Initially I declined to lie on the stretcher but the sharp fragments in my legs made walking so painful that I was forced to accept the lift to an Army medical tent. Having the bits and pieces removed without any anaesthetic by a very young TF medic was an unpleasant experience made easier by slugging neat whisky. I was very sore, stiff and covered in bloody dressings when Flamo Flemming, and I think Jungle Forrester, came to me in the medical tent with a request. “Boss PB, please come with us to your Trojan. We want you to explain something to us.” With the foreign bodies removed and being somewhat anaesthetised by whisky I was able to limp along with them.
Using long ‘spear grass’ that grew along the airfield fence line, these two technicians had lined up all the bullet entry and exit holes. There were 123 strikes of which four were from heavy-calibre rounds that had failed to explode (guns too close to target), yet not one had struck the fuel tanks or any other vital part. This in itself was a miracle but Flamo wanted me to explain why I was not dead considering one bullet’s path appeared to have gone through my left flank.
One length of spear grass ran from the port side of rear cabin through the backrest of my seat and into the instrument panel. Not bothering to prove to myself that the bullet line was correct I foolishly choked up and simply pointed heavenward. When I regained composure I was able to tell of my terror over Chifombo and how God’s powerful presence had overwhelmed me.
This incident persuaded me to turn back to Christianity. I had abandoned the Anglicans at age twenty, swearing never to return to a church that laid emphasis on the pomp and ceremony I had experienced as an altar server. Now, some eighteen years later, I decided to find a church that practised biblical Christianity. This led Beryl and me to the Methodists in Waterfalls, simply because Beryl preferred we go to the pastor she had watched on TV. He was Reverend Gary Strong who, in his youth, had been a rough and tough ‘Main Street Cowboy’ biker.
New offensive trials
OUR ASSOCIATION WITH THE SOUTH African Air Force strengthened over time and much of the increased helicopter effort in 1974 had come from the SAAF in the form of machines and aircrews. This was as much for SAAF’s benefit to gain ‘on the job’ experience as it was for Rhodesia. It was for this reason too that Captain Kapp was sent to fly recce with me to assess the value of sending other pilots at a future date. Captain Kapp must have turned in a good report because SAAF sent four young pilots for recce training in 1975.
Whilst I was instructing Captain Kapp, Chris Weinmann and Brian Murdoch continued to find CT camps inside the country and had initiated air and ground operations on them; but not once were terrorists in residence, all camps having been freshly vacated. The CTs had obviously become wise to the fact that the Trojans they saw flying in their area of operations were the same ones that brought trouble to their camps. This forced us to rethink tactics.
I decided to try flying offensive low-level battle formations with four armed Provosts to see if we could catch CT groups in the open. By setting propeller speed to 2200 rpm, the Provost was very quiet and sufficient boost could be employed to ensure adequate flying speed for the undulating terrain in northeast Rhodesia. Flying this configuration, it was possible to come to within less than 500 metres of people on the ground before they heard the aircraft.
Our flights were flown along random routes since we had no way of knowing where terrorists might be. Numerous bases discovered during recce were over-flown too, yet none of these flights produced any result. On one particular sortie I picked up a man on the horizon carrying what appeared to be a weapon over his shoulder. He was so close that it was too late to select guns and the man was not yet aware of my presence, so I manoeuvred to kill him with the left undercarriage. At the last moment he heard me, and as he turned, I realised that his ‘weapon’ was a simple
Beginning of Black Month
BACK IN MOZAMBIQUE AGAIN, I picked up two new bases and returned to New Sarum to give briefings for two jet-strikes. It was decided to use a Vampire in which Hugh Slatter and I would mark one base at 1100B for the usual four Hunters and two Canberras. After that strike, I was to fly a Trojan from New Sarum directly to the second base for a routine FAC controlled strike at 1500B.
This time Hugh let me handle the Vampire until the attack dive was established and then took control to fire four 60-pound rockets. I had no orientation problems this time and Hugh placed the rockets exactly where they were needed. The rest of the aircraft struck as planned.
Following a short debrief back at New Sarum, I took off in my Trojan and headed for the SAS Tac HQ at Macombe then continued on for thirty kilometres northward to commence the southward orbits that would place me over the target. This base lay twelve kilometres north of the Zambezi River. I had just located a brand-new base in hills to the north of the target we were about to attack when the Hunters checked in. I put this base aside for the moment and continued towards the assigned target.
This particular attack marked the beginning of what became known to Air Force as ‘Black Month’. Flight Lieutenant Don Donaldson constructed this Canberra Air Strike Report:
PLANNING. This sortie was planned as an FAC directed Hunter/ Canberra air strike on a terrorist base in Mozambique (TT 856799). Marking was carried out by Sqn Ldr Petter-Bowyer (A4) in Trojan using white smoke SNEB. The main strike component to be four Hunters (Red Section) leading two Canberras (Green Section).
BRIEFING. Main target briefing was given by Sqn Ldr Petter-Bowyer at New Sarum at 0800 on Thursday 4th April. OC 1 Sqn and both Canberra crews attended the briefing. Photography (OP JUNCTION) supplied by JSPIS. A combined attack pattern using SOPs was agreed between RED and GREEN Sections.
TACTICS. RED to operate out of Thornhill using 18lb RP and 30mm front gun. GREEN to operate from New Sarum using 96 x 28lb FRAGMENTATION. Sections to meet at IP Delta (UT 115619). Bombing height 1200 ft AGL. Control on Channel 3. After mark the Hunters to put in RP attacks on central area, the Canberras following with minimum time delay on single run releasing full weapon load. Hunters to re-attack after Canberras clear.
SORTIE. GREEN Section airborne at 1420 aiming for IP 1452. Contact made with IAK and IZP on route. Red and GREEN joined as planned at the IP and RED leader made contact with marker aircraft A4 who began positioning for his attack. The combined formation with Canberras on the starboard of the Hunters left IP at 1456. A4 marked on time and called “on target”. I positioned Green Section for a final attack heading of 240 deg. M turning left as the Hunters pulled up into Perch position. GREEN 2 was briefed to be about 1000 yds behind me. The bomb run was normal and the target identified by white marker smoke and Hunter RP strikes. Bombs were seen to leave and the strike detonations heard clearly. I continued straight ahead as planned. A4 then called to say that GREEN 2 had exploded over the target. This was confirmed by RED LEADER. No parachutes were seen and it was obvious that both crewmen had died in the initial explosion which was reported to have been a large fireball. I searched the area after the Hunters had completed their re-attack. Several areas of burning wreckage were visible. YELLOW section then began trooping into the area and I returned to base after establishing that there were no survivors. REMARKS. The SOP HUNTERS/CANBERRAS worked well and with a minimum of fuss. Briefing was adequate but although we had the benefit of a very full description of the target by A4, I am certain we could not
