The Tragedy at Kufra occurred in May 1942 during World War II, when 11 of 12 South African aircrew flying in three Bristol Blenheim Mark IV aircraft of No.

Only two men in the squadron – its commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel H. H. Borckenhagen and Captain J. L. V. de Wet – had experience in desert operations.

[1] The squadron was ordered to despatch a detachment of aircraft to the oasis at Kufra, deep in the Libyan Desert in southeastern Libya, where they were to support Allied ground forces garrisoning Kufra with aerial reconnaissance, air defence and support to the Long Range Desert Group operating behind German lines in southern Libya.

Each carrying a three-man crew, they arrived at Kufra on 28 April 1942, flying from Amariya via Wadi Halfa to avoid passing over enemy-held territory.

Back in Amariya, Lieutenant Colonel Borckenhagen, who had no direct communications with Kufra, asked Royal Air Force Headquarters in the region to pass orders to de Wet on his behalf to keep the detachment grounded until the direction-finding station was made fully operational.

[1] By 3 May 1942 the direction-finding station was back in working order and Major de Wet briefed his crews on their first familiarisation flight which he would lead early the following morning.

The flight was to be made at a true air speed of 150 mph (240 km/h) and was to familiarise crews with landmarks in the area and to gain experience with desert flying.

However, Allied personnel at Rebiana did not hear them fly past, suggesting that they already were off course by the time they thought they had completed the first leg of their flight.

At 07:27, Major de Wet's Blenheim, Z7513, requested a course for a return to Kufra, but its radio operator ceased broadcasting before the direction-finding station could determine its bearing; after taking a snap bearing, Kufra radioed 120-3=0527, meaning that the aircraft should "steer 120° (zero wind) third-class fix, time 05h27 GMT," but the aircraft appears only to have heard the numbers 3-0-5 and as a result believed the course to base was 305°.

After T2252's starboard engine began to malfunction around 09:00 hours, Major de Wet ordered the aircraft to land in the desert, which all three Blenheims did successfully at 09:15.

Ground search parties were organised at Rebiana, Bzema, and LG07 and various direction-finding stations monitored possible signals from the missing aircraft.

Evidence discovered when searchers found Z7513 four days later suggested that its crew had landed twice during this flight, but were unable to rejoin the other Blenheims due to lack of fuel.

[5] The inquiry also identified reasons for the early death of the stranded aviators, finding that they failed to appreciate their plight or to ration water immediately and that they made foolish use of compass alcohol, A/Mech van Breda having drunk it despite its poisonous qualities,[7] and fire extinguishers, which they had sprayed on themselves for temporary relief from the heat resulting in the infliction of painful skin injuries[1] and their ignorance of survival techniques.

In February 1959, a geological survey party rediscovered Z7513, and the bodies of its three crewmen were exhumed and reburied in Knightsbridge War Cemetery at Acroma, Libya.

By that time, the squadron had converted to Bristol Bisleys – the Mark V ground-attack variant of the Blenheim – so the detachment left Z7610 behind at Kufra to be repaired by a Royal Air Force Maintenance Unit (MU) and flown to Khartoum in the Sudan.