1978 British Army Gazelle downing

On 17 February 1978, a British Army Gazelle helicopter, serial number XX404, went down near Jonesborough, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, after being fired at by a Provisional IRA unit from the South Armagh Brigade. The IRA unit was involved at the time in a gun battle with a Green Jackets observation post deployed in the area, and the helicopter was sent in to support the ground troops. The helicopter crashed after the pilot lost control of the aircraft whilst evading ground fire.

1978 British Army Gazelle downing
Part of the Troubles and Operation Banner

A British Army Gazelle helicopter
Date17 February 1978
Location
Jonesborough, southern County Armagh
54°5′10.15″N 6°21′59.12″W
Result IRA victory
Belligerents
Provisional IRA  United Kingdom
• British Army
Commanders and leaders
unknown  † Lieutenant Colonel
Ian Douglas Corden-Lloyd
MC OBE
Strength
1 active service unit 1 Army section
2 helicopters
Casualties and losses
unknown 1 killed
2 wounded
1 helicopter lost
Location within Northern Ireland

Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Douglas Corden-Lloyd, 2nd Battalion Green Jackets commanding officer, died in the crash. The incident was overshadowed in the press by the La Mon restaurant bombing, which took place just hours later near Belfast.

Background

By early 1978, the British Army forces involved in Operation Banner had recently replaced their ageing Bell H-13 Sioux helicopters for the more versatile Aérospatiale Gazelles. The introduction of the new machines increased the area covered on a reconnaissance sortie as well as the improved time spent in airborne missions.[1] In the same period, the Provisional IRA received its first consignment of M60 machine guns from the Middle East, which were displayed by masked volunteers during a Bloody Sunday commemoration in Derry.[2][3] Airborne operations were crucial for the British presence along the border, especially in south County Armagh, where the level of IRA activity meant that every supply and soldier had to be ferried in and out of their bases by helicopter since 1975.[4]

The Royal Green Jackets had been in South Armagh since December 1977, and had already seen some action.[5] Just a few days after arrival, two mortar rounds hit the C Company base at Forkhill, injuring a number of soldiers. In the aftermath of the attack, two Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were wounded by a booby-trap while recovering the lorry where the mortar tubes were mounted.[6] Two days later,[6] a patrol near the border suffered a bomb and gun attack, leaving the commanding sergeant with severe head wounds.[5] The sergeant was picked up from the scene by helicopter.[6] He was later invalided from the British Army as a result of his injuries.[5]

Shooting and crash

On 17 January 1978, a Green Jackets observation post deployed around the village of Jonesborough began to take heavy fire from the "March Wall", which drew parallel with the Irish border to the east, along the Dromad woods. The soldiers returned fire, but the short distance to the border and the open ground prevented them from advancing.[7]

The Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Corden-Lloyd, along with Captain Philip Schofield and Sergeant Ives flew from the battalion base at Bessbrook Mill to assess the situation and provide information to the troops. They were escorted by a Scout helicopter with an Airborne Reaction Force (ARF), comprising a medic and three soldiers from the 2nd Bn Light Infantry.[8] While hovering over the scene of the engagement, the Gazelle received a barrage of 7.62 mm tracer rounds.[8] The pilot lost control of the aircraft during a turn at high speed to avoid the stream of fire. The Gazelle (serial number XX404) hit a wall and crashed on a field,[9] some 2 km from Jonesborough.[7] According to the crew and passangers of the Scout, the Gazelle hit the ground twice after losing power, with its rotor blades trashing into the soil following the second impact, and then cartwheeled across the field. The Scout landed the ARF still under IRA fire. The soldiers rushed to the wrecked helicopter, some 100 metres away from the site of the initial crash.[8]

Corden-Lloyd was killed[10] and the other two passengers were wounded. The machine came to rest on its right side. The pilot remained trapped inside the wreckage, but he survived thanks to his helmet.[9] The IRA later claimed they had shot at the helicopter with an M60 machine gun.[11][12] The IRA unit vanished into the Dromad woods to the Republic of Ireland.[7] Some Gardaí witnessed the attack from the other side of the border.[11]

Aftermath

The gun battle and Gazelle shootdown was displaced from the headlines by the deaths of twelve civilians in the La Mon restaurant bombing on the same day, some of whom were burned to death.[13] Initially the British Army downplayed the IRA's claim as published by An Phoblacht,[13] that the helicopter was shot down, on the basis that no hits were found on the wreckage, but finally they acknowledged that the IRA action had caused the crash.[10]

The death of Corden-Lloyd, a former Special Air Service officer,[14] was deeply regretted by the British Army, who regarded him as promising.[15] He was awarded a posthumous mention in dispatches "in recognition of gallant and distinguished service in Northern Ireland".[16] In 1973, Irish republicans had accused Corden-Lloyd and his subordinates of brutality against Belfast Catholics during an earlier tour of the Green Jackets in 1971, at the time of Operation Demetrius.[17][18]

See also

Notes
  1. Gazelle – Thoroughbred racer Soldier's magazine, February 1978
  2. O'Ballance, Edgard (1981). Terror in Ireland: the heritage of hate. Presidio Press, p. 227. ISBN 0-89141-100-3
  3. Faligot, Roger (1983). Britain's military strategy in Ireland: the Kitson experiment. Zed Press, p.155. ISBN 0-86232-047-X
  4. "Since the mid-1970s virtually all military movement has been by helicopter to avoid casualties from landmines planted under the roads; even the rubbish from the security forces bases is taken away by air." Harnden, p. 19
  5. Dewar p. 154
  6. Barzilay, p. 177
  7. Barzilay, p. 180
  8. Taylor, Steven (30 June 2018). Air War Northern Ireland: Britain's Air Arms and the 'Bandit Country' of South Armagh, Operation Banner 1969–2007. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-5267-2155-6.
  9. UK Military Aircraft Losses – 1978
  10. "A Chronology of the Conflict, 1978". Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN). Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  11. "British Army to publish Gazelle crash findings." Flight International, 18 March 1978.
  12. Newsweek, Volume 91, Issues 1–9. Newsweek, 1978.
  13. Coogan, p. 292
  14. Murray, Raymond (1990). The SAS in Ireland. Mercier Press, p. 196; ISBN 0-85342-938-3
  15. Dewar, p. 156
  16. London Gazette
  17. McGuffin, John (1973). Internment. Anvil Books Ltd, Chapter 11
  18. Van Der Bijl, Nick (2009). Operation Banner: The British Army in Northern Ireland, 1969 to 2007. Pen & Sword Military, p. 82; ISBN 1-84415-956-6

References
  • Barzilay, David (1978). The British Army in Ulster, Volumen 3. Century Services Ltd. ISBN 0-903152-06-1
  • Coogan, Tim Pat (1994). The IRA: A History. Robert Rinehart Publishers, ISBN 1-879373-99-8
  • Dewar, Michael (1985). The British Army in Northern Ireland. Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 0-85368-716-1
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