Page 129 - Demo

129UN. Not so after the far more devastating Hawf strike. The silence of Radio Aden on the subject was remarkable and one must hope that their government was suitably disenchanted with the mad dog rebels who had taken control of their 6th Governate.%u2019 6ffi%u0015%0(%u0016%u0006 Much has been written about the battle of Mirbat which took place on 19 July 1972. Furthermore, one of the Mirbat Strikemaster pilots, Flt Lt Sean Creak (a contracted pilot), was interviewed for a TV programme some years ago and UK Channel Five broadcast a programme in October 2008 entitled %u2018SAS Heroes %u2013 Last Stand in Oman%u2019 which covered the battle from the perspective of the SAS.7However, little else has been published on the battle from the Strikemaster pilots%u2019 perspective. After a series of setbacks, the enemy decided to launch a major dramatic attack against government forces. They chose the coastal town of Mirbat some 40 miles east of Salalah airfield. The town was defended by nine members of B Sqn, 22 SAS Regiment led by Capt Mike Kealy, the local firqat and about twenty8five Dhofar Gendarmerie soldiers.8 The SAS in Oman were known as the British Army Training Team (BATT). Between 200 and 250 enemy gathered in the hills to the north of the town with the aim of isolating and encircling it for a few hours, killing local town and tribal leaders and departing back into the hills. They originally planned to attack in the dark at 0300 hours under cover of the khareef (low cloud and fog). The adverse weather was to A Strikemaster releasing a single SURA rocket.