Copter Pilots Listed as Killed in Action
WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps said Friday that two Marine helicopter pilots missing since the U.S.-Iranian naval battle in the Persian Gulf April 18 have been declared “killed as a result of hostile action, sustained in combat or relating thereto,” and it gave the first indication that the copter had become a target, saying that it had been picked up by hostile radar.
A Marine fact-finding board refused to concede that the AH-1T Cobra gunship flown by Capt. Stephen C. Leslie 30, of New Bern, N.C., and Capt. Kenneth W. Hill, 33, of Thomasville, N.C., had been shot down by Iran. But a Marine statement said: “While being vectored (directed) to identify an unknown surface contact, Capts. Hill and Leslie reported a fire-control-radar lock-on” before contact was lost.
The term “surface contact” is normally used to refer to a radar signal indicating the presence of a boat. A fire-control radar is used to track targets for a gun or missile.
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