Page 130 - Demo

130help them later that morning but during the night a thunderstorm on the mountain delayed the enemy%u2019s descent and the first exchanges occurred around the Jebel Ali soon after 0500 hours. Back at Salalah, as was standard procedure, two armed and fuelled Strikemasters were on standby to scramble. The two pilots on standby, Flt Lts Sean Creak and David Milne8Smith, had been alerted and were listening to developments in the SOAF (Tac) Operations Room. The small unit at Mirbat was under attack but communications were understandably patchy and the size of the enemy force was not yet known. The cloud base at Salalah was 200 to 300 ft and well below normal limits for take8off and therefore operations. However, as the situation developed, it became clear that operational judgment was required. The pilots had been briefed by the BATT that the Jebal Ali (a feature just to the north of the town) had been taken and it was probable that the enemy had installed a Russian 12c7 mm Shpagin machine gun on the summit overlooking the town. This would be a real threat. They had also been told that the contact UHF frequency was Blue SARBE9 (240.0 MHz). Creak led the pair of aircraft in a close formation take off. They The Dhofar Gendarmerie fort which was the focus of the action at Mirbat. There is a 25?pounder gun pit out of sight behind the fort; the enemy had a 12.7mm Shpagin heavy machine gun sited on the Jebel Ali %u2013 the dark hill to the right.