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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bergen" data-source="post: 570437" data-attributes="member: 1888">The title of this thread refers to 'MOD cover up'. This appears to be exactly what has occurred here and there has been little direct criticism of the pilots.The way that I read Finknottle's post is that the pilots had genuine doubts about the identity of the British armour and despite being told that there were no friendlies in the area they should have been more prudent.Whenever incidents like this occur they are a result of multiple failures along the line; the pilot's actions being the final failure in a chain of events set in motion by others. At the tactical level we can talk all day about the lack of IFF and visual recognition training for US pilots working up close and personal with British assets. All these points are valid criticism.The bigger picture is that it suited the MOD and Britain's present political establishment to suppress an efficient enquiry into these events because it would have exposed them to wider ranging questions about why British assets were so poorly equipped for their mission, particularly given the high percentage of British casualties caused by friendly fire during GW1. The phrase 'lessons learned' springs to mind immediately.RM</blockquote>