MILITARY commanders knew of plots to attack British aircraft in Iraq weeks before a Lynx helicopter was shot down, killing five service personnel, an inquest heard today.
However, they were unlikely to have changed their tactics and would have carried on the flights as normal, a coroner at Oxford's Old County Hall was told.
Flight Lieutenant Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill and Wing Commander John Coxen, based at RAF Benson, died instantly when the Lynx was hit by a missile as it flew over the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Lieutenant Commander Darren Chapman, Marine Paul Collins and Captain David Dobson were also killed in the crash on May 6 last year.
advertisementOn the third day of the inquest, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Leakey, Commander of Joint Helicopter Command in Iraq at the time, said: "We were in a risky environment.
"We knew we were under threat and we took measures that were likely to counter the most likely threats."
The hearing continues.
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