Ian Corden-Lloyd

Ian Douglas Corden-Lloyd , OBE MC (born May 27, 1938 in Durban , South Africa , † February 17, 1978 in County Armagh , Northern Ireland ) was an officer in the British Army . He died during the Northern Ireland Conflict in a helicopter crash after the machine came under fire from the IRA's handguns . The exact circumstances of his death were only published after 37 years.

Career

Ian Douglas Corden-Lloyd graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and retired to the 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles (10 GR) in 1958 . He later moved to the Royal Green Jackets Regiment of the Light Division and took part in a mission in Northern Ireland with its 1st Battalion in 1971/72 , where he was involved in Operation Demetrius , among other things . In February 1972 he was awarded the Military Cross with the rank of major .

In 1976 he took over as Lieutenant Colonel of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Green Jackets and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in December of the same year , before moving again to Northern Ireland. At the time of his death, he was married and had three children.

death

After a patrol of his regiment came under fire on February 17, 1978 at Jonesborough , County Armagh , Ian Douglas Corden-Lloyd started shortly after 5 p.m. in an Aérospatiale Gazelle from the garrison in Bessbrook to locate the attackers' positions. The pilot was Sergeant Brian Ives, and Captain Philip Schofield was also on board.

The helicopter reached the scene after about six minutes, whereupon the attackers stopped firing and retreated towards the Irish border. From there, the attackers opened fire with tracer ammunition on the helicopter, whereupon it crashed due to a pilot's error during an evasive maneuver and hit a field. Ian Douglas Corden-Lloyd was killed in this crash, Ives and Schofield survived with some serious injuries. The attackers continued to fire at the wreckage on the ground until another helicopter with reinforcements arrived.

The crash was the first loss of a British aircraft by enemy action during the Northern Ireland conflict. While the IRA announced that a helicopter had been shot down on the same day, the army denied any adverse influence and spoke of an accident. The investigation report was not published. Ian Douglas Corden-Lloyd was buried with military honors at Magdalene Hill Cemetery in Winchester . The Department of Defense's official report on the truth about the crash and death of Corden-Lloyd was only released in January 2015 after a request for the UK's Freedom of Information Act .

Web links

• Copter crash was due to IRA gunfire - report
• In Memory of Lieutenant colonel Ian Douglas Corden-Lloyd OBE MC