Originally Posted by
BEagle
JN, I've read differing accounts of the loss of Nigel Elsdon and Max Collier in ZA392. Some accounts say that they were hit by a SAM after their successful attack, others that it was CFIT. Was the true cause ever established?
13 years earlier Max had been the Nav Plotter on our 35 Sqn Vulcan crew. I spoke once to him over the 'Jellyphone' from KKIA and exchanged rude gestures (as you do) during one of the work-up sortied pre-war.
RIP
Nigel & Max's crash site was one of the ones NOT accessed after the war. A few were - Including mine, Waddo's & Budgie's (picture of Waddo's crater & wreckage in TORNADO). So there was no definitive answer to their crash. Waddo & Robbie provide eye-witness accounts of that night in the book. And I had access to a couple of CVR audio tapes from the formation to help construct the story.
Put simply, no one knows for sure what happened to Nigel & Max - it could have been CFIT or being hit by flak or a missile. It was a very sad and tense few days for the Tornado force!