8 June 1995
Found out today they rescued an F-16 pilot who had been shot down six days ago over Bosnia. He was in a 2-ship flying DENY FLIGHT sorties when he got hit by an SA-6.
No one knows what happened to him – there were some sporadic beacon emissions for a couple of days, then a day and a half of silence. People were beginning to give up on him when suddenly, he came up on frequency using voice Comm.
After they ID’d him, the Navy scrambled a rescue force of a couple of Sea Kings (CH-53s), and Cobra gunships, and went to get him at dawn. The CH-53s stood off at 10 miles, while the cobras went in and located the flyer. After the ISOPREP identification, they brought in the CH-53s, and landed in a small clearing. He dashed out of the woods, ran to the closest Helo, and dove through the gunners opening. The Helos immediately lifted off and dashed for the coast at treetop level.
At about 20 miles to feed wet, they took small arms fire, and watched a couple of manpads whiz underneath, but took no hits. After that, it was clear sailing all the way to the carriers and safety.
It was great to see a shootdown - Survival - rescue work as advertise. I’ll be interested to hear the flyer (Capt. Scott O’Grady) side of the story, and what went on those six days on the ground in Bosnia.
