using a hijacked Cessna plane that was eventually called off. 29 September 1974: An aerial bombing was attempted on the British Army base at Crossmaglen by two IRA members who hijacked a three-seat Cessna plane from a flying club at Dundalk, while another two IRA men remained on the ground to prevent club members from raising the alarm. The IRA unit loaded the aircraft with four cylinder bombs and forced the pilot to fly over the border. The attack failed after the hijackers became lost, and one of them launched a bomb five miles away from the intended target before flying back to the Republic. The dropping of the bomb was witnessed by British soldiers manning a border outpost. The Cessna eventually made a safe landing in a field near Ravensdale, County Louth. The strike was intended to support the mortar attack on the same compound. 5 October 1974: A female civilian (Asha Chopra, aged 25) was killed during an IRA sniper attack on an RUC patrol at Greenhaw Road, Shantallow, Derry. 5 October 1974: Guildford pub bombing - four British soldiers and a civilian were killed and 182 were hurt when the IRA bombed a pub frequented by off-duty soldiers. Four people, dubbed the "Guildford Four", would be convicted for the bombing and imprisoned for life. Fifteen years later Lord Lane of the Court of Appeal would overturn their convictions noting "the investigating officers must have lied". Some of the Four had spent the entire 15 years in prison. 8 October 1974: An RUC officer (Arthur Henderson, aged 31) was killed by an IRA booby-trap bomb in an abandoned car, West Street, Stewartstown, County Tyrone. 21 October 1974: The IRA kidnapped and shot dead an off-duty British Territorial Army soldier (Malcolm Gibson, aged 28) in Belfast. He was found shot dead in a derelict house, shortly after being abducted while driving a laundry van, Velsheda Park, Ardoyne, Belfast. 23 October 1974: A British soldier (Michael Simpson, aged 21) died three weeks after being shot by an IRA sniper while on foot patrol on Racecourse Road, Shantallow, Derry. 28 October 1974: The IRA detonated a van bomb outside the British Army base at Ballykinlar, County Down, killing two British soldiers, Alan Coughlan (aged 22) and Michael Swanick (aged 20). 30 October 1974: An IRA volunteer (Michael Meenan, aged 16) died when his bomb prematurely exploded at a garage on Strand