In the period before Michael Mc Manus left the IRA in September 1983 to form the Continuity IRA,he imparted to myself the use of machine guns to bring down British Army helicopters.
This tactic involved positioning two machine guns on high ground several hundred yards apart and firing at helicopters as they tried to escape rapid-fire,belt-fed machine guns.
This tactic was used in South Armagh in 1978 and brought down a British Army helicopter.
The tactic,best summed up as a curtain of fire,I revived in August 1988.
The instruction was passed on to GHQ.
Reports vary about the success of the tactic subsequently but one report indicates that six or seven helicopters were brought down by the IRA in the whole course of the Troubles.
I only recently became aware of the downing of a helicopter at Garrison,County Fermanagh.
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