picture 186807

Beginning in 1963 the PAIGC employed Soviet-made Goryunov SG-43 7.62mm medium machine guns against both ground and air targets. First deployed during the Second World War, the simple and reliable SG-43 has since been adopted by over three dozen armies worldwide and has been produced under license in China, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Egypt. With an effective anti-aircraft range of 800 metres, this weapon especially threatened slow, low-flying Portuguese aircraft and helicopters. Despite its long career during the war for Guinea, its use was suspected as the cause for only one aircraft loss – a T-6 shot down in January 1964, during Operation Tridente. (Artwork by David Bocquelet)