Friendly Fire or Russian Roulette?
8 Indep. Recce. Flt. Serengeti 63-'64
I was refuelling one of our Alouettes after an early morning sortie looking for poachers, and noticed a white splodge on the underside of one of the blades, thinking that bird droppings were usually on the top of the blades I went over to find that it was daylight I could see! There was a nice neat hole just aft of the main spar and the angle of entry and exit left no doubt where the shot had originated!
It turned out that the game warden in the back had loosed off at a gang of poachers they had come across,not realising he was firing through the rotor disc when they were banking around them. I've often speculated on the odds involved, and how lucky they were!