Insurgents from the
UPA were infiltrating NW Angola from the Congo (now the
DRC). To counter this in the absence of a decisive helicopter force, the FAP launched a clearance operation with 2nd Coy of BCP 21 parachutists, dropped by 3x C-54 and a Noratlas near Cando, and then pushing further into the Serra de Canda.
In these early days of counter-insurgency operations, only a single
Alouette II was used, operating from
Toto (before the formation of Esq 94) but in a role for rapid deployment of paramedics and casualty evacuation, rather than assault.
