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AUGUST 26th - 20:45 pm
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The Indra II 2-D Radar Unit at Vavuniya makes first contact with two unidentified bogeys proceeding South along the Mullaitivu coast. The contact is fleeting, and disappears almost as suddenly as it appeared on the screen. Preliminary calculations put the aircraft a few kilometres South East of Mullaitivu, speed = 250km/hr, less than 70km from Trincomalee. It is now learnt that the aircraft were pinged by the 2-D Radar when the broke the 20m Height limit when effecting a bank turn to head South along the Coast. Till this point both aircraft had remained below 20m since takeoff - This would appear to suggest that the take off point was close to the Mullaitivu coast, and includes tracts of terrain devoid of much tree cover.
The officer-in-charge of the Indra II Radar Unit relays the information to his superiors in Colombo as quickly as he could.
It was from then on that the air force operations room went into action. They first sent a message to the Vanni Area Headquarters, which then relayed it to the camps situated on the Vanni forward defence line.
Thereafter, the warning was conveyed to Trincomalee and other economically important locations in the South. At 20:50 pm, Power is shut off to all sections of the naval base at Trincomalee. The military is tense because the aircrafts location since its first appearance on radar at 20:45 is unknown.
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AUGUST 26th - 20:58 pm
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A SLN Shaldag (P-497) on routine patrol off Pulmoddai makes radar contact with the Zlins.
Once again, just as the aircraft appear on screen, a couple of seconds later their gone. Heading, speed and range are however confirmed by the Radar operator. The Zlins are caught flying a few kilometres South East of Pulmoddai, doing 255km/hr just under 20m above Sea Level, 45km from Trincomalee.
The Shaldag reports the contact to the Operations Room at the Eastern Naval Area Headquarters. Time is 20:59 pm.
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AUGUST 26th - 21:05 pm
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The Zlin`s break the 20m height barrier to climb and bank to attack Trincomalee. Almost instantaneously the Indra II Radar at Vavuniya makes contact with the target. Eastern Naval Area Headquarters is warned that the target is less than 10km from the Naval base. The officers at the Trincomalee Naval base who had been preparing for the air attack, about 3 minutes after the warning, hear the sounds of a light aircraft. The aircraft has climbed to thousands of feet over the airspace at the base. However due to the inclement weather, the target cannot be visually acquired by the Anti Air craft crew manning the 23mm and 12.7mm Anti Aircraft Guns.
Two SLAF F-7GS`s get airborne from Katunayake. It will take the pilots just over 12 mins to be over Trincomalee air space.
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AUGUST 26th - 21:09 pm
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The LTTE air craft drop its payload of 4 bombs. Residents around Trincomalee town hear loud explosions around 21:10 pm, and almost immediately, gunfire from 23mm cannons at China Bay Air Base, and 12.7mm fire from guns at the Naval base is directed at the sky.
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AUGUST 26th - 21:15 pm
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Gunfire from the Naval base and Air base ceases at 21:25 pm.
The LTTE aircraft are caught and tracked on the Indra II Radar at Vavuniya heading North. One air craft is caught proceeding along the Mullativu coast after a civilian spots the aircraft leaving land at Nilaveli. The second aircraft is tracked heading North over the mainland, where a civilian spots it flying low at Gomarankadawala.
The aircraft are caught on radar doing 258km/hr. It will take the aircraft another 15mins to reach its likely landing site.
At 21:22 pm, the pilot on one the F-7`s scrambled from Katunayake detects an aircraft on his radar heading along the Mullativu coast, he is almost on top of him. However, due to the extreme weather (Heavy cloud and rain), is unable to get a definitive radar lock. The pilot over shoots his target.
The pilot attempts to turn to re-engage his target. Once again, due to the poor weather, is deterred from dropping height to get a better shot at the target at a lower altitude. The pilot is trying to re-engage the target on its 6.
At 21:25 pm the pilot attempts to re-engage the Zlin. Once again he is unable to get a consistent radar lock and over shoots.
At 21:28pm the F-7 pilot loses the aircraft on his radar.
The whole engagement lasts just over 5 mins.
It is speculated from the available evidence that by 21:35 the aircraft had landed.
Using the available tracking data from the Indra II Radar tracks, and the F-7GS radar information, SLAF MiG-27`s are tasked with bombing the likely landing site 20mins later.
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