was found in September 1961 at Ndola–but after the crash. ‘One De Havilland Dove belonging to the Katanga Government,’ it stated, ‘was after the 18th September armed by removing a door and placing a machine gun on the floor to fire through the opening.’ The Dove had not, it stated, been at Ndola on the day of the crash, but elsewhere: ‘On 17th September this and possibly another were in the hands of the United Nations at Elisabethville. Three Doves were then in the Republic of South Africa undergoing examination.’

“A Dove plane at Ndola also caused consternation at the British Embassy in Leopoldville in the week after the crash of the Albertina. Ambassador Riches sent a telegram to the Foreign Office on 24 September 1961, reporting that, according to Matlick, the U.S. Air Attache in Leopoldville who had just returned from Ndola, a Dove aircraft with Katangan air force markings had taken off from Ndola for Kolwezi the day before, carrying mercenaries. He had given this information to the UN, who had passed it on to Riches. ‘Report could do us serious damage here,’ warned Riches to London.

“Virving’s suspicions about the use of a Dove against the Albertina were heightened when he went to Elisabethville in 1962 and found that the Katangese Doves had disappeared during the August 1961 UN action to expel mercenaries. Significantly, their logbooks had been left behind. Then Virving found the Pretoria workshop where the Doves would normally have been serviced and sought information ‘for historical purposes’; but after two years’ wait he was told that no information could be given.”

Daily Express, September 19. Not everyone in the press was singing the praises of Hammarskjold, certainly not George Gale, who seems to be not only a white supremacist and supporter of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, but also a homophobe. He writes of Hammarskjold: “He loved mountains and had good paintings on his austere walls. He read poetry, especially the writings of Rilke and of T.S. Eliot.”

L’AURORE, September 19 “The Death of Mr. H, whose plane crashed in the Rhodesian bush(only one survivor, who spoke of explosions on board).”

L’AURORE September 19 “A burning plane. Tall columns of smoke. This was yesterday, in Elisabethville at war. A Fouga of the Katangese forces had just passed, shooting at the control tower, and at the planes in the parking lot. Hit, a United Nations DC-4 burns. Did the same Fouga shoot at Mr. H’s aircraft?”

L’AURORE September 19. The headline erroneously reports: “Mr. H is burned to death in his airplane tomb in Rhodesia” […] “There were several explosions before the crash of the Swedish DC-6, recounts the sole survivor”

International Edition of The NYT, September 19. This article refers to Colonel Don Taylor, which is a typo for Don Gaylor, saying that he “circled the wreck area until ground parties reach it shortly after 3 P.M.” On the front page of this edition of the NYT, it reports “Lone Survivor Reports Explosions on Flight to Tshombe Talks” and that “Officials quoted Mr. Julian[sic] as having said that Mr. Hammarskjold had changed his mind about landing at Ndola and that he had told the pilot to alter course for another destination. Moments later, according to the injured man, there was a series of explosions aboard the plane. Hospital authorities said Mr. Julian was in serious condition.”

International Edition of the NYT, September 19

Paris-presse l’intransigeant, September 19. This publication does not mention Harold Julien by name or the testimony he gave to hospital staff in Ndola, reporting only that “Another person not yet identified was found seriously injured.”

European Edition of the New York Herald Tribune, September 19

European Edition of the New York Herald Tribune, September 19. This article reports the testimony of Harold Julien, without mentioning his name, only that he was “a UN security guard whose name was not released.”

Paris-presse l’intransigeant, September 20. Headline: “Mr. H had been dead a few hours. The Katangese Fouga Magister attacks the headquarters of the O.N.U. in Elisabethville.” Text below photo: “The Fouga-Magister is made in France.”

France-Soir, September 20. Rarely seen photos of Captain Per Hallonquist and Karl Erik Rosen.

France-Soir, September 20 “Three Belgians and a Congolese were reportedly arrested in Leopoldville yesterday evening. They would be accused of having given information concerning flight plans of the O.N.U.”

France-Soir, September 20. Many papers reported on the assassination of Swedish diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte, which happened exactly 13 years earlier in Gaza, 17 September 1948. And yet another eerie coincidence, Alice Lalande – the only woman on board the Albertina – was Bernadotte’s personal secretary.

International Edition of the NYT, September 20. Dag must have been bored to death of the overt and covert attacks on his sexuality and private life, on the job and in the press. But this was an era when being accused of homosexuality was akin to being accused of being a communist – Roy Cohn would understand! ”Mr. Hammarskjold did not like to talk about himself a great deal. He had an idea that he had been fixed forever in the public mind as a man with an alpenstock in one hand and a volume of T.S. Eliot’s works in the other. “That’s not a picture of me,” he said. “It is a caricature. Everywhere I go, mountains, mountains, T.S. Eliot. Believe me, I am sick of mountains and poetry talk.”

European Edition of the New York Herald Tribune, September 21. “The French-built Fouga Magister jet, the spokesman said, inflicted more casualties and damage on UN forces in the Congo than the police and army of Katanga’s President Moise Tshombe. By forcing unarmed UN transport aircraft to operate only under the cover of darkness, the jet may also have contributed to the circumstances that caused the death of Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold in a plane crash Sunday night outside Ndola, Northern Rhodesia. In successive bombing and strafing runs last week, the Fouga damaged or destroyed seven United Nations aircraft, wounded four Irish soldiers in the garrison at Jadotville and left four dead and six missing among a column of Indian troops seeking to support the Irish.”

European Edition of the New York Herald Tribune, September 21

European Edition of the New York Herald Tribune, September 21. David Lawrence, yet another white supremacist who had nothing good to say about the United Nations or Dag Hammarskjold.

European Edition of the New York Herald Tribune, September 21. On the same page, next to David Lawrence, is this thoughtful and sad salute to Dag Hammarskjold from Walter Lippmann: “If the world is not ready for what Hammarskjold felt compelled to try in the Congo, it is also true, I hate to say, that this present world is not ready for the kind of man Hammarskjold was. He was a Western man in the highest traditions of political excellence in the West. Khrushchev says that Hammarskjold was not neutral in the Congo, and that there is no such thing as a neutral man. Hammarskjold was in fact the embodiment of the noblest Western political achievement — that laws can be administered by judges and civil servants who have their first allegiance to the laws, and not to the personal, their class, or even their national interests. No such political ideal is believed to be possible or is regarded as tolerable in the Marxist world. The ideal is not very well understood in most of the rest of the world, and there is no use pretending that such public servants are not very rare indeed. So there are times, as now in this hour of our grief and shock, when the ideal seems to belong to things that are passing away.”

Paris-presse l’intransigeant, September 21 “At the Ndola hospital, the only survivor, 30% burned, Sgt. Harold Julian[sic], has not yet been able to be questioned. His condition, although improved, remains serious.”

France-Soir, September 21 Headline: **“The survivor of Mr. H’s plane is incommunicado at the Ndola hospital (Rhodesia)”** […] “Lying on his hospital bed in Ndola, the only survivor of the disaster, 30% burned, Sergeant Harry Julian[sic], one of the UNO bodyguards, is **kept secret by doctors.**” A rare photo of Mrs. Julien, caption says: “The wife of the sole survivor of Mr. H’s plane. Miami, 20 September (AP) — Mrs. Julian, 37 years, is the wife of the sole survivor of the DC-6 crash with Mr. H in Rhodesia. Mrs. Julian, who works for an advertising agency in Miami in the United States, only learned yesterday that her husband, Harry Julian, 37 years, one of Mr. H’s bodyguards, was on the plane.”

From Williams’ essay: “Maria Julien arrived in Ndola on Thursday, September 22, and was with Harry on the final day and night of his life. He was sedated and did not speak much. But she knew he was fully in his senses, because he asked about a chain that he had sent to her to be repaired — a chain to a medallion of St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers. They were both devout Catholics, and Maria had called a priest to her husband’s bedside.

“But on the morning of the next day, her husband died — despite the expectation that he would survive. This was five days after the crash. The coroner’s summary report listed the cause as “Renal failure due to extensive burns following aircraft accident.”

[…]

“As Sgt. Julien was the only person left to describe what has happened on the flight, his recollections should have been crucial to the investigations of the Rhodesian Commission. But the commission discounted Julien’s statements to the nurses, writing: “No attention need be paid to remarks, later in the week, about sparks in the sky. They either relate to the fire after the crash, or a symptom of his then condition.” Even Julien’s comment about the plane having blown up, made to police inspector Allen, was not given serious attention.

“The senior medical staff at the hospital dismissed Julien’s recollections of the crash as the ramblings of a sick man; his reference to “sparks in the sky” was attributed to uraemia. But Dr. Lowenthal took a different view. He stated that Julien’s recollections were spoken during a plasma transfusion and before an injection of pethidine, which means that Julien had not been sedated at the time. Lowenthal felt so strongly about the need to establish this truth that he participated in the Rhodesian hearings as a volunteer witness; he insisted that when Julien spoke about the crash, he was “lucid and coherent.”

France-Soir, September 21 “Only he, when he is out of danger, will be able to guide the investigation.”

Tribune de Geneve, September 21. “Three months in hospital for the sole survivor of Hammarskjold’s plane. Sergeant Harry Julian[sic], seriously injured in the crash of the plane transporting Secretary-General Hammarskjold, and the only survivor of the disaster, will have to stay in hospital for at least three months. It will not be for ten or fifteen days before we will be able to know if he is really out of danger.”

France -Soir, September 21 “The only survivor of Mr. H’s plane is delirious and cannot be questioned.”

Tribune de Geneve, September 23-24 “The only survivor of the plane has died”

Le Figaro, September 27 “After the Ndola disaster. The bullets were fired by weapons, say two Swedish experts.” […] “It is completely absurd to say that cartridges that catch fire can project bullets capable of piercing the human body” declared two famous ammunition experts from the Swedish police to Svenksa Dagbladet. This interview was prompted following statements by Rhodesian investigators, according to which, the bullets, found in the body of certain passengers of Mr. H’s plane, came from the explosion, under the action of fire, boxes of ammunition which were on board the aircraft. (This opinion, entirely theoretical, comes from people who did not go to the scene of the accident.)”

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday today, here is some encouragement from him: “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

Daily Express and Daily Mail, 19 September 1961

I am a bit slow in posting the latest Hammarskjold investigation news, but here is the link to the 2022 UN report from Judge Othman, which was released at the beginning of November. Many thanks to Judge Othman, and to all “individual researchers and non-State entities” who have been responsible for providing “almost all new information generated between 2020 and 2022”. From page 9 of the report: “Despite the decrease in the amount of information identified by Member States, the amount and quality of new information provided by individuals and non-State entities highlights that additional information is highly likely to exist in Key Member States’ records and archives.” As a reminder, those “Key Member States” are South Africa, United Kingdom, and the United States. From page 34 of the report: “…a small number of Member States, which have been identified as being almost certain to hold relevant information, appear to have been the least willing to provide further disclosure.”

From the Fabry archive, I have recently discovered a new stack of international newspapers from the 19th-27th of September 1961. Here are two papers from London, both from the 19th of September:

This paper has a different photo of Alice Lalande I have not seen before.

It is interesting to note that “1,800 aircraft men threaten strike” was at the De Havilland factory in Portsmouth, makers of the De Havilland Dove that were supplied to the air force of Katanga, Avikat, in 1961.

From George Gale: “And above all [Hammarskjold] had the Congo itself, this vast land filled with ignorant and bewildered tribes untutored in the art of governing themselves, on which to experiment, with which he and his servants could learn the craft of rule.”

I find it funny that the Daily Express “OPINION” column is not written by anyone in particular.

This article mentions that “…an African[Black] charcoal burner was the first man to find the smouldering wreckage.”

Interview with Madame Rime, Vlado’s secretary in Leopoldville, 1961

This is the full interview of Monique Cégel (now Madame Rime) sent to me in May 2020 by Maurin Picard, journalist and author of “Ils Ont Tue Monsieur H”; a portion of this interview was published here back in September 2020, “Vlado and the Mercenaries: Operation Rum Punch“, but I feel the whole interview deserves attention.

You can hear more interviews with Madame Rime about her experiences in the Congo working for the United Nations, with journalist David Glaser, reporter at GeneveMonde.ch.

Many thanks to Madame Rime, and to Maurin Picard for this interview and supporting the Hammarskjold investigation, and to David Glaser for promoting this blog and the life of Vlado Fabry – merci beaucoup to all who have contributed to this site!

Interview with Monique Rime Cégel

3 May 2020

Switzerland

Summary

– Monique Cégel, 83, was Vladimir Fabry’s secretary in Leopoldville in 1961

– She worked at the Hotel Le Royal between December 1960 and January 1962

– She knew Alice Lalande and Harold Julien very well

– She was working extra hours on 17 September 1961

– She typed Dag Hammarskjöld’s last message to Paul Henri Spaak, requesting Belgium to stop « van Riessenghem »

– She remembers there were serious doubts about UN communications being intercepted

– Vladimir Fabry did most of the research regarding Katanga mercenaries during the summer of 1961

– She remembers Dag Hammarskjöld’s collaborators tried to deter him from flying unescorted

– She does not think Sture Linnér was intended to fly along, as he had to stay in Leopoldville to liaise and work proper transmissions

– She flew to Ndola with Mahmoud Khiary on 19 September 1961 to type the ceasefire agreement with Moise Tshombe

– She saw the crash site right above her plane window prior to landing and was horrified

– She recalls smoldering debris and the « long line » of burnt forest

– She found a very hostile atmosphere in Northern Rhodesia

– She met a very disdainful Lord Alport

– She was not allowed to join Mahmoud Khiary at the hospital to visit Harold Julien

* * *

I was Vladimir Fabry’s secretary, at the Hotel Le Royal, Leopoldville (Congo).

I worked there for the UN mission in Congo from December 1960 to January 1962, as secretary detached from the Atomic Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

I kept working for the UN in Geneva until 1976, mostly through freelancing contracts. Then my husband and I moved to the city of Bulle.

I met my husband in 1961 in Congo!

He was a representative for major Swiss companies of the time, including Schindler and Vega, and was selling chemical products to the university of Lovanium.

I became a Swiss citizen, after getting married with him.

I was French (and I still am), and was born in Paris.

* Sunday 17 September 1961

At the Hotel Le Royal, we had an office adjacent to the one occupied by Sture Linnér.

On the day Dag Hammarskjöld took off from Leopoldville, that Sunday, I was not supposed to work.

But, as Fabry’s secretary, and since he only worked with me, they sent some military staff in a Jeep to pick me up and bring me back to Le Royal.

They found me sitting at a cafe terrace, since I believe they always kept an eye on us for safety.

I went back to my office and worked all afternoon, until the plane departed.

* Vladimir Fabry

That day, when I arrived at my office, Vladimir Fabry immediately requested to dictate some telegrams. I spent the whole afternoon doing that: typing messages, then bringing them to the « Chiffre » for them to be coded accordingly with the recipient’s identity.

By the time I was finished, they were getting ready to leave for the airport.

Before leaving, Vladimir Fabry was so thrilled.

Happy as a kid who was just offered a new toy.

Albeit a very reserved character, he was practically jumping on his feet.

He came into my office and said excitingly:

« Monique, I am leaving with the Secretary-General! I am trusting you with my car keys! »

He had to be very happy, for he would never have done such a thing otherwise.

His car was an official UN vehicle.

He told me I could use all the time during his absence.

God knows Leopoldville is a very large town, with great distances between the various locations.

I used the car until, of course, I handed it back to the UN, since Fabry never returned.

I remember seeing their cars leaving Le Royal in convoy.

I went through these events with an innocent mind as I could only partially grasp what was going.

I would mostly type messages dictated by Fabry, messages that were generally meant for New York.

The last message I typed from them was dictated by M. Hammarskjöld himself. The recipient was Paul-Henri Spaak.

(nota: the Belgian Foreign Minister)

But I cannot remember its content (nota: requesting Belgian assistance to put an end to the criminal deeds of a mercenary pilot named « van Riessenghem »).

I was so intimidated that I must have skipped two or three words he dictated.

I had never met Hammarskjöld and I was so young then (nota : she was 24).

I saw Dag Hammarskjöld every day between 13 and 17 September 1961, since he occupied Sture Linnér’s office.

* Can you recall Hammarskjöld’s state of mind?

I remember he was not very agreeable. He seemed really sad, not at all in a communicative mood. « You do this, this has to be done ». We were in the midst of a serious crisis with Katanga, obviously.

* Were there long sleepless nights at Le Royal?

I did not spend those ones with them, but I had a similar experience during the previous months. When you are assigned to someone high ranking, you did not count your days and your nights. With all the crises we went through, there were many sleepless nights at Le Royal.

* Harold Julien

I knew Harold Julien very well, as he was the Chief Security Officer in Leopoldville. Being M. Fabry’s secretary, I was granted the use of a car.

This in turn created some serious trouble, because we were taken hostage with a Swiss colleague of mine by Mobutu’s troops for 24 hours. The time was around end January or early February 1961.

They had spotted my car, I believe, due to the UN flags on it, and surrounded our house with two small armoured cars. There were rumors that the UN was bent on disarming the Congolese National Army. And we had been poorly inspired to move in a house across the street from Mobutu’s barracks along the river – a magnificent location, it was indeed.

Then the witchhunt began against all UN staff.

This is the only time in my life I was really scared.

I called the French embassy asking for their help, as I was a French citizen. Their answer was very … kind: « you work for the UN, hence you are no longer considered as a French citizen for us. There is nothing we can do for you ».

Since my colleague was Swiss, she called the Swiss embassy and they immediately answered. « Yes of course, we will come and rescue you ».

They arranged for a motorized convoy of Swiss people, with friends and colleagues of my future husband, led by the Red Cross delegate M. Olivet, who was killed another day.

(nota: Georges Olivet, 34, was killed in an ambulance on 12 December 1961, amidst heavy fighting in Elisabethville, Katanga)

They parlayed with Mobutu’s soldiers, who pretty quickly removed their blockade and let us go free.

* Saturday 16 September, Lord Lansdowne meets Dag Hammarskjöld. Did you get word of a stormy exchange?

No, I do not remember that gentleman.

I did not hear anything, although I was there that day and was working in the nearby room. If there had been loud voices, a shouting match,

I would have heard something.

But it does not mean it did not take place, as my memory could be failing me.

There were indeed many high ranking visitors in Sture Linnér’s office, and I did not always necessarily get a look at them.

* Did Dag Hammarskjöld’s collaborators try to deter him from flying unescorted?

That is true, since I remember I heard about it.

They did try to deter him.

There were rumors that they were « waiting » for him in Katanga. There were Tshombe’s two Fougas.

(nota: in September 1961, the UN still believed two remaining Fouga were operational, as there was actually only one left, « 93 », the other one bing grounded awaiting spare parts)

When we heard about the crash, we immediately thought: « Tshombe’s Fougas did it ».

Personnally, I just could not imagine such a thing: who would want to shoot down the UN Secretary General?

I really thought this was just an accident, at least until after I left Congo early 1962.

If I had known … I was so scared in the air. I could never have boarded a plane.

But since I had no clue of what happened, I departed very easily when told to, without any further stress.

* Was Sture Linnér supposed to join the mission and fly along with Dag Hammarskjöld, as he later commented?

I was not at Ndjili airport but I would be surprised if he was intending to fly with them. It was logical for him to stay in Leo and liaise. That would be surprising if true.

Alice Lalande, she had to be part of the travelling party, since she was in charge of sensitive equipments, these Enigma machines. Besides, the Secretary-General needed an assistant like her. In her daily job, Alice was handing over paperwork to all the secretaries. She was a perfectly bilingual Canadian.

* Did Dag Hammarskjöld know that UN communications were intercepted?

I do not know, but it was a serious question for everyone in Leopoldville.

I had worked for weeks with Vladimir Fabry on the issue of the « frightfuls », these mercenaries.

I made dozens of photocopies from these documents that had been somehow collected and that had to do with these mercenaries. Vladimir Fabry worked a great deal on this issue. We did an extensive research on these documents. I am sorry that I did not have enough political awareness, to show an interest in the content of these documents.

* Monday 18 September 1961

Personnally, I did not get word of the crash when I arrived at the office on the next day. The other secretaries were doing a funny face, which was a bit intriguing. I made it late to the office due my long working hours on Sunday. I thought there was a dreadful atmosphere, but nobody told me anything. They did not dare tell me what had happened, probably because I was working so closely with M. Fabry. I only found out the same evening when I came home and my future husband told me: « did you hear what happened to Hammarskjöld ? »

* The crash site

When Mahmoud Khiary took off for Ndola, I came along.

(nota: on Tuesday 19 September 1961, in order to negotiate a ceasefire with Moïse Tshombé, as it was theoretically the case for Dag Hammarskjöld two days earlier)

I boarded the plane with him. If I had known the crash was foul play, I would never have come along with Khiary. This was so sudden, that I did not have the time to bring any equipment, not even a typing machine, as Alice Lalande had done.

We departed for Ndola. Prior to landing, while flying low over the forest, we managed to see the crash site from up close

(nota: the whole area was forested back then)

This memory will stay with me forever.

We spotted the wreckage, these scattered debris of an aircraft, what was left of it. This long line of burnt forest. It was terrible. I am still emotional about it, as I speak. I happened to realize the people I knew so well were only charred remains by now.

Alice Lalande, to begin with, who was basically my boss.

The security officers, such as Harold Julien.

I remember Alice’s dress with the flowery design. It sent cold shivers down my spine when I realized the plane had crashed and burnt that way. I though My God, she must have burnt so quickly. It was terrifying.

* Ndola, 19 September 1961

When we arrived in Ndola, there was this man, Lord Alport, welcoming us – so to say – at the airport. He was very cold. An extremely disagreeable character, very full of himself and every inch a British aristocrat. Still he invited our delegation for lunch in his home. I was just a secretary sitting at the end of the table with the security officers, but I found him disdainful towards us .

(nota : Khiary was not particularly welcome, since Tshombe had notified Linnér he agreed to negotiate a ceasefire with anyone but Khiary, whom he deemed responsible for launching Operation Morthor on 13 September 1961 – which is at least partially true)

Our mission was not very welcome.

Then we headed for the actual ceasefire negotiations with Moïse Tshombe, but I did not directly take part in the negotiations. The British mission there lent me a typing machine, whose keyboards had none of the French accents, which made my task very dfficult. I did however type all the ceasefire documents.

We stayed two or three days in Ndola.

Mahmoud Khiary and the delegation visited Harold Julien in the hospital. I was not allowed to join them.

1961 was a terrible year in my life. Annus horribilis, as the Queen Mother would say.

There was my being taken hostage, then Hammarskjöld’s crash, then the murder of 13 Italian air crew.

(nota: massacred by the crowd who mistook them with Belgian paratroopers in Kindu on 11 or 12 November 1961)

One of them was 25 and a very good friend of mine.

He had been at my wedding two weeks before, on 28 October 1961, along with Sture Linnér’s wife, whom I called Madame Linnér, of course, and also Jacques Poujoulat.

This day of September 1961, this Sunday the 17th. In my old age, I still cannot fathom what unfolded that day. It is still with me. It will stay with me until my last breath.

Letter from High Commissioner of South Africa, H.L.T. Taswell, 29 September 1961

Having spent so much time thinking about the life of Vlado Fabry, it has been impossible not to care about the way he died, and to want to know the truth about what happened. I’ve been reading every book and article I can find on the subject, but, for me, just reading the 1962 reports of the UN and Rhodesian Commissions investigation of the crash has been very revealing, especially in regards to Fouga Magisters which, I am convinced, shot down the Secretary General’s plane and caused it to crash on the night of 17/18 September, 1961. There were many Africans who saw one or two smaller planes following the DC-6 SE-BDY, but when they were interviewed by the Rhodesian and UN Commissions, they were treated like ignorant children and their testimonies were dismissed as fantasy. I learned a lot more about their treatment in Goran Bjorkdahl and Jacob Phiri’s excellent 2013 article for INTERNATIONAL PEACEKEEPING, Eyewitnesses: The Hammarskjold Plane Crash. From the article, here is one particularly awful comment from UN consultant Hugo Blandiori:

‘Thus, when it is taken into consideration that some of the African witnesses had lack of knowledge in air-plane identiﬁcation, were of limited learning and might have been motivated by personal or political reasons, it becomes difﬁcult in assessing the truth of their statements…As a consequence, I am of the opinion that the testimony of the African witnesses to the effect that they saw one or two small crafts ﬂying along with SE-BDY just prior to its crash, has to be accepted with a grain of salt’.

I have provided here a few excerpts from both the Rhodesian and United Nations Commission, in order for you to appreciate the context of the following letter, which was written by former High Commissioner of South Africa, H.L.T.Taswell, on 29 September 1961, and was found in the archive of former Prime Minister of the British territory of the Central African Federation Sir Roy Welensky. A scan of the letter was sent to me by an anonymous source. I’m not positive if this particular letter is still considered “TOP SECRET”, but it won’t be anymore. It belongs in the public domain.

“At the outset we would say no reason was suggested, and we cannot think of one, why anyone who might have been able to attack this aircraft from the air should ever have wanted to attack it as it carried Mr. Hammarskjold on the mission he was then undertaking.”
(Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Report of the Commission on the Accident Involving Aircraft SE-BDY, chaired by Sir John Clayden, Chief Justice of the Federation, presented to the Federal Assembly, Salisbury, Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland; February 1962; Annex III, p.20, par.10)

“On landing at Leopoldville [the morning of 17 September 1961], [Flight Engineer] Wilhelmson had reported that SE-BDY had been fired on at the takeoff from Elisabethville. A thorough inspection of the aircraft was accordingly carried out under the supervision of Chief Mechanic Tryggvason of Transair. In the course of the inspection it was found that number 2 engine (inboard port) had been struck by a bullet, which had penetrated the engine cowling and hit the exhaust pipe. The exhaust pipe was replaced and the plane refueled to a total of ten tons.”
(…)
“The Commission further notes that no flight plan for the SE-BDY was transmitted to Salisbury. The Commission has taken into consideration the conditions existing in the Congo at the time and in particular the danger of an attack from the “Fouga Magister” which explains this departure from the rules governing commercial aviation. Indeed, the system of aeronautical communications cannot ensure the secrecy of messages”
(…)
“It is also relevant to observe that, because of the danger of an attack from the “Fouga Magister”, most of the flights in the Congo at the time were undertaken at night”
(…)
“The possibility of other aircraft being in the area of Ndola at the time of the crash was examined. Since the “Fouga Magister” of the Katangese Armed Forces had been operating against the United Nations in Katanga, the possibility of its reaching Ndola was examined by the Rhodesian Board of Investigation and the Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry. It was established that it could not have made the flight from its normal base in Kolwezi to Ndola and returned to Kolwezi since the distance is greater than its operational range. It was also stated by its captain and others that the “Fouga” was on the ground at Kolwezi the night of 17/18 September and could not have operated that night. This evidence is not entirely conclusive since the captain admitted before the Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry that on at least one occasion the “Fouga” had taken off from an unpaved track. While this track was said to be at an even greater distance from Ndola, nothing would appear to preclude the use of a track within range of Ndola. Nevertheless, there is no evidence that the “Fouga” was in the vicinity of Ndola on the night of the crash.”
(…)
“The Commission has, however, been informed that no radar watch was maintained in the Ndola area during the evening and night of 17 September 1961 and, therefore, the possibility of an “unknown aircraft” cannot be entirely excluded.”
(…)
“Certain witnesses testified that they saw or heard a second, or even third, plane. In particular, some of these testified that they saw a second smaller aircraft flying close to SE-BDY after it had passed over the airport or immediately before the crash and that the smaller aircraft was beaming lights on the larger. The Commission visited with some of these witnesses the spots from which their observations had been made and endeavored to obtain an understanding of their testimony. The Commission considers that several of these witnesses were sincere in their accounts of what they believed they saw.
The Commission is also of the opinion, however, that those witnesses may have misinterpreted their observations and reported some incidents which may not in fact have occurred in the way or at the time that they believed when they testified before the Commission.”
(United Nations General Assembly, Report of the Commission of the Investigation into the Conditions and Circumstances Resulting in the Tragic Death of Mr. Hammarskjold and the Members of the Party Accompanying Him, chaired by Rishikesh Shaha (UN A/5069); 24 April 1962; par. 69, 82, 89, 135, 136)

“TOP SECRET”

Salisbury S.R.
29th September, 1961

Dear Mr. Jooste,

As you will know, I had correspondence, during your absence, with our Minister regarding a suggestion made by Mr. Harper, Leader of the Opposition in Southern Rhodesia, that we assist in the establishment of an English language paper in this territory. The Minister’s reply is dated 5th September, 1961.

I have since had a further talk with Mr. Harper and explained the position to him. He will be visiting South Africa one of these days to have a discussion with Minister de Klerk on our Immigration laws. I will write to you again in due course on this matter.

Another approach for the establishment of an English language paper in Southern Rhodesia has since been made to me. It comes from quite a different quarter – namely from Mr. John Gaunt, Independent Member for Lusaka West, Northern Rhodesia, in the Federal Assembly. Particulars of Mr. Gaunt, taken from page 940-92 of the Who’s Who of Southern Africa 1961 are attached.

Mr. Gaunt is a colourful, outspoken and irrepressible politician who has a considerable following in this country. I would be inclined to describe him as the Arthur Marlow of the Federation. He is a fighter, a strong protagonist of the maintenance of white civilisation, yet not a supporter of our Government’s policy in its entirety. At the same time he is not an open or malicious critic of ours but a good friend.

A summary of what Mr. Gaunt had to say during the interview is attached.

Very briefly, his suggestion is that we make about £300,000 available through commercial interests in South Africa for the establishment of an English language paper here. This would be in opposition to the Argus press which is dedicated to the appeasement of “black nationalism” and aims at inducing whites to hand over control to a black majority as quickly as possible.

If £300,000 seems a great deal of money it should, he says, be borne in mind that it is barely the cost of a medium size commercial aircraft.

Mr. Gaunt does not feel that the proposed paper could dedicate itself to applying our racial policy in this country. The position here has already changed too much for that. But what it could do is ensure that the present constitution is rigorously adhered to. The Governments in Southern Rhodesia and the Federation should not be allowed to use the present constitution just as a temporary measure and as a means of sliding towards a still more liberal constitution.

Mr. Gaunt also feels that this paper would be able to further South Africa’s interests greatly by concentrating on favourable positive information. Such a paper if air mailed to South Africa each day could also serve a valuable purpose in our country and would assist the Government.

Mr. Gaunt would like to be made editor-in-chief so that he could give the correct slant to reports. He does not want to be responsible in any way for the financial side.

To me this idea of an independent paper has great appeal. Any opposition here is completely frustrated through having no paper. The Argus group is so powerful, moreover, that it could go far to breaking even the most established politician who does not follow its particular line – and I do not exclude Sir Roy Welensky.

Nearly two years ago Anglo-American and NST[? abbreviation unclear] withdrew their financial support of the United Federal Party. It looked then as if they were going to support Todd who was given a tremendous boost by the press because of his liberal line. Now the U.F.P. are following the liberal line themselves, Todd is in the background, Anglo-American and NST[?]have, I hear, restored their financial support of the U.F.P. and the Argus press are supporting the party. That the United Federal Party have been forced to toe the line by Argus press is no secret to us in South Africa.

The future say of the white man in the Government of this country does not look rosy. Banda has control in Nyasaland, Kaunda may, through British action, still attain a similar position in Northern Rhodesia. Southern Rhodesia’s new constitution could be merely the first step towards giving greater say to the black man here. The Federal constitution when revised must follow the pattern of the constitutions of the three constituent territories. That means infinitely greater say for the black man in the Federal Assembly. Such say will have to be very considerable indeed if Banda is to be induced to stay in the Federation.

Sir Roy and the United Kingdom are already at loggerheads over the talks on the Federal constitution. Sir Roy wanted them now. The United Kingdom wants postponement, no doubt with the object of further appeasement in Northern Rhodesia and conditioning of white feeling to a black majority government.

There is strong and bitter feeling in this country against the United Kingdom. Given an independent press it could be fanned to a point where the United Kingdom could be seriously embarrassed, and where Southern Rhodesia could still be saved, where it could break from the Federation and become independent. There are many influential men here would gladly grasp a weapon like an independent paper.

There are many seeds of discontent. This week we heard rumours of a serious division in the Federal Cabinet. The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, told me only a few days ago too that the financial picture here is far from rosy. The “expected” recovery after the Southern Rhodesia referendum has not materialized. The number of people who voted “yes” at that referendum and now feel they were duped and should have voted “no” is increasing. Properly exploited this discontent could have a marked influence when Southern Rhodesia goes to the polls in about a year’s time.

If the United Federal Party and the Argus press continue unchecked, it is merely a matter of time before our buffer zone north melts away. With an independent paper we could stave that day off and could even preserve the Southern Rhodesia[border? word obscured]with its 215,000 whites(2,630,000 blacks).

As Mr. Gaunt points out it is surely to our interest to have the main struggle for survival take place in Southern Rhodesia rather in South Africa.

A Canadian group is now negotiating for the purchase of African Newspapers here. One can imagine the kind of vitriol the Canadians would be capable of using against us.

The “Citizen”, Mr. Gaunt says, could be bought by us for a song. An immediate start could be made with a paper. Improvements could follow.

The Argus will try to kill any independent paper and financial losses must be expected. But would they not be worthwhile? We are fighting for our lives. They are fighting for a black majority government, for cheap labour and greater profits.

H.L.T. Taswell
High Commissioner

This letter perfectly illustrates how propaganda works, and it’s a history lesson on racism, and the lengths men will go to defend their right to it. Even though the Fouga Magister is a small fighter jet, the sentence about an independent paper being less expensive to purchase to defend their racial policy than “a medium size commercial aircraft” gave me a chill, because this written only 11 days after the crash. No wonder they hated Hammarskjold so much – what was the fragrance of life to the African was the stench of death to white rule.