Gunship Ace: The Wars Of Neall Ellis, Gunship Pilot And Mercenary

by Al J. Venter

They also had quite a few wheeled, twin-barrelled 14.5mm KPVs, which is a most effective anti-aircraft weapon. Nellis would hover over likely rebel concentrations in the hope that they would use said weapons. Occasionally they did, exposing their positions, which Nellis would then destroy. This rather frightening tactic was actually safer than it seemed as the people handling the weapons inevitably had dreadful aim.

Eventually, the Hind was causing so much damage that the rebel command upped the price on Nellis’ head to US$2 million. Australian broadcaster Mark Corcoran reported that he saw a message addressed to the merc pilot saying that ‘if we ever catch you, we’ll cut your heart out and eat it’. Of course, that sort of thing appealed to Nellis. He was actually a little flattered and would quietly chuckle to himself.