‘Unfriendly’ US pilot hits British tank crews

THREE wounded British soldiers have described how they survived an attack by a US A-10 Thunderbolt anti-tank aircraft that killed one of their troop and destroyed two armoured vehicles.

One survivor criticised the US pilot for showing “no regard for human life” and accused him of being “a cowboy” who had “gone out on a jolly”. The US A-10 aircraft circled and came around for a second attack.

Another survivor said he stumbled out of the burning wreckage of his light tank and waved frantically to the American pilot to try to halt his second attack.

The so-called friendly fire incident, 40 kilometres (24.8 miles) north of Basra, left one soldier missing, presumed dead, and another in intensive care on RFA Argus, the British forces’ hospital ship in the Gulf.

Another soldier who had been in one of the two destroyed Scimitar light reconnaissance tanks, manned by the Household Cavalry, escaped without injury.

Nursing shrapnel wounds and burns, the three injured soldiers, Lieutenant Alex MacEwen, aged 25, Lance Corporal of Horse Steven Gerrard, aged 33, and Trooper Chris Finney, aged 18, spoke of their bewilderment and anger. They said the US pilot apparently failed to recognise that their tanks were a British make, with special coalition identification aids and even a large British flag on another machine in the five-vehicle convoy.

Lance Corporal Gerrard said: “All this kit has been provided by the Americans. They’ve said if you put this kit on you won’t get shot.

“We can identify a friendly vehicle from 1,500 metres [4,921 ft]. You’ve got an A-10 with advanced technology and he can’t use a thermal sight to identify whether a tank is a friend or foe. It’s ridiculous.

“Combat is what I’ve been trained for. I can command my vehicle. I can keep it from being attacked. What I have not been trained to do is look over my shoulder to see whether an American is shooting at me.”

The two Scimitars, followed by two armoured engineers’ vehicles and another Scimitar light tank, set out on a “recce” of a road north-west of Ad Dayr, north of Basra, on Friday.

After coming under fire from Iraqi artillery, they were instructed to investigate a shanty town. Troop leader Lieutenant MacEwen with special plastic bags tied around his hands to treat his burns, described how the convoy tensed as villagers waving white flags approached from behind a large bank on the marshland by the Shatt al-Arab river.

“You could see the white flags above the bank but you didn’t know whether they had any intention of surrendering or ambushing us,” he said.

Lance Corporal Gerrard said he suddenly heard the distinctive, relentless roar of an A-10’s anti-tank gunfire.

“I will never forget that noise as long as I live. It is a noise I never want to hear again,” he said.

“There was no gap between the bullets. I heard it and I froze. The next thing I knew the turret was erupting with white light everywhere, heat and smoke.

“I felt I was going to burn to death. I just shouted ‘reverse, reverse, reverse’.

“My gunner was screaming ‘get out, get out’. How I got out of that hole I don’t know. Then I saw the A-10 coming again and I just ran.”

Lance Corporal Gerrard also criticised the pilot for shooting when there were civilians so close to the tanks.