In November 1977 The Rhodesian forces two major ZANLA military bases in Mozambique in Op Dingo. In two phases, this joint SAS/RLI operation; Zulu 1 was the attack on the Chimoio complex - killing in excess of 1,200 insurgents - and a few days later Zulu 2, being the attack on the Tembue complex - 220 km into Mozambique where in excess of 500 insurgents were killed. Audacious is not a strong enough word to describe these actions but perhaps to borrow from the SAS it was certainly a case of 'who dares wins'.

Extract from book...

Reflections on Operation Dingo
The RLI lost its innocence during Operation Dingo. The audacious plan, which a week before had drawn gasps of amazement, had been met with shaking of heads or total disbelief, had tested the regiment in a way it had never been tested before. The RL1 as a unit had emerged with much deserved credit, new-formed confidence and secure in the knowledge that it had a right to be described as ‘The Incredible RLI’.

For the first time, the regiment began to see the conflict’s wider picture: there was more to this war than the occasional Fire Force action; the numbers given by Special Branch in their ‘Threat’ briefings were not figments of imagination. The danger was now tangible. The RLI was in a toe-to-toe knockdown struggle that was a long way from being concluded.

Air power in Operation Dingo
The conduct of the Rhodesian Air Force in Operation Dingo was remarkable. This ambitious, audacious - some say outlandish - plan could never have been achieved without their planning, their professionalism, their devotion to duty, their passion to use every fibre of their being to employing their machines for their destined purpose and beyond.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, the Royal Rhodesian Air Force (RRAF) on Commonwealth deployments in Aden and Cyprus achieved aircraft availability that had Britain’s Royal Air Force shaking their heads in disbelief. The availability of aircraft on the flight line for Operation Dingo matched and exceeded these figures; the flawless execution of two back-to-back airborne assaults within three days of each other employing eight different aircraft types whilst leaving nothing in reserve was a remarkable demonstration of the Rhodesian Air Force’s fighting resolve.

Lt Mark Adams, 3Cdo, who took part in Zulu 1 – Chimoio, has commented on the technical expertise of the chopper techs as follows:

“In the opening minutes of the Chimoio attack one of the trooping G-Cars was damaged by ground fire requiring a tail rotor assembly to be replaced. In addition the command helicopter damaged by 12.7mm heavy machine-gun fire limped away with damage requiring a full rotor change. The chopper techs on the ground waited for a full set of rotors and a tail rotor assembly to be flown in from Grand Reef airfield to repair the damaged choppers in the field. This they achieved while working in the bush and both choppers were repaired and able to fly back to Grand Reef that night.

“The day between the Chimoio and Tembue raids required extensive repair and maintenance work on the 31 choppers as every one of the ten K-Cars had sustained hits during the day. Bearing in mind that troops had stayed overnight at Chimoio to mop up any gooks who had drifted back into the area, they also had to be withdrawn the next morning by chopper.

“During the Tembue attack, 220km into Mozambique, the Forward Admin Base was only six kilometres from the camp itself. One K-Car had taken a strike to its engine and needed a replacement. The replacement engine was flown in to the admin base where the chopper techs changed the engine in the bush using empty fuel drums as their workbench. The repaired K-Car was able to fly out by the end of the day.

“Maybe we need to pause for a moment and remember the skill that these ‘chopper techs’ displayed both with machine-guns and 20mm cannons and technically. The Rhodesian Air Force ‘chopper techs’ were definitely the unsung heroes of the bush war.”

No country - no army - no regiment was ever served and supported by a more devoted Air Force who gladly risked life and machine in support of their troops on the ground. To a man, the RLI would have died for the men in Blue, whom they loved, honoured and revered.
Footnote: of course at the time the left wing propaganda was that Op Dingo was launched against refugee camps. Over the past 30 years this pretense has been dropped by all but a small group die-hard 'useful idiots' in North American and Europe who continue to perpetuate the lie.