“Red One”, the leading pilot and commander of the RAF’s famed Red Arrows, has been removed from his position after being accused of having an affair with a junior colleague and trying to pressure her to have an abortion. “It’s a bunch of cells, not a baby”, David “Monty” Montenegro told his mistress in 2017.
Wing Commander David Montenegro commanded the Red Arrows until last week, when, while touring the Gulf with the world-renowned RAF display team, he was relieved of his command amid an ongoing scandal.
A woman in her 40s has claimed that she and Montenegro had an affair while serving together in 2017, and that the top RAF pilot tried to pressure her into an abortion after she became pregnant.
“He did act quite supportive at first”, the ex-RAF servicewoman said, “but he was also saying things, trying to convince me to terminate. He said he didn’t want to lose his family, that his partner would leave him. He also said, ‘You know, it’s a bunch of cells. It’s not a baby.’ I thought it was manipulative.”
While no abortion took place, the woman later suffered a miscarriage. “I was broken…
“I’d never been sure if I wanted children. I’d just got on with my career. But the minute I knew – and I knew I was pregnant before I did the test – I realised I wanted to be a mother. I wanted to keep this baby. It’s astonishing how powerful that feeling was. I told Monty. He was very shocked.”
“A boy’s environment”
In 2017, the anonymous woman was a member of the Red Arrows ground crew. Since then, the Red Arrows have been enveloped in scandal following an investigation into sexual misconduct and bullying.
“The culture was toxic when I was there and my friends still in it say it got worse after I left. The tone is set from the top”, said the ex-RAF servicewoman. “The women on the base [RAF Scampton], ten per cent of the crew, were still regarded as a novelty. It was a boys’ environment, and you know what men are like…
“He [Montenegro] never seemed worried about being discovered. There was an arrogance about him. I don’t know if he thought he was untouchable, if he thought he could convince me to have the termination, or he just thought it would all work out. It was such an intense thing, but he wasn’t fazed…
“When I miscarried, he must have been relieved. It wasn’t a problem any more. It was a really lonely time for me. I really didn’t have his support. He was never really there for me. I deluded myself that he was.”
“Exploited, used and abandoned”
SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs and Legal Services), said: “SPUC has been highlighting the horrific reality of abortion coercion – just as a recent BBC poll found that 15% of British women have experienced pressure or coercion to have an abortion that they did not want. Now we have yet another instance of abortion pressure, this time within the armed services.
“Such pressure, which goes hand in hand with the misuse and manipulation of women, often by men in a position of power, is a horrific and all too common reality faced by women across the world.
“As ex-model Amada Rose Pérez, a victim of abortion coercion, has commented: ‘Behind abortion is a big business run by men who make women believe that they’re fighting for their rights, when what they’re doing is harming their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.’
“SPUC will continue to highlight the plight of such women who are exploited, used and abandoned in varying circumstances by selfish men pressuring them to abort their babies – aided by the callous aborted industry and its disingenuous apologists.”