‘Friendly Fire’ Caught on Tape

Britain’s Sun newspaper has obtained a copy of a “top secret” tape that depicts the adolescent joy of two U.S. fighter pilots as they gunned down a British convoy, killing Lance Cpl. Matty Hull and injuring four others.

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A “top secret” cockpit tape held by the Oxfordshire Coroner is finally being made public by The Sun, a British publication. With the joyful reaction from two US pilots after successfully hitting their targets, you’d think they were rejoicing over scoring points in a video game rather than murdering human beings. However, their nonchalant demeanor is not what’s shocking Britain, but the fact that the victims of these pilots were allied British soldiers. The two reservist Americans had never been in action before and made errors which killed 25-year-old Lance Corporal Matty Hull and injured four of his comrades on March 28, 2003.

The first US pilot on the tape, referred to by POPOV36, gloats during the attack. He is encouraged by the second pilot, call sign POPOV35, who yells, “Get him, get him!” as the first shoots up the British convoy. Looking down at the mangled vehicles, one pilot sees a British soldier pulling his comrades from the wreckage. He comments, “It looks like he is hauling ass. Ha Ha.” After this, a second burst of fire is unleashed. Moments later, the pilots are told over the radio that their victims were British soldiers. More concerned with his own fate than that of the people he just shot, POPOV35 says, “We’re in jail dude”. POPOV36 weeps on the return to base: “G_d dammit. Fuck me dead.”

The British convoy was inside an area US pilots had been told not to shoot into. Their armored vehicles also had orange overhead canvas panels to identify coalition forces to aircraft, and were displaying thermal reflectors and British Flags. The two US pilots, who were being guided by Forward Air Controllers from the US Marine Corps, made 6 major errors.

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