Aero Club Air Power

Using aircraft that would normally be found on an aero-club's flightline, the Tamil Tiger Air Force has thus far eluded the Sri Lankan Air Force's fighters, radar, helicopter gunships and the army's triple A ack-ack defences. Flying at night into Colombo and its infrastructure environs sight unseen, the Zlin 143 light bombers have caused death, destruction and terror completely out of proportion to the force's diminutive size (imagery tinyurl.com/2lgdfy). Sporting no more than five Zlin 143's armed with either 4 x 100lb bombs or light machine guns jury-rigged to light series carriers mounted between the mainplanes, the Flying Tiger's pilots have reprised the role of 1914 World War 1 rag and stick fighter-planes. Airlines have been canceling flights, the capital has been blacked out during air raids and false alarms - and tourist numbers are now down by 36 percent. Officials in Colombo announced on 04 May that the country's only international airport would be closed to night flights as a precaution against further bombing raids. Analysts are suggesting that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are now exploiting the force's successful use of air-power as a fillip to morale and an aid to recruitment. Unsophisticated air power would seem to be an economical means of disrupting the Sinhalese majority government's economy.  Related Story