Hero of the Month - November 2023
Published in Britain at War in November 2023.
Captain Jeffrey Peter Niblett DFC
Jeff Niblett was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for outstanding bravery while serving as a helicopter pilot with 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron, Royal Marines, during the Falklands War. It was the first ever DFC awarded to a Royal Marine. In one incident, he was leading a pair of Scout helicopters seeking to evacuate a casualty – no lesser man than Colonel “H” Jones VC – during the battle for Darwin and Goose Green. Not only did Colonel “H” perish but so too did the pilot in the accompanying helicopter, shot down by one of two Argentine Pucara aircraft that attacked them.
Jeffrey Peter Niblett was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, on September 26 1949. The younger son of a businessman and his wife, he completed his education at Farnborough Grammar School, Hampshire, aged 18. In the same year, he gained his private pilot’s licence through a Royal Naval Flying Scholarship while serving in the Combined Cadet Force. After leaving school and failing RAF aircrew selection, Niblett worked locally in a variety of manual jobs that allowed him to continue flying, attend the Eskdale Outward Bound course and travel widely in Europe. During this time he met the son of a family friend who was serving as a Royal Marines officer.
It was this chance meeting that led to Niblett’s application for a commission in the Royal Marines which was successful in September 1970, just days before his 21st birthday. A year later, Niblett completed training and was appointed as a troop commander with 45 Commando, with whom he did two tours of duty in Northern Ireland. In June 1975, Niblett was awarded his Army pilot’s ‘wings’, followed by a Royal Naval Gazelle conversion course and a deployment to the Mediterranean for a NATO exercise. In October 1975, he converted to the Royal Naval Wessex V helicopter and the following year he was awarded the Hallam Trophy as the top pilot completing Commando operational flying training that year. A further flying tour followed in August 1979 with a conversion course on to the Scout helicopter and appointment to 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron, based at Plymouth, as officer commanding Brunei Flight, the brigade anti-tank flight.
After completing his final winter deployment in Norway in March 1982, Niblett was due to attend the Qualified Helicopter Instructor course at RAF Shawbury, Shropshire. However, the day before he was due to leave the squadron, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands on April 2 1982 and instead he began preparing for deployment with the Task Force.
Niblett, by then a captain, kept a diary throughout the whole of his deployment detailing events as they unfolded and highlighting the challenges and demands placed on aircrew flying in support of the Task Force units, particularly following the landings on May 21. The extreme dangers faced by all crews became apparent within the first hour when two Gazelle reconnaissance helicopters from the squadron were shot down by enemy ground fire, with the loss of three crew. Once deployed ashore, Niblett’s flight provided support wherever it was required throughout the beach head as tasked by the Commando Brigade. At the end of the first week, Niblett flew in support of the breakout by the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment (2 Para) and their subsequent assault on Darwin and Goose Green. It was during this operation that he repeatedly showed great courage for which he was awarded the DFC. His decoration was one of just nine DFCs awarded during the Falklands War. Of the five awarded to crews operating with the ground forces, four were to Scout helicopter pilots.
The citation for his DFC, announced on October 8 1982, stated: “During the attack on Darwin and Goose Green, Captain Niblett led a section of two Scout helicopters, supplying ammunition and evacuating casualties for two days, often in the thick of battle and under enemy fire. During one mission both Scouts were attacked by Argentine Pucara aircraft. The helicopters evaded the first attack but one was subsequently shot down. However, with quite exceptional flying skill and superb teamwork with his aircrewman, Captain Niblett evaded three further cannon and rocket attacks, safely completing the mission. He then resolutely continued support and casualty evacuation operations until well after dark.
“His courage, leadership and flying skills were also demonstrated in an incident when he evacuated a seriously wounded Marine from Mount Challenger, flying in dark and misty conditions over most hazardous terrain. Captain Niblett proved himself an outstanding Flight Commander and pilot. The superb support that his flight as a whole gave to the landing force reflects his exemplary and dedicated service.”
However, what the citation failed to reveal was the identity of the casualty whom the two lightly built and unarmed Scouts had been going to collect on 28 May 1982: Lieutenant Colonel Herbert “H” Jones, the commanding officer of 2 Para, who was famously awarded a posthumous VC.
In an interview at his home in Norfolk for my book Falklands War Heroes, Niblett told me: “I was commanding a section of two Scouts, flown by myself and Lieutenant Richard Nunn, attached in direct support of 2 Para during the battle for Darwin and Goose Green. Throughout the morning [of 28 May 1982] we had flown over three and a half hours ferrying ammunition forward to the battalion mortar lines and front-line troops and returning to our Forward Operating Base at Camilla Creek House with casualties, both our own forces and enemy troops. Enemy action included artillery fire on and close to our landing points throughout the morning.
“While at Camilla and partway through loading further ammunition for the front line with rotors running, I heard the radio call on the battalion command ‘net’ saying that H [Jones] had been shot: ‘Sunray [the radio call sign for the commanding officer] is down.’ At this stage additional casualties were mentioned but no exact details. On hearing the call, I immediately radioed Lieutenant Nunn and ordered that the ammo was offloaded and replaced with stretchers, which was done. Less than a minute from the original call we were airborne and heading south toward the Darwin area where ‘H’ had been shot. I led the pair and, within a minute or so of lifting, a pair of Pucaras appeared directly ahead of us descending from the very low cloud base and crossing ahead of us at approximately 500 metres’ range. The weather had remained overcast all day with low cloud at about 150–200 feet but with good visibility underneath and no precipitation.
“On seeing the enemy aircraft, I ordered a break which we achieved – one aircraft to the right and the other to the left. The Pucaras had seen us and turned toward us and when they saw our break they took one of us each. At very low level and high speed, we manoeuvred hard and fast to escape their attack. Quite early on Lieutenant Nunn and I crossed paths flying in opposite directions and that was the last time I saw his aircraft before he was shot down. The Pucara attacking me engaged us with cannon, machine-gun and rocket salvos trying unsuccessfully to down us with successive passes. The Pucara flew at relatively low speed and was extremely agile, which is not something we had previously encountered . . .
“After two or three attacks on my aircraft, my attacker was joined by the second Pucara which had obviously broken away from attacking Lieutenant Nunn. At this stage, we were unaware that he had been shot down. Both Pucaras then continued to attack me in successive passes and, after perhaps two or three more attacks when I was flying at extremely low level, I found myself close to Camilla Creek House where ground troops were able to engage the enemy aircraft with small arms and drive them off. Throughout all the engagements my air gunner, Sergeant John Glaze, was positioned in the back of the Scout and was giving me a running commentary on the Pucaras’ attacks which I was able to respond to. The ground we were flying over was very exposed with no cover whatsoever and the low cloud base had kept the enemy aircraft close to our operating height.
On hearing of the loss of the second Scout, Niblett was called forward by one of the squadron Gazelles to where Nunn’s helicopter had crashed after the pilot had been shot and killed during the attempted evasion. Nunn’s air gunner, Sergeant Belcher, was seriously injured and had lost part of a leg, but had been thrown out of the Scout when it impacted the ground. It was obvious that nothing could be done for Nunn but Belcher was given immediate first aid and then loaded on to Niblett’s aircraft to be flown to the hospital at Ajax Bay for immediate surgery. The next day Niblett returned to recover Nunn’s body from the crash scene. Nunn was buried at Ajax Bay alongside the other casualties from Goose Green the following day. It later emerged that one of the Argentine Pucaras which had attacked the two Scouts flew into a mountain on its return trip, killing the pilot, whose remains were not discovered for another four years.
Niblett only learnt of his gallantry award when back in Britain. He was called to see his squadron CO, Major Peter Cameron, and was “dumbfounded”, but proud, to discover the news. Between 1983 and 1995, Niblett completed further staff and flying tours in the Royal Marines.
However, in 1987 he realised that he was suffering from the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of his experiences in the Falklands. Niblett has spoken honestly and movingly about his battle with PTSD – which eventually cost him his first marriage from which he has a son – in The Scars of War, written by Hugh McManners. A recurrence of his health problems associated with PTSD resulted in Niblett retiring early from the Royal Marines in 1995, aged 45.
After ending his military service, Niblett worked initially as a Ministry of Defence civil servant and then with his local health authority. After finally retiring in early 2002, aged 52, he moved to France with his second wife, Mary, and they lived in Brittany for eight years. In 2010, Niblett and his wife returned to Britain and they now live on a smallholding near King’s Lynn, Norfolk, with their three horses, eight chickens, five cats and a dog.