Every war the Sierra Leone Air Wing has fought
Sierra Leone’s air war of 1991–2002 was fought largely by foreign crews: South Africans of Executive Outcomes from 1995, then the contract crew of Neall Ellis, brought in by Sandline International. The word mercenary, widely used about them, is a characterisation, and this page reports what the sources say the crews did. Wikipedia’s articles disagree on how many Mi-24s Sierra Leone owned, and Ellis’s role in Operation Barras rests on Wikipedia’s article on him and is not confirmed by the article on the operation. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
The civil war against the RUF, from Executive Outcomes in 1995 to the end of the war in 2002.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| Sierra Leone Civil War: the Executive Outcomes campaignthe RUF war, 1991–1997Republic of Sierra Leone Air Force, with Executive Outcomes | 1991–1997 | Revolutionary United Front (RUF) | Mi-24 Hind, Mi-8 Hip | |||
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Helicopter gunship and transport support for government forces, flown largely by South African contractors. The RUF opened the war on 23 March 1991, and in 1995 it was threatening Freetown. The NPRC government hired the South African company Executive Outcomes, which arrived in March 1995. According to Wikipedia, the company fielded one Mi-24 Hind gunship and two Mi-8 Hip transports alongside armour, contained the insurgency, regained control of the diamond fields and forced a negotiated peace. Wikipedia’s Mi-24 article says three Mi-24Vs owned by Sierra Leone and flown by South African military contractors were used against the RUF and helped drive it from the capital in 1995. After the Abidjan accord the government, under international pressure, had Executive Outcomes withdraw; Wikipedia’s article on the company argues this let the RUF rebuild, a judgement reported here as that article’s view. Outcome The RUF was pushed back from Freetown and the diamond fields in 1995 and the Abidjan Peace Accord was signed on 30 November 1996; the war resumed after the AFRC coup of 25 May 1997. Who owned which helicopter is unclear: one Mi-24 fielded by Executive Outcomes or three Mi-24Vs owned by Sierra Leone, depending on the Wikipedia article. Contract terms and casualty figures were not checked against primary sources.
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| Sierra Leone Civil War: the contractor gunshipSandline, Neall Ellis and the end of the warRepublic of Sierra Leone Air Force (contract crews) | 1998–2002 | Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and West Side Boys | Mi-17, Mi-24 Hind | |||
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Air support for the Kabbah government against the RUF and the AFRC, flown by a contract crew led by Neall Ellis. After the AFRC coup of 25 May 1997 and ECOMOG’s recapture of Freetown in March 1998, the restored government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah relied on contractors for its air support. The British company Sandline International supplied arms to Kabbah’s side — the Sandline affair that the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee examined in its report of 3 February 1999. According to Wikipedia, Sandline also brought the South African pilot Neall Ellis and his crew, who flew a Mi-17 and later a Mi-24 gunship against the RUF, twice helping to drive off attacks on Freetown, and, when they had no ammunition left, flew low to intimidate the rebels. Wikipedia’s article on Ellis says he flew in support of Operation Barras, the British rescue of Royal Irish Regiment soldiers held by the West Side Boys on 10 September 2000; the Barras article itself mentions only British helicopters. Ellis’s crew stayed until the RUF’s defeat in 2002. Guinean helicopter attacks on RUF areas in the north in 2000–2001, documented by Human Rights Watch, ran in parallel. Outcome The war was declared over on 18 January 2002; Wikipedia gives 50,000–70,000 deaths in the whole war. Ellis’s role in Operation Barras rests on Wikipedia’s article on him and is not confirmed by the article on the operation. The word mercenary, widely used about these crews, is a characterisation rather than a finding, and is not used as one here.
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- Human Rights Watch: World Report 2002, Sierra LeoneAt least 42 civilians, including 11 children, killed in at least 13 Guinean helicopter and artillery attacks, September 2000 – April 2001.
- House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee: Second Report, Sierra Leone (3 February 1999)Inquiry into the Sandline affair and British policy towards Sierra Leone.
Figures verified 2026-10-01. Back to the Sierra Leone Air Wing.