Air Malawi Viscount '7Q-YDL
DETA Boeing 737 'CR-BAA' On the apron at Salisbury, April 1971.

DETA was the regional airline of Mozambique with services between Salisbury to Beira and Lorenco Marques (now called Maputo) which were on the coast (Indian Ocean) of Mozambique. In the early 1970s Mozambique was a Portuguese colony which also had its own Terrorist War going on, in 1975/76 I think it was there was a revolution in Portugal itself, the military rulers were overthrown, Portuguese forces pulled out of both African colonies, Angola and Mozambique were left to their fate. Thirty odd years later Mozambique is slowly recovering, Angola is still in turmoil. Rhodesia relied on Mozambique for access to the coast to import oil and other vital supplies, the British Royal Navy blockaded the ports, Beira in particular, 'The Beira Patrol', Mozambique became the 'Enemy', the writing was on the wall for Rhodesia, with hindsight this was the time to have given up, it was left for South Africa to 'Pull the Plug' in 1979 for Rhodesia to face collapse, however, unlike today's 'Modern Zimbabwe', power was relinquished and the Mugabe Regime took over.