have identified the target without the very good marking we had.
It will be helpful to clarify a few abbreviations in the sequence Don used them:
OP JUNCTION was the codename for the photographic coverage of Mozambique to upgrade poor-quality Portuguese mapping.
JSPIS—Joint Services Photographic Interpretation Services.
SOP—Standard Operating Procedures.
1AK and 1ZP as written, ONE ALPHA KILO and ONE
ZULU PAPA as spoken, were the callsigns of JOC Hurricane at Bindura and FAF 3 at Centenary.
YELLOW section was the callsign of helicopters based at the SAS Tac HQ, Macombe.
GREEN 2—Canberra flown by Air Sub-Lieutenant Keith Goddard with Air Sub-Lieutenant Bill Airey as navigator.
RED Leader was Rob Gaunt, leading Hunters flown by Don Northcroft, Danny Svoboda and Paddy Bate.
The 1 Squadron’s (unsigned) report, probably by Rob himself, followed by Wing Commander Tol Janeke’s remarks as OC Flying Wing Thornhill, are typically low-key.
1. The sortie to the IP was SOP. At IP ‘Delta’, Green Section was located and after join up, Red and Green Sections left the IP for the target area on a heading 313 deg M. The FAC aircraft Alpha 4, was sighted and target marking and identification was carried out.
2. The first aircraft on target were four Hunters firing 18-pound 3-inch RP’s, the second aircraft on target were two Canberras dropping frag bombs.
3. On the downwind leg of Red Section’s next attack, Red leader observed a large ball of fire falling towards the target area and was informed by Alpha 4 that it was the number two Canberra that had exploded in mid air. The scattered wreckage of the aircraft landed 500 yards to the north of the target.
4. The third and fourth attacks were carried out by four Hunters with 30mm. After the last attack Red Section joined up and on climbing away, Red lead gave an in-flight report to One Alpha Kilo giving details of the attack and the Canberra. Red Section recovered to Thornhill and the remaining Canberra to Salisbury.
This strike was well co-ordinated with No 5 Squadron and the FAC aircraft. The only incident that marred an otherwise good strike was the fatal Canberra accident.
Weather at Thornhill on recovery was poor with low cloud and intermittent drizzle. It was apparent on speaking to the crews after the sortie that the loss of the Canberra had had a marked effect on them. It is to the credit of the junior pilots on this flight that the recovery in bad weather was well handled.
My perspective of this airstrike was quite different considering I watched each aircraft as it attacked. Rob Gaunt’s rockets were exploding on target before my marker rockets were down. As usual I tensed up until I saw the Hunter pass under me. Once the fourth Hunter passed through target I looked up to watch Don Donaldson’s bombs appear out of the bomb bay at the very moment I expected to see them. The bombs ran the full 950-metre length of the target before I saw a number of men running in many directions within the base. I looked up for the second Canberra, hoping its bombs would reach target quickly.
Keith Goddard was too far behind and still turning onto his attack line. With my own motion this gave the impression that the Canberra was skidding sideways against the beautiful backdrop of bluish purple hills. When on line, the Canberra made a couple of sharp corrections in response to the bomb-aimer’s instructions. At the very moment I expected to see the bombs falling, there they were but, as they reached about one-fuselage depth below the aircraft, the graceful Canberra disappeared in an orange fireball of enormous dimension. I knew immediately that a bomb had detonated prematurely setting off the full bomb load. Moments later the loud bang and pressure wave came to me through the open window of my Trojan.
Rob Gaunt asked, “What the hell was that?” I told him Green 2 had exploded. Rob then asked if it had been Strela to which I answered, “I saw no trail. I think it was a premature detonation setting off the whole bloody frag load.”
In a fraction of a second the fireball had increased in size and changed to a mixture of deep-red flame billowing out of dense black smoke with a tongue of orange flame spewing out of its centre and curving downwards. This was the flaming forward section of the fuselage that tumbled slowly leaving a trail of white smoke and unburnt fuel along its long path to ground. Both engines passed the fuselage throwing up showers of soil and red dust as they impacted. By then the fireball had given way to dense black tumbling smoke from which sections of wings, tail and other wreckage left many trails of light grey and white smoke as they descended at varying velocities. Like falling leaves the wings and large bits of wreckage wafted down slowly.
By the time the last piece of wreckage reached ground the smoke ball had become brownish grey which reduced in density as the wind took it westwards past numerous columns of smoke rising from the sparsely-treed ground, some 500 metres to the north of the target.
Rob Gaunt had not missed a beat and ran the four Hunters through the target a second time as if nothing had happened. I was only vaguely aware of these strikes low on my left side because my attention was fixed on the awful drama I have described. When the Hunters cleared I switched over to the SAS radio frequency and moved over to the crash site where I noticed Don Donaldson’s Canberra orbiting above me.
The SAS on the ground at Macombe, just fifteen kilometres away, had heard the explosion clearly. Four helicopters were heading for the target, at last to check out air strike effectiveness. However they witnessed the disaster and headed directly for the Canberra’s nose section. In moments confirmation was given that both crewmen were dead and that their bodies were intact. Having heard this, I returned to the airstrike frequency and gave Don Donaldson the bad news.
Flight Lieutenant Al Bruce in the meanwhile was airborne out of Macombe and met me over the crash site preparatory to an attack on the small base I had located just before the jet strike. We made our strikes and were well clear of target when the SAS troops at the Canberra crash site reported hearing a large explosion from the position we had just struck.
I landed at Macombe to collect the bodies of the Canberra crew and flew them back to New Sarum. On arrival there, well after dark, I was feeling very depressed by events and for having to carry the bodies of two fine young men, whose deaths I had witnessed.
In spite of the fact that I was extremely tired and had not had anything to eat or drink all day, members of the Board of Inquiry into the Canberra incident insisted on taking my evidence right away. This was because they planned to fly to the crash site first thing next morning. By the time my statement had been recorded and answers given to many questions, I was too clapped-out to fly back to Centenary and stayed over at New Sarum.
Operation Marble
NEXT MORNING I WAS ABOUT to return to the operational area when called to the secrephone (telephone that scrambles and unscrambles voice conversation). Group Captain Dicky Bradshaw instructed me to return to Thornhill, as I was required to proceed on a top-secret mission next day, 6 April. His signal to Thornhill would fill me in on the details.
In his Flying Wing HQ office at Thornhill Wing Commander Tol Janeke handed me two signals to read whilst he and Rob Gaunt chatted. The first was an Operational Order for Operation Marble. It required a small team of recce pilots to position at the Portuguese Brigade HQ at Estima Air Base close to the hydroelectric construction site
