'Friendly fire' killed RAF pilot

An RAF pilot from Burntwood was killed in a "friendly fire" incident when a US unit defending a Kuwaiti air base mistook his plane for a missile.

The Americans heard seconds too late that they had made the mistake, an inquest heard today.

Flt Lt Kevin Main, aged 35, and his navigator Flt Lt David Williams, 37, died when their Tornado GR4 was picked out by the surface-to-air missile 16 nautical miles north west of the Ali-Al Salem airbase in Kuwait in March 2003.

The inquest heard that a tactical control officer gave the order to fire because radar had wrongly identified it as an anti-radiation missile.

The pilots were returning from a successful mission attacking south-west Baghdad as part of the aerial bombardment by coalition forces.

Today the officer who authorised the shooting, whose name was not given in court, told the Oxford inquest: "I can look back and say that I might have maybe waited longer, maybe I could have done differently.

"I have made the decision I have made and I have to live with that."

Earlier, Wing Comm Derek Watson who was in charge of flight operations at the Gulf airbase had told hearing how the coalition airbase was protected by missile batteries which safeguarded it from enemy attacks.

An Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system interrogated aircraft as they came close to the base to establish whether they were coalition jets or enemy aircraft.

However, Wing Commander Watson said the main threat to the airbase was from land-based rocket attacks and not from the sky.

He told the inquest: "The only potential threats were people on the ground with rockets." The inquest continues.

By Victoria Hoe