Green LeaderAirborne XT 912 Cruze and SST
347
Australia:
Wangaratta, Yarrawonga, Mount Beauty, Shepparton, Tocumwal, Narrandera, Holbrook, Albury, Mildura, Horsham, Bendigo, Various ALA's
South Africa:
Virginia, Pietermaritzburg, Richards Bay
Green Leader-- the story of why I chose my Call Sign
I wanted to share with everyone the story of a courageous raid in Zambia by Green Leader of the Rhodesian Air Force
Comments
Air Rhodesia Flight 825 was a scheduled passenger flight that was shot down by Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) insurgents on 3 September 1978, during the Rhodesian Bush War. The aircraft involved, a Vickers Viscount named the Hunyani, was flying the last leg of Air Rhodesia's regular scheduled service from Victoria Falls to the capital Salisbury, via the resort town of Kariba.
Soon after Flight 825 took off, a group of ZIPRA guerrillas scored a direct hit on its starboard wing with a Soviet-made Strela 2 surface-to-air infrared homing missile, critically damaging the aircraft and forcing an emergency landing. An attempted belly landing in a cotton field just west of Karoi was foiled by an unseen ditch, which caused the plane to cartwheel and break up. Of the 52 passengers and four crew, 38 died in this crash; the insurgents then approached the wreckage, rounded up the 10 survivors they could see and massacred them with automatic gunfire. Three passengers survived by hiding in the surrounding bush, while a further five lived because they had gone to look for water before the guerrillas arrived.
Revenge: Operation Gatling; the "Green Leader" raid
Rhodesia then attacked ZIPRA's bases in Zambia, in what Group Captain Peter Petter-Bowyer later described as "payback time" for Flight 825.[39] Operation Gatling, launched on 19 October 1978, was another joint-force operation between the Air Force and the Army, which contributed Special Air Service and Rhodesian Light Infantry paratroopers. Gatling's primary target, just 16 kilometres (10 miles) north-east of central Lusaka, was the formerly white-owned Westlands Farm, which had been transformed into ZIPRA's main headquarters and training base under the name "Freedom Camp". ZIPRA presumed that Rhodesia would never dare to attack a site so close to Lusaka. About 4,000 guerrillas underwent training at Freedom Camp, with senior ZIPRA staff also on site.[39] The Rhodesian operation's other targets were Chikumbi, 19 kilometres (12 miles) north of Lusaka, and Mkushi Camp; all three were to be attacked more or less simultaneously in a coordinated sweep across Zambia. Assaulting targets deep inside Zambia was a first for the Rhodesian forces; previously only guerrillas near the border had been attacked.
Z A M B I A
HERE is the full link to the story
Green Leader: (Link to transcript of Radio conversation)
"“Lusaka Tower, this is Green Leader. This is a message for the station commander at Mumba from the Rhodesian Air Force. We are attacking the terrorist base at Westlands farm at this time. This attack is against Rhodesian dissidents and not against Zambia. Rhodesia has no quarrel, repeat, no quarrel, with Zambia or her security forces. We therefore ask you not to intervene or oppose our attack. However, we are orbiting your airfield at this time and are under orders to shoot down any Zambian Air Force aircraft which does not comply with this request and attempts to take off. Did you copy all that? ...
Reply: Copied!
.... What should I call you? ...
Green Leader: You Can call me Green Leader!