1958 Air Attack
On 17 May 1958 Aurochs was patrolling the Molucca Sea off Indonesia when an unidentified aircraft machine-gunned her. The aircraft remained at high altitude and Aurochs sustained no casualties or damage. President Sukarno's Indonesian government told the UK's Conservative Government that its armed forces had not made the attack. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office stated that it accepted the assurance and assumed that North Celebes rebels had carried out the attack.
It is true that Permesta rebels in North Sulawesi were supported by a "Revolutionary Air Force", AUREV (Angkatan Udara Revolusioner). However, all AUREV aircraft, munitions and pilots were supplied by the Nationalist Chinese air force or the CIA. Two CIA pilots, William H Beale, Jr and Allen Pope, had been using Douglas B-26 Invader aircraft to attack Indonesian and foreign targets in the area since April 1958. By 17 May Beale had quit the operation, but Pope continued to fly sorties until the day after Aurochs was attacked, 18 May, when he tried to attack an Indonesian Navy convoy but was shot down and captured.
Read more about this topic: HMS Aurochs (P426)
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