Venter - Gunship Ace The Wars of Neall Ellis, Helicopter Pilot and Mercenary

Published in the United States of America and Great Britain in 2011 by

CASEMATE PUBLISHERS

908 Darby Road, Havertown, PA 19083

and

17 Cheap Street, Newbury RG14 5DD

Copyright 2011 Al J. Venter

ISBN 978-1-61200-070-1

Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-082-4

Cataloging-in-publication data is available from the Library of Congress

and the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

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Printed and bound in the United States of America.

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BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR INCLUDE:

Report on Portugals War in Guin-Bissau

Underwater Africa

Under the Indian Ocean

Africa at War

The Zambezi Salient

Underwater Seychelles

Coloured: A Profile of Two Million South Africans

Africa Today

South African Handbook for Divers

Challenge: South Africa in the African Revolutionary Context

Underwater Mauritius

Where to Dive: In Southern Africa and off the Indian Ocean Islands

War in Angola

The Chopper Boys: Helicopter Warfare in Africa

The Iraqi War Debrief: Why Saddam Hussein Was Toppled

Irans Nuclear Option: Tehrans Quest for the Atom Bomb

War Dog: Fighting Other Peoples Wars

Allahs Bomb: The Islamic Quest for Nuclear Weapons

Cops: Cheating Death: How One Man Saved the Lives of 3,000 Americans

How South Africa Built Six Atom Bombs

Dive South Africa

Barrel of a Gun: A War Correspondents Misspent Moments in Combat

War Stories by Al Venter and Friends

To my lovely Caroline

AUTHORS NOTE

G unship Ace is a book about a combat helicopter pilot who is not only an outstanding pilot but also a very good friend. I have been on operations with him in Angola and while he fought to turn around the rebels in Sierra Leone. In both ventures he was successful, so much so that in a personal letter to me in 2010, General Sir David Richards, then Chief of the General Staffand today Chief of the Defence Staff in Great Britain told me: He is a great man; I and everyone in Sierra Leone owe him much.

This is the first time in recent history that the serving head of a Western defence establishment has paid tribute to the role of a mercenary pilot in wartime.

Neall Ellis and I have been friends for a very long time. Indeed, I watched his four children grow up and he observed some of the disturbing antics of mine. In-between we sank a few ales, swopped a few yarns and travelled many different roads together. Writing about old buddies is never easy as you know them far too well to be complimentary about all they do. In a sense, as the saying goes, no general is a hero to his batman.

Nellis is different and, to me, a true hero. An efficient combatant when the occasion demands, had he not beaten the rebels back from the gates of Freetownboth times flying alone in an antiquated Mi-24 and at night our governments representatives would today be sharing space with some of Foday Sankohs barbarians at the United Nations and other world bodies. In Afghanistan, for almost three years he has been flying support missions in Russian Mi-8 helicopters across some of the harshest and most demanding mountain terrain on the planet. This is dangerous work; while preparing this book for the printers in September 2011, these choppers twice came under RPG-7 attack while attempting to land. Nellis wasnt flying at the time, but he was immediately tasked to try to find solutions to what appear to be an insoluble range of problems.

Neall Ellis has led an extraordinarily adventurous life through a dozen wars and more scrapes than he cares to remember. His career has been going on for more than 40 years and in this time he has never been seriously wounded, just scratched a few times.

One aspect of this book that concerned me from the start was that having had War Dog published by Casemate in the United States in 2006 much of that action also involving Nellisthere was bound to be a bit of overlap. Most of it has been avoided, but I have once more had to bring to the fore one event that is seminal to the conflict in Sierra Leone. That was the ambush on the road out of Makeni of a convoy of vehicles rushing to meet a turncoat Nigerian general who hoped to do a deal with the rebels. Using all the subterfuge he could muster, Neall Ellis rocketed and machine gunned the column, killing or wounding many rebel commanders. In effect, it was the beginning of the end for Sankohs Revolutionary United Front as they never recovered from the setback.

Others have helped put this work together and here I must pay tribute to journalist and author James Mitchell, who gave me much of what appears in the two chapters dealing with Nealls time in Sarawak and while he served with a firefighting unit in South Africa. Like Nellis, James and I go way back: he even joined me on a lengthy sojourn across North America in a Hurricane motor home while I was working on the book on Richard David, the man who invented concealable body armour (and who has subsequently saved the lives of more than 3,000 law enforcement officers).

Anita Baker edited this book and because of a plethora of detail, it became an enormous challenge for her to make sense of what was sometimes a jumble of facts, stats and figures. It took an inordinate amount of time and effort, but you can judge for yourself whether or not she succeeded. Thank you Anitaand heres to our next title together.

Libby Braden was the force behind finally bringing this book to fruition, and what a marvellous job she has done. It hasnt been easy because of the enormous volume of material, and trying to fit all of it into what was already a very substantial work.

I also have a special word of thanks for Steven Smith, editor-in-chief of Casemate and another old friend. He is the man who originally decided whether or not Casemate should take on this difficult work. He apparently didnt hesitate, nor did David and Sarah Farnsworth, who own and run the company in Philadelphia.

A final word for my lovely Caroline, the woman who keeps my life, and my love, on track. You have been tolerant, affectionate and understanding during some extremely difficult times darling soul and, indeed, I am a very lucky man.

Al J. Venter

Downe

November, 2011

PROLOGUE

Mike Foster, Neall Ellis co-pilot, penned the following observations while flying alongside him after take-off from Kabul in summer 2011. The helicopter, a Russian-built Hip registered ZS-RIX, was on its way to Khowst Salerno, a remote military outpost that routinely comes under attack.

Hes a tough bugger, this Nellis guy, still flying helicopter support missions in his 61st year and there is no talk of retirement. Thats roughly 40 years of action in a dozen or more wars, and he has never been wounded. He says he cant stop now because hes got to put bread on the table too many people depend on him.