Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 14, 2014

A British Army helicopter was destroyed in a friendly fire incident during the Falklands War, killing its four occupants. In the early hours of 6 June 1982, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cardiff was looking for aircraft supplying the Argentine forces on the Falkland Islands. An Army Air Corps Gazelle helicopter (example pictured) was making a routine delivery to British troops on East Falkland. Cardiff's crew assumed it was hostile, given its speed and course, and fired two missiles, destroying it. When the wreckage was found, the loss was attributed to enemy fire. Although Cardiff was suspected, scientific tests on the wreckage were inconclusive. No formal inquiry was held until four years later. Defending their claim that the helicopter had been lost in action, the UK Ministry of Defence stated that they had not wanted to upset relatives while they were still trying to ascertain how the Gazelle had been shot down. The board of inquiry did not blame any individuals but identified factors including a lack of communication between the army and the navy and the army's decision to turn off helicopters' identification friend or foe transmitters. (Full article...)

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