Before a Shackleton bombing attack on the Jebel Akhdar in Muscat in 1959, one of our Pembrokes was sent to warn the locals. Unfortunately it was hit by .5" machine gun fire, which smashed up the tape recorder and punctured an engine oil tank. The Pembroke, which was being flown by a Polish born Master Pilot, made a forced landing below the mountain at Firq. The Jebel Akhdar was then stormed successfully by the SAS. I heard from the local people living on the mountain in 1959 that great care had been taken to eliminate Arab casualties and nobody had died. Obviously the RAF still went to extraordinary lengths to avoid unnecessary casualties. Only death in the conflict was an 8 Sqn Venom pilot who crashed in to the mountain during an attack.