Operation Poomalai

By June 1987 the separatist struggle in Sri Lanka was taking on the characteristics of a greater conflict. Armed groups of youth in the north were fighting large-scale engagements with the country’s military. In an effort to encircle and destroy the rebels, the armed forces launched ‘Operation Liberation’ in May of that year.

The small Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), which had lost its only jet squadron due to budget constraints in the 1970s (see MiGs over Ceylon), was largely transport-orientated, with a fleet of helicopters and aging Hawker Siddeley (Avro) 748s. A single squadron of turboprop…