1.
SV Wreckage of aircraft
0.05

2.
SV pan wreckage (2 shots)
0.30

3.
LB wreckage guarded by guerrillas
0.35

4.
SV armed guerrilla looks at wreckage.
0.38

5.
CU Marking 9n on aircraft debris.
0.40

6.
SV wreckage.
0.46

7.
GV Guerrillas around wreckage.




Initials JK/1450 JK/1516



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: On the 9th July a unit of the People's Liberation Army of the Dhofar Region of Oman shot down and aircraft, being flown by a British pilot. A cameraman from The People's Democratic Public of Yemen, after a two-week walk, reached the scene of the crash and sent back these pictures.

According to a statement put out by the Ministry of Defence in London, the plane was a Strikemaster combat plane, but the guerrillas claimed it was a Hawker Hunter.

British pilots are at present seconded to the airforce of the Sultan of Oman, who is currently engaged in a sporadic war with forces of The People's Liberation Army, seeking the overthrow of the Sultan's regime. In addition to the seconded pilots both the British airforce and the army have forces stationed in Oman, but purely, they claim, in a non-combat role.

The guerrillas however, claim that the British air force pilots have been flying missions against them. They claim that the pilot of the downed plane was called Michael Giffy, holding the rank of First Lieutenant. A spokesman for the Defence Ministry in London said that no such rank existed in the British Air Force and that in fact the name of the pilot was Michael Drybanski aged 25 on secondment to the Sultan of Oman. The spokesman also claimed that this was the first airforce pilot to die in the fighting in Oman.