@@petemitchell9996 well Serbia never tried to capture/kill American pilots but you cant choose where will your missile hit,it was a radar guided missile
No doubt they were listening. Heck I have a transceiver in my car that can get on Airforce S&R frequencies. Well I say that but I mean back years ago. I don't think they use the HF bands much anymore. My father once got his ass chewed for being on a military channel. Thinking it was in between the 50 or 60 meter band.
After the war they found the canopy in the backyard of a local guy. He had found it and used it to make a dogshelter. The local museum at Belgrade airport managed to convince the guy to donate it, but in return they had to build his dog a new shelter(which they did) The canopy, along with a predator drone, are now on public display. If you ever manage to go to the museum don't have the coffee. I managed to ditch mine but a cactus lost its life in the process.
What's crazy, is my second commander was his wingman and talked about how terrified he was during the situation. Then later in my career, I worked with one of the rescue crew members who picked him up. Said Goldfein was as calm and collected as anyone was when they picked him up, and obviously was grateful. Still buys all of them a 5th every year on the anniversary. He's a good dude.
Didn't they attack Libya next; turning one of the richest and most developed countries in Africa into a lawless hell hole, ruled by militant gangs, who run slave markets and trafficking?! Didn't millions of migrants from Africa then pour into Europe, mostly transiting via Libya?
Reminds me of my boss' evasion in North Vietnam after ejecting from his F-4D, and evading for 23 days before being rescued (front seater didn't make it). He only talked about it once. Said he never left any food on his plate after that. Roger Locher. A fine man and a great boss. He was PACAF/SE when I worked for him.
Was lucky enough to hear him speak at my college right after he became CSAF: "and yeah, I'm on of those guys that has more takeoffs than landings..." wild story and everyone in it was professional as hell. Great speaker and great dude in person.
@@ShopperPlug Radios work off radio waves, if anyone is determined enough they could find the right channel and listen to anything being transferred over radio waves.
@@IzmGunner01 No that’s horse crap my friend. Read my original comment carefully again. I said how can the enemy hear the US military’s communication if it was a secure communication. You probably don’t know the vast complexity radio wave communication really is. It is not just a simple “radio wave” as what a 7 years old is taught in school. You have your typical analog waves and the new digital radio waves. With the digital radio waves, it behaves like analog radio waves but has some serious complex math and algorithm implemented to send and receive digital logic communication between two parties using analog radio waves. With digital logic implementation, the communication can be encrypted and secure, which means no one would know jack shit in the radio channel the US military is communicating. You need to crack or decrypt the digital logic encryption in order to understand the radio wave communication. It’s not easy. Only a smart person who knows these specific details of history events like these can answer the question if the communication was secure or what not. The pilot seemed hella paranoid or it’s just a good habit to say as little information as possible because end of the day… Russians hackers really knows how to crack and hack things. I would be horrified if the communication was not a secure communication…
Thanks for the clarification of the video. I first saw this back in 2000 in a museum installation in Novi Sad where you could watch the video while sitting in the actual ejection seat from the airplane that was shot down. The seat is still on display, now in the aviation museum in Belgrade, along with pieces of the F-117, Tomahawks and a full size wooden MiG-29 decoy.
With that coolness after getting hit, he must have played that scenario over in his mind thousands of times. He knew exactly what to check over and what to do based on what functionality he had. Great story. Much better outcome than many of the shoot downs during Vietnam.
It seems crazy that the Cobras were around that long! When you started flying them, were they almost brand new? (as you can tell I'm not a pilot but) as a kid I always loved the Cobras.
Great, classic story! I worked for Davi Goldfien when he was an O-6....after this incident. I work in his Command and Control Staff. Not only was he a very accomplished F16 driver...he is an incredibly humble and soft spoken man.
I have the FLIR video and audio from the lead MH-53M on the rescue. The lead aircraft commander retired a few years back as an O-6 (also was my old squadron commander) and the co-pilot on lead is now a 1-star and former 1st Special Operations Wing commander. I have some good buddies that were on that rescue that night, both on MH-53s and the MH-60G. Pave Low Leads
Didn’t know this. A lot of people also do not know that their SAM operators were among the best. Fingers was my Ops Group Commander (O-6) at Mtn Home AFB. He was again my boss a few years later as AFCENT/CC. Great dude! I had the pleasure of hearing his story in person a few times.
Dani Zoltan actually became friends with the pilot he shot down after the war. He has a bakery in a small village close to Belgrade. And a piece of the F-117 is displayed in an aviation musem in Belgrade. :) And he is actually hungarian. Born and raised in Serbia. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_F-117A_shootdown
There is good interveiws with the serb commander and he was an extrememly well sorted guy, constantly moving position, lots of training for his boys, very good outfit. Its fantastic that the 2 "enemies" meet after and had no anamosity towards each other
I wish I had seen this before I met General Goldfein earlier this year. Not only is he cool under pressure but surprisingly cool when confronted with jokes about being a member of the more takeoffs than landings club.
First off, Thank You! Three of my uncles served. Army, Airforce, and Navy, in Vietnam. I lost two of them, 3 yrs ago. I didn't know he was hit, I thought he had a fuel leak, at first. Great breakdown. Thank you again. 🙏 🪖 🇺🇸
He was very lucky that night because second rocket missed him by a mile. Rocket have tracking problem, witch was resolved later that May (not rocket but SNR-125 guidance radar)...But still he has steel nerves....
@@prissymommylife6402 its the AWACS controller ‘Magic’ talking to Hammer. Magic is asking for the equivalent of an electronic ping (here I am!) from Hammer for Magic to identify Hammer’s location.
@@gregorymaupin6388 forrestal didn't have F18 Legacies until the early 90s and i think all those carriers are all retired now except for the Carl Vinson
Wow C.W...this brought me back. I was TDY filling a gap for Intel Ops at the 510th FS...I took the call from the CAOC asking for Hammer's SAR Card...I had to repeat twice that it wasn't our jet (Hammer was with the 'Nickle' 555th FS). It was a surreal experience to be involved in bringing someone back...never forget it. There were a couple of other 'funny' things that happened that will never make it into any article but it was just an incredible time to be there.
After 10 years in the Army and three combat deployments to Afghanistan I am always amazed to think back to a super sketchy situation or engagement that ended with all of us sitting around in a circle talking shit and eating. I miss that
I was in the 555FS when this happened, Dave Goldfein was our commander, one of the best squadron commanders I ever had. We were all sick to our stomachs when he got shot down.
Commentary on the hud video of the F16 that avoided 6 SAM launches on inbound and egress to target on 1991/01/19 during the beginning of the Iraq war would be a great video as well.
"Stroke-3 Flight" First Gulf-War, Package Q Airstrike. SAMs hit one F-16 just as the last bombs were striking the oil refinery. As the flight egressed Baghdad, evading SAMs, another missile impacted near another F-16. Both aircraft were lost, but their pilots survived the war as POWs. One of the two lost aircraft managed to fly for 150 miles on the return route after taking an SA-3 missile just south of Baghdad, before the engine quit.[1] In all, the participants in the wild ride over the capital counted twenty SAMs in the air; one pilot dodged no fewer than six. Many of the F-16 aircraft sustained major or minor damage, but stayed airworthy.
BADASS FREAKING MAN. His story literally sounds like it could be a mission in a video game. Or a movie. He deserves his story to be told. Just think, somewhere out in the rural fields of Serbia. Is General Goldfein's Barretta in the dirt.
Man it is complicated, 100 miles in that heel means alot,. How l saw his engine failed over Serbia, But he glided west. To Bosnia, Tuzla city, where are Bosnian Muslim majority so he was safe and saved. If he was little more concentrated and turn stick to the north west and if it was day he would succeed to land in Croatia Airport. Heroic and professional he was. U have The movie "Behind enemies lines" how l saw all thrue,
A great story indeed! And one that we in AF Rescue are very proud of! (Gen. Goldfein (Ret) was quite happy with his Rescue forces as well for the remainder of his career!). ;)
I really enjoy the insight you give with translating the jargon. I had seen this HUD before but dang!! it really adds a level of reality when you break it down and explain what we are actually seeing and hearing.
Fingers was the best CC I ever worked for. I was a young E5 and an Avionics tech back then...I was also the ECM/RTWS guy...my heart sank when I heard the news when I got to shift that morning...only to be relieved when they told me “oh but we picked him up...he’s back now” great CC was an even better CSAF.
I am stationed at Moody AFB, the base where the rescue group that came after him is stationed, and I got to meet him on a pass through to see the PJs. You don't know gratitude until you see that kinda gratitude
Sounds like the Air Force picked the right man to promote. From what Ive read hes one of the most respected officers in the air force in recent memory.
I forgot to mention; his brother “Goldy” is a good dude also. I know him from my days working as a defense contractor as we were at the company and had mutual flying buddies. Goldy and I had a talk one day about leadership. As smart as he was, and with quite an exceptional career himself, he really praised his brother Fingers a lot during that discussion. IOW, he was secure enough in who he was to heap large helpings of praise on his brother. Not many people can do that sincerely from what I’ve seen, but it came very easy or natural for him to do it for his brother. Their parents did a good job raising them to instill the many positive character traits they both exhibited. - Ronbo
Mr. Lemoine - First, thank you for your many years of service! Second - I love your commentary from a person who lived it. It is incredibly fascinating and have made it through many of your videos. I was a crew chief on a c-141 for a brief time, and worked in aviation awhile too. Spent my 4 years in the AF as a missle cop (crew chief in the reserves). Served in the first gulf war. Love you mix stuff from my generation and beyond. Keep it up sir!
I ja brate, 16-17 godina. Medvedja na granici sa kosovom.....inače cela porodica je živela na kosovu....mamicu im Kako vole da glume heroje a nepričaju Kako su bolnice i vozove gadjali.....
@@defamationlaw when English and USA started with bombing of Germany in WW2 there was saying: Who sows wind will harvest storm. After four years of bloody war when Serbian forces bombarded Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, and Kosovo what Serbian government expected? Nobel prize for peace?
The pilot has balls of steel. So glad you guys found him quickly. That was a nasty time in war. Does sound like it was Behind Enemy Lines. Always love that movie.
I remember reading a news article on CNN where pilots said that their planes were shaking from missile explosions in the air, sometimes countless number of missiles were fired at the same time (800 missiles in total in the entire conflict fired at NATO planes) and long time ago i saw few intense videos from British pilots dodging missiles. On some occasions multiple ground radar systems were turned on at the same time in a small area. One for example would be a bait, few would be turned on for 10 seconds and turned off, so that pilots would waste their missiles and miss the radar (One anti radar missile landed in Bulgarian capital, after Yugoslav unit turned of their radar), and some radars would be on for a long time to be able to track the plane. Same tactic used in Vietnam war but way more often back than to confuse the pilots.
+Johnny roastbeef No, Zoltan Dani, the guy who shot him down had balls of steel. Unlike your general, he didn't have 1000 airplanes on his side and population of 700 million, US Navy and sattelites, Tomahawks and God-knows-what on his side, Dani had an old Soviet SA-3 from 60's and he still managed to take down one F-117 and F-16. His unit even had problems turning on their radars because they were being scanned by dozens of aircraft all the time. The fact they were able to score any hits and walk away is a miracle, not that some douche-bag propping up another regime change with 1200 air craft and Tomahawks behind him to be the one unlucky basterd to get shot by something which was obsolete 30 years before the events took place.
Love that he stayed calm, and right to the end had his eye on staying alive, following protocol and knowing that the US and UK, we don't leave people behind. Just as an aside, maybe do a breakdown of the Russian pilot shot down over Syria who once surrounded by isis blew himself up with a grenade, rather than end up in a snuff video. That was also worthy.
Got to know the door gunner on that rescue mission! He was the Command Chief at Luke AFB…..just retired. He is the most humble awesome dude! So thankful for Airmen like these❤🇺🇸🥃
Because this story ended well, I really appreciate this. Would love for you to do more hud footage analysis. It would be helpful if you could give more details to help the average civilian commerical pilot understand his military brethren. Those chopper crews that rescued hammer 34 are great.
Somewhere on TH-cam there's an interview with a Serbian officer who was tasked with capturing the pilot. I've always found it interesting to hear what the other side has to say.
I've met Gen Goldfein a few times, he is such a great leader and true badass. In his office he displays his boots that he was wearing when he was downed. He painted them green and filled them with concrete in honor of the Jolly Green AF rescue squadron that pulled him from the desert. I hope he is enjoying retirement.
Had the good fortune to meet Gen. Goldfein last year. He was good fun to speak with, his security detail were a load of fun as well. I was presented his challenge coin by his security detail at his direction when he heard I was leaving and couldn't do so himself. Just such a neat experience.
The story goes that when he got back to Aviano, the flight surgeon wanted to evaluate him. He told him that he only had x amount of time to examine him because he was going in to crew rest and was ready to start flying the next day.
He was my base commander when I was at Spandahlem AB Germany. Met him several times and heard him speak about it. He’s an amazing person and leader. It really was an honor.
Being friends with one member of the crew of the unit that shot him down (the same guys shot down F-117) I know the other part of this story as well. Both stories are quite thrilling.
@@Aboleo80 Serbia is not a big country so most are probably true. I didn't meet any of that crew, but I remember seeing a fireball in the sky when F117 was shot down.
Goldfien is the shining example of a professional fighter pilot. He evaded and communicated by the book and got himself recovered fast. Less than a week later he was back in the saddle. He didn't do everything wrong and then quit the AF immediately and try to convince everyone he's supposed to be some kind of hero when he f'ed off back to 'merkuh...like someone else that got shot down in Bosnia. I was there for both.
I was airborne that night in a German ECR TORNADO. Our AOR was further South over Kosovo doing SEAD down there. We were on different frequencies, so I did not hear his famous calls. Our mission was terminated as soon as the word of an unlucky jet was spread. Our post strike AAR was cancelled because all tankers were held for the CSAR mission. We had to divert to Gioia del Colle in Southern Italy, perform a 4am gas and go to make it back to our homebase Picenza in northern Italy. By the time we landed in Piazenza, Hammer 34 was already back in Aviano with his squadron! That was a night, I will never forget.
F-16 was shoot down with late 60 Neva air defence sistem ,F-117 Nighthawk also (some adjustments was done) Sorry we didn't know it was invisible ! Best greets from Serbia .
Wow! Great story Mover. My wife and I are up in the Northeast for Xmas and it helped to watch this and help the great dinner we had at one of our son’s house to settle. This Military hero deserves his position. Hope you had a great Xmas. Bill from Slidell.
+Cop Flyer Cool story except that back on planet Earth, and it is a known thing is Serbia, Serbian army had explicity orders not to capture him because they were afraid you animals would bomb hospitals and other civilian buildiings again in retaliation. Not that you haven't been targetting civilians the whole time, but you were pretty butthurt anytime some guy of yours get captured and beaten up a bit. In this particular case, the cops were sent explicitly to stop local villagers from grabing your general.
You should also be aware that serbian dudes on opposite side also had nerves of steel.:-) It is not easy to fight world's remaining superpower with product of 60s, okay they had also AN/TPS-70, 63 as early warning radars, but you got the point. Keep the good work C.W. :-)
The SAM commander who shot down the F-117 had his men practice shutting down and moving their sites in two minutes to minimize the time they could be shot at by HARMs. He dismissed anyone who he thought couldn't handle the pressure of being targeted. There were also the MiG-29 pilots who sortied without functioning RWRs, including one who was seconds away from getting a missile off before his plane was hit. A few desperate pilots who took off in trainers to try to disrupt raids against their hometowns. The Serbs were definitely more motivated than the Iraqis. It did help that Serbia is mountainous and the weather wasn't very good for much of the campaign.
@@RsRj-qd2cg The SAM commander who shot down the F117 was the same one who shot down this F16: Zoltan Dani. Indeed he trained his team to pack and move in half the standard time reqmt, but it wasn’t 2 minutes, it was sg like half an hour, if I remember well. The SA-3 is not a self-mobile platform, so that would be impossble. He also used many false transmitters to lure HARMs away from the real target. He was a very clever guy indeed - a baker btw in civil life, not even a professional soldier but a reservist, who continued his civil profession after the war...
This guy has ice water in his veins, he's so cool and calm in a situation you'd expect someone to be VERY stressed, especially when it's all dark and you can't even see your altitude to know when to eject.
I am from Serbia and I was mobilized in that unfortunate 1999. On the night of May 2, I was at VOST (VISUAL SURVEILLANCE OF THE FIELD). That night, I was sitting on a meadow with a radio station and personal weapons (AK 48 and a BERETA F 22 pistol) and watching the sky over Serbia. We were not allowed to turn on the radars and use any technique because we were weaker against you both militarily and technically. I also know a man who was in charge of the air defense that night and who was responsible for shooting down f 16. That night we knew your every move, the pilot who landed on Serbian soil, as well as the units you sent on a rescue mission. The military did not want to look for your pilot or in any way stop your rescue operation. We even ensured that you entered our territory safely and pulled out your pilot. That was our policy then, so that they would not resent you even more and so that they would not shoot at our civilian targets, because you also knew how to do that. That pilot was searched by ordinary people that night with hunting rifles, and whoever had what, about thirty people from that nearby village were looking for him with civilian vehicles through the night. The army was ordered to intercept civilians and not allow them to interfere in your action in any way. So much from me. I just want to say that it wasn't all as "cool" as the gentleman wants to portray. It is also heard in the voice of the pilot who was brought down that he did not care at all and that he was scared, which is completely normal, understandable and simply human (if it were not otherwise normal) he still fell into the then "enemy territory". I want you to know that by any chance it was ordered that night, I'm sure none of your soldiers would return home alive. Thank GOD, so even then there were people who had enough understanding not to deepen the conflict that you started and to kill each other as soon as possible. Do you know that that year was the most beautiful spring in the last 100 years, know that for many of us that spring did not exist that year. There were many civilian casualties that year and much innocent blood was shed. It was, it passed and it never happened again. Let us never forget the innocent victims who lost their lives that beautiful spring (such as Mila, who was only 3 years old), without being involved in any segment in that insane killing and savagery. I wish you all all the best and may there be peace in the future !!!
Dont ruin their story lol. They like to make fairytales and movies later on based on them. The army command was affraid of the retaliatory attack on the civilian targets (a method that this criminal organization has already done several times before whenever they were hit). Our guys shot down the god damn F-16 and they think the army couldnt destroy several helicopters..our brothers on the other side of Drina though..probably would have strap the pilot to a radar:)
Yep, we also had orders to let them pick up pilots. Once it was very close since they were going straight to our position. I was in 12. brigade arj pvo near Beska. And I dont wish them all the best but all the worst, since I know how cowardly they behaved targeting civilians when they couldnt find us, and I say COWARDS because they didnt fly lower to find us...it is much easier to shot civilian target than to engage in real fight. bitches.
@@bbeelluuttaakk lol, straping pilots or any military man was really shocking when it happened ... i wonder if there are stories of those poor men anywhere on internet? ... i cant remeber now were they members of peacekeeping mission or regular army ?
Great reply. But western propaganda in making savages of us. Of course we could down any of their helicopters. We shot down F117, and maybe two more F117, but they fell somewhere else and we shot B2. And they think we could not shoot down helicopters. I served in 126. brigade, but haven't been in war because i was born few years earliers, but i have honour to serve with people who were there and who told me what was happening and what our men did to fight against whole Europe and US. Many things they told me was never said anywhere in media because west forbids that. And radars they used back in that days are still operational and still work good and of course we still see every exercise and everything that surrounding NATO countries are doing. 🇷🇸
I was on air defence systems during Kosovo 99. We could see all the AAA and some of the aircraft going backwards and forwards on missions whilst ground troops sat in Macedonia waiting to go in to Kosovo. Kosovo was the weirdest conflict I think I ever saw in my 12 year career! Thanks for the videos buddy !
Fun fact: The pilot survived and proceeded to change his name to Owen Wilson for safety reasons. He then pursued a Hollywood acting career and eventually landed a role in a 2001 movie called "Behind Enemy Lines" in which he got to play himself.
my father was the weapons load crew chief in aviano when this happened they called him Pap. not many people know about the triple nickel squadron. i only know from the awards and pictures my father has got on the wall from the triple nickel and the storys he tells me now that im older but he remembers this well. the crazzy thing is i was there while all this war was going on but i was only 9 years old and had no idea what was going on why dad was working so much. Goldfein handled this situation with ease. awsome footage
Just don't forget it that Serbs saved 500 US airmen in WW2 from Nazis and that Serbs fought and defend western Europe 500 years against evil from the east, please read the history and then judge the oldest European nation, we are old defenders of christianity, big respect to the US pilots.
Got to see this man in BMT last year a few months before Gen Brown took his seat. Was privileged enough to lay down some mulch around the squadron before his arrival. He’s a legend.
I was in the AF as an A1C TDY to Aviano in 94 when we lost a 16 in bosnia. I was a 46130 at the time (AMMO IFYAAYAS) working Line-D. Aviano was awesome. The A10s used to come back in scraps, held together with luck. F15-Es from Lakenheath ruled the skies. I am a proud veteran. Love your videos. subd
I've heard many times the stories of my poeple's Air defense guys and even regular soldiers with manpads and AA guns that fired on that god damn plane and hitting it and damaging it but manages to escape to Macedonia or Albania..really tough plane to destroy
Keep bringing up videos like this, enjoy you give me an explanation on what’s happening, I am visually impaired so I enjoy how are you, describes the situation.
Great story.. Another great documentary is the DHL A300 Shootdown out of Baghdad (controls shot, hydraulics gone and managed to land only with differential thrust). I think Nat Geographic did a full story on it
Excellent video, especially coming from a former viper pilot, Mover, do you think you can do the HUD footage of Stroke 3 dodging 6 SAM’s during the gulf war?
I met him Mover a year before in ‘98 at Aviano because the Triple Nickel was my TDy for summer training when I was an Air Force Academy cadet. He was special and had that presence that you wanted in a leader. Also Brig. Gen. Tim Peppe was the Wing Commander and we went out with his daughters after he hosted us at his mansion 🤣 who were our age, and had a blast!!!!
There were at least a couple of other successful rescues during that conflict. The ones I am familiar with include Basher 52 (Scott O'Grady) and Vega 31 (Dale Zelco). The latter was a highly experienced F-117 driver and I can just imagine how badly the bad guys wanted him. I remember that evening distinctly, being glued to CNN and hoping they'd get that guy out safe. Yes, the Aerospace Rescue & Recovery folks are the most unsung bad-asses in the AF. I had a chance to meet one of the dudes from the NYANG who was involved in the "Perfect Storm" rescue back in 1991, and who ultimately had to be rescued themselves after being forced to ditch their helo at night in hellacious sea conditions. Their stones are big and made of the finest brass.
Scott was shot down during war in Bosnia not in Serbia. Also that sentence "how badly bad guys wanted him". So bad guy is someone who defends his own country from terrorists and NATO. You are perfect example of people who trust propaganda created by media such as BBC, CNN etc
@@bijeliorao4800 No, I am just a US citizen who, like the citizens of most countries, supports the folks in my nation's military when they are in harm's way. Therefore, by definition, anyone who is trying to kill or capture them are the "bad guys", at least while conflict is in progress. Afterward, it is entirely possible that some can be friends. Hey, Ltc. Zelco, the F-117 driver who was shot down, has since become friends with Zoltan Dani, the fellow who led the anti-aircraft battery that shot down his aircraft. I know of another situation in which the roles were reversed and a USAF F-4 pilot who shot down a Vietnamese Mig pilot during that war have since found each other and become friends. Read B/G Cherry's book "My Enemy, My Friend." All 4 of these gentleman are glad that none of them were killed in their wartime encounters.
@@kevinmadore1794 except that in this case you should have in mind that our army had orders to enable safe extract of your pilots so that your other concerned US citizens wouldnt bomb civilian targets in retaliation, again. I get your love of fairytales, but the fact is that no one was looking for the guy, I even heard that the police was send to stop local civilians from searching the pilot.
And I would really like to ask you to imagine being a friend to the pilot of a foreign contry that dropped a fucking cluster bomb on the city center (hitting a hospital amongst other), after the "conflict" had finished. Your "good guys" were animals whatever the side you take.
Can you please also break down Lt Col Zelko's(the F-117 pilot) shootdown and rescue, if possible? We the viewers would love to hear your insights on that event since you covered General Goldfein's(he was my wing CC at one time when he was an F-117 pilot) shootdown during the same conflict. Thank you.
From the article: "The cockpit recording, which Goldfein confirmed was his, was recovered by the Serbs in the wreckage of his jet and has since made its way onto TH-cam."
@@charlieharper2529 a pilot by himself and unarmed against an entire battalion in Siberia and you still say their weaker. Wow you must think awful highly of that man. He is a hero but I really don’t think the odds were on his side.
@@badbatch974 he wasnt fighting alone, he had US military and NATO behind him. Serbia has 7 million people and was blocked by its neighbors for 10 years.
@@charlieharper2529 did you watch the video? The whole of the USAF and nato did not crash their planes and have to escape from behind enemy lines. It was one man, by himself. Unless you think that’s an easy task? I really don’t care where your from or what side you you prefer. I still say he’s a hero and if you doubt that your wrong.
The tragedy of bravery being spent on misplaced struggles... what a shame this was an illegal and immoral war they were sent to fight in. Anyone gonna talk abou that?
What are you talking about, Serbia committed the biggest genocide in Europe since the Holocaust. You should really rethink your own morality if you think we should have let them continue.
"Don't say my position again". Chilling words, knowing you are going to be on the ground fighting for your very survival in just moments.
It's Serbia, they didn't kill any pilots who ejected. (unless you mean landing in the middle of nowhere)
@@monkegames6133 the only pilot that got killed is I belive the one that got hit by a SAM directly in the cockpit
We don't kill pilots don't worry. We're not savages as shown by the CNN during the war.
@@petemitchell9996 well Serbia never tried to capture/kill American pilots but you cant choose where will your missile hit,it was a radar guided missile
No doubt they were listening. Heck I have a transceiver in my car that can get on Airforce S&R frequencies. Well I say that but I mean back years ago. I don't think they use the HF bands much anymore. My father once got his ass chewed for being on a military channel. Thinking it was in between the 50 or 60 meter band.
After the war they found the canopy in the backyard of a local guy. He had found it and used it to make a dogshelter.
The local museum at Belgrade airport managed to convince the guy to donate it, but in return they had to build his dog a new shelter(which they did)
The canopy, along with a predator drone, are now on public display.
If you ever manage to go to the museum don't have the coffee. I managed to ditch mine but a cactus lost its life in the process.
The cactus died so others may know not to drink the coffee at Belgrade airport
Murderer! What did that poor cactus ever do to you?
Lol
I had no idea Predator MQ-1 were around in the 90's.. first I saw/heard of them was Afghan
Thanks for the info 👍❤
imagine being a dog living in a jet canopy
from a F-16 to throwing rocks like a caveman, what a night.
Who did he throw rocks at? I thought he got rescued.
@@RsRj-qd2cg @10:23 he had to throw rocks at an animal
If I remember right, he went and flew a combat mission again the next day or something like that. Didn't want the shoot down to rattle the squadron.
@@Panzerfaust-zu7pq Being Serbia, probably a bear or wolf
Wildman of the region......call em woodboogers in GA
What's crazy, is my second commander was his wingman and talked about how terrified he was during the situation. Then later in my career, I worked with one of the rescue crew members who picked him up. Said Goldfein was as calm and collected as anyone was when they picked him up, and obviously was grateful. Still buys all of them a 5th every year on the anniversary. He's a good dude.
Gen Fingers Goldfein is a badass and incredible leader that got the Air Force back on the right track. Nicely done, Mover!
@Juha Bach what are you talking about?
@@Deuce_Dufresne Juha Bach is a douche, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Didn't they attack Libya next; turning one of the richest and most developed countries in Africa into a lawless hell hole, ruled by militant gangs, who run slave markets and trafficking?!
Didn't millions of migrants from Africa then pour into Europe, mostly transiting via Libya?
@@tropickman it was Mark Welsh III
@@tropickman refugees came to Europe from Syria
Reminds me of my boss' evasion in North Vietnam after ejecting from his F-4D, and evading for 23 days before being rescued (front seater didn't make it). He only talked about it once. Said he never left any food on his plate after that. Roger Locher. A fine man and a great boss. He was PACAF/SE when I worked for him.
Lodge didn't make it. I know the sad story.
Oyster Flight
did the pilot not have time to eject or did they lose their life later on when evading?
@@abandonedaccount123 i think the g forces made it impossible for him to reach the ejection handles
@@pontiacGXPfan oh, rip :(
Do a breakdown of an f16 pilot evading 6 SAMs from 1991
That'd be awesome.
Or even some Vipers in the Storm video footage there is out there.
Without Chaff / ECM..
Here's the vid: th-cam.com/video/2uh4yMAx2UA/w-d-xo.html
Took the words RIGHT OUT OF MY MOUTH... 😉😂
I would love to hear a breakdown of the BENJY 53 incident from 17 Feb 1991 over Iraq.
My testosterone levels increased by 33% from listening to this story.
Testosterone, is a wonderful drug when performing under stress!
33% from 0% it’s a start at least!
@@SnackBar762 maybe one day you’ll get up to 33%
more like cortisole
@@TheDa6781 😂
Was lucky enough to hear him speak at my college right after he became CSAF: "and yeah, I'm on of those guys that has more takeoffs than landings..." wild story and everyone in it was professional as hell. Great speaker and great dude in person.
Even the guys who shot him down! They also did a great job! Greetings from Serbia
Pilot: “Stop saying my position”
Enemy: “damn”
(Bright orange and white parachute appears)
Enemy: “He had us in the first half, I’m not gonna lie”
It was 2am, they didn't see a thing
@@redonsundays they could still see it that’s why they sent a search party to try and find him and capture him
I don’t understand how the enemy could hear the US military’s radio communication. Was it not a secure communication?
@@ShopperPlug Radios work off radio waves, if anyone is determined enough they could find the right channel and listen to anything being transferred over radio waves.
@@IzmGunner01 No that’s horse crap my friend. Read my original comment carefully again. I said how can the enemy hear the US military’s communication if it was a secure communication. You probably don’t know the vast complexity radio wave communication really is. It is not just a simple “radio wave” as what a 7 years old is taught in school. You have your typical analog waves and the new digital radio waves. With the digital radio waves, it behaves like analog radio waves but has some serious complex math and algorithm implemented to send and receive digital logic communication between two parties using analog radio waves. With digital logic implementation, the communication can be encrypted and secure, which means no one would know jack shit in the radio channel the US military is communicating. You need to crack or decrypt the digital logic encryption in order to understand the radio wave communication. It’s not easy. Only a smart person who knows these specific details of history events like these can answer the question if the communication was secure or what not. The pilot seemed hella paranoid or it’s just a good habit to say as little information as possible because end of the day… Russians hackers really knows how to crack and hack things. I would be horrified if the communication was not a secure communication…
He had to glide down because those giant balls outweighed the available thrust.
😂
😂
I learned this is ground school
And the ice in his veins were freezing up the A/C systems.
Big balls to bomb third world country without any serious fire power
Thanks for the clarification of the video. I first saw this back in 2000 in a museum installation in Novi Sad where you could watch the video while sitting in the actual ejection seat from the airplane that was shot down. The seat is still on display, now in the aviation museum in Belgrade, along with pieces of the F-117, Tomahawks and a full size wooden MiG-29 decoy.
With that coolness after getting hit, he must have played that scenario over in his mind thousands of times. He knew exactly what to check over and what to do based on what functionality he had. Great story. Much better outcome than many of the shoot downs during Vietnam.
Brings back memories of radio chatter between aircraft when I flew Cobra gunships in Vietnam...very similar scenarios.
That's awesome. I can't begin to imagine how stressful that job would be.
It seems crazy that the Cobras were around that long! When you started flying them, were they almost brand new? (as you can tell I'm not a pilot but) as a kid I always loved the Cobras.
"That others may live" is, without a doubt, the most badass motto ever used by any military unit ever.
The coast guard's old unofficial "you have to go out, but you don't have to come back" is kinda up there as well imo
@@radoToy As someone who's served in the Coast Guard, Really appreciate you mentioning
That one and Acknowledging it.
"Semper Paratus"
Definitely has to be scary being hit with a missile. My job in the Navy was anti-ship missile defense so I definitely wanted to be good at it
R2-D2?
@@mjl1966y EW but was good buddies with the FC's
@@MartinGarcia-ok5hb birds away salvo size 2!
@@raandyy right on!
Yeah, not as scary as being bombed though.
so impressive how calm he stays!
surreality and adrenaline the ultimate combination
Great, classic story! I worked for Davi Goldfien when he was an O-6....after this incident. I work in his Command and Control Staff.
Not only was he a very accomplished F16 driver...he is an incredibly humble and soft spoken man.
I have the FLIR video and audio from the lead MH-53M on the rescue. The lead aircraft commander retired a few years back as an O-6 (also was my old squadron commander) and the co-pilot on lead is now a 1-star and former 1st Special Operations Wing commander. I have some good buddies that were on that rescue that night, both on MH-53s and the MH-60G. Pave Low Leads
Fun fact, the same SAM battery shot down F-117, same commander Zoltan Dani
Didn’t know this. A lot of people also do not know that their SAM operators were among the best. Fingers was my Ops Group Commander (O-6) at Mtn Home AFB. He was again my boss a few years later as AFCENT/CC. Great dude! I had the pleasure of hearing his story in person a few times.
Dani Zoltan actually became friends with the pilot he shot down after the war. He has a bakery in a small village close to Belgrade. And a piece of the F-117 is displayed in an aviation musem in Belgrade. :)
And he is actually hungarian. Born and raised in Serbia.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_F-117A_shootdown
That's interesting to hear, and I think its always cool to hear that they met up after the war.
There is good interveiws with the serb commander and he was an extrememly well sorted guy, constantly moving position, lots of training for his boys, very good outfit. Its fantastic that the 2 "enemies" meet after and had no anamosity towards each other
Zoltan Dani did a very careful selection for his crew. A lot of soldiers failed at the stress test.
I wish I had seen this before I met General Goldfein earlier this year. Not only is he cool under pressure but surprisingly cool when confronted with jokes about being a member of the more takeoffs than landings club.
First off, Thank You! Three of my uncles served. Army, Airforce, and Navy, in Vietnam. I lost two of them, 3 yrs ago. I didn't know he was hit, I thought he had a fuel leak, at first. Great breakdown. Thank you again. 🙏 🪖 🇺🇸
He was very lucky that night because second rocket missed him by a mile. Rocket have tracking problem, witch was resolved later that May (not rocket but SNR-125 guidance radar)...But still he has steel nerves....
That's why s-125 always shoot two missiles. There is no option to shoot only one. Chances are 75-90% to hit with one, but with 2 it's almost 100%.
What a fucking badass...
"Start finding me boys" and "I'm a glider now"
How did his plane even take off with the weight of his massive balls of steel
We gave your pilot back...
3 months before I was born, and yet I'm here filling out my RAF application. That's surreal.
good luck
Good luck!
@@Anuj-2 @eidwsatan Thank you!
You got this ❤️
Go get em and keep us informed
“Hammer this is Magic, can you give me Flash?” Probably the coolest sounding line
😎👌🏽 What Does It Mean?
@@prissymommylife6402 its the AWACS controller ‘Magic’ talking to Hammer. Magic is asking for the equivalent of an electronic ping (here I am!) from Hammer for Magic to identify Hammer’s location.
AZ Stang Wow! I Really Appreciate Your Explanation. Thank You So Much! 😘🙏🏽
The “PJ’s” to the rescue. Outstanding job all around.
Flash is for him to enable his mode 4 transponder. On the E-3 his position on the screen flashes
I'm a glider boys and start finding me boys. The amount of calmness that man had after a hostile area missle strike was just insane.
yeah, he says that in a tone like hes just buying coffee at a damned cafeteria or something. Cohones extraordinaire.
I’ve seen three ejections on or near my aircraft carrier, my hat is off to those who fly fighters.
Thank you for your service👍
To be clear I observed firsthand an ejection of a KA-6 Intruder ejection on the catapult.
What carrier were you on?
@@pontiacGXPfan Forrestal, Lexington and the Carl Vincent
@@gregorymaupin6388 forrestal didn't have F18 Legacies until the early 90s and i think all those carriers are all retired now except for the Carl Vinson
Wow C.W...this brought me back. I was TDY filling a gap for Intel Ops at the 510th FS...I took the call from the CAOC asking for Hammer's SAR Card...I had to repeat twice that it wasn't our jet (Hammer was with the 'Nickle' 555th FS). It was a surreal experience to be involved in bringing someone back...never forget it. There were a couple of other 'funny' things that happened that will never make it into any article but it was just an incredible time to be there.
After 10 years in the Army and three combat deployments to Afghanistan I am always amazed to think back to a super sketchy situation or engagement that ended with all of us sitting around in a circle talking shit and eating. I miss that
I was in the 555FS when this happened, Dave Goldfein was our commander, one of the best squadron commanders I ever had. We were all sick to our stomachs when he got shot down.
Was he injured?
Commentary on the hud video of the F16 that avoided 6 SAM launches on inbound and egress to target on 1991/01/19 during the beginning of the Iraq war would be a great video as well.
"Stroke-3 Flight" First Gulf-War, Package Q Airstrike.
SAMs hit one F-16 just as the last bombs were striking the oil refinery. As the flight egressed Baghdad, evading SAMs, another missile impacted near another F-16. Both aircraft were lost, but their pilots survived the war as POWs. One of the two lost aircraft managed to fly for 150 miles on the return route after taking an SA-3 missile just south of Baghdad, before the engine quit.[1] In all, the participants in the wild ride over the capital counted twenty SAMs in the air; one pilot dodged no fewer than six. Many of the F-16 aircraft sustained major or minor damage, but stayed airworthy.
BADASS FREAKING MAN. His story literally sounds like it could be a mission in a video game. Or a movie. He deserves his story to be told. Just think, somewhere out in the rural fields of Serbia. Is General Goldfein's Barretta in the dirt.
Man it is complicated, 100 miles in that heel means alot,. How l saw his engine failed over Serbia, But he glided west. To Bosnia, Tuzla city, where are Bosnian Muslim majority so he was safe and saved. If he was little more concentrated and turn stick to the north west and if it was day he would succeed to land in Croatia Airport. Heroic and professional he was.
U have The movie "Behind enemies lines" how l saw all thrue,
A great story indeed! And one that we in AF Rescue are very proud of! (Gen. Goldfein (Ret) was quite happy with his Rescue forces as well for the remainder of his career!). ;)
Much respect to you sir, and all who ride or drive the jolly greens!
I really enjoy the insight you give with translating the jargon. I had seen this HUD before but dang!! it really adds a level of reality when you break it down and explain what we are actually seeing and hearing.
Fingers was the best CC I ever worked for. I was a young E5 and an Avionics tech back then...I was also the ECM/RTWS guy...my heart sank when I heard the news when I got to shift that morning...only to be relieved when they told me “oh but we picked him up...he’s back now” great CC was an even better CSAF.
Was he injured at all?
I love how he still stays in close contact with the PJs and crew that saved him.
I am stationed at Moody AFB, the base where the rescue group that came after him is stationed, and I got to meet him on a pass through to see the PJs. You don't know gratitude until you see that kinda gratitude
Sounds like the Air Force picked the right man to promote. From what Ive read hes one of the most respected officers in the air force in recent memory.
Outstanding vid. Your comments, insight and explanation are much appreciated!
I forgot to mention; his brother “Goldy” is a good dude also. I know him from my days working as a defense contractor as we were at the company and had mutual flying buddies. Goldy and I had a talk one day about leadership. As smart as he was, and with quite an exceptional career himself, he really praised his brother Fingers a lot during that discussion. IOW, he was secure enough in who he was to heap large helpings of praise on his brother. Not many people can do that sincerely from what I’ve seen, but it came very easy or natural for him to do it for his brother. Their parents did a good job raising them to instill the many positive character traits they both exhibited. - Ronbo
Morning from Britain, its 6:30am and im watching this.
Loved the F16 in my 20s
I remember reading Scott O'Grady's "Basher Five-Two" book as a kid. Truly amazing stories.
@Scott Graham I read Lone Survivor that Navy SEAL book that was an amazing true life story
I think the Scott O'Grady extraction was the one he was referring to as not following protocol,
The book sounds a little different than the reality.
Mr. Lemoine - First, thank you for your many years of service! Second - I love your commentary from a person who lived it. It is incredibly fascinating and have made it through many of your videos. I was a crew chief on a c-141 for a brief time, and worked in aviation awhile too. Spent my 4 years in the AF as a missle cop (crew chief in the reserves). Served in the first gulf war. Love you mix stuff from my generation and beyond. Keep it up sir!
When that happend I was 14 years old 10km from that willge in small city obrenovac.. I lookd planes and aaa shooting from my balcony...
I ja brate, 16-17 godina. Medvedja na granici sa kosovom.....inače cela porodica je živela na kosovu....mamicu im Kako vole da glume heroje a nepričaju Kako su bolnice i vozove gadjali.....
@@scuderia747bhp Srbska vojska je četiri godine razarala bolnice u Hrvatskoj. Pogledaj bolnice u Vukovaru i Pakracu npr.
@@VladimirTironi war is bad. Horrible horrible
@@defamationlaw when English and USA started with bombing of Germany in WW2 there was saying: Who sows wind will harvest storm. After four years of bloody war when Serbian forces bombarded Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, and Kosovo what Serbian government expected? Nobel prize for peace?
@@VladimirTironi You will get nobel price for toxic lies,enjoy your misery!
The pilot has balls of steel. So glad you guys found him quickly. That was a nasty time in war. Does sound like it was Behind Enemy Lines. Always love that movie.
I remember reading a news article on CNN where pilots said that their planes were shaking from missile explosions in the air, sometimes countless number of missiles were fired at the same time (800 missiles in total in the entire conflict fired at NATO planes) and long time ago i saw few intense videos from British pilots dodging missiles.
On some occasions multiple ground radar systems were turned on at the same time in a small area. One for example would be a bait, few would be turned on for 10 seconds and turned off, so that pilots would waste their missiles and miss the radar (One anti radar missile landed in Bulgarian capital, after Yugoslav unit turned of their radar), and some radars would be on for a long time to be able to track the plane. Same tactic used in Vietnam war but way more often back than to confuse the pilots.
+Johnny roastbeef No, Zoltan Dani, the guy who shot him down had balls of steel. Unlike your general, he didn't have 1000 airplanes on his side and population of 700 million, US Navy and sattelites, Tomahawks and God-knows-what on his side, Dani had an old Soviet SA-3 from 60's and he still managed to take down one F-117 and F-16. His unit even had problems turning on their radars because they were being scanned by dozens of aircraft all the time. The fact they were able to score any hits and walk away is a miracle, not that some douche-bag propping up another regime change with 1200 air craft and Tomahawks behind him to be the one unlucky basterd to get shot by something which was obsolete 30 years before the events took place.
Love that he stayed calm, and right to the end had his eye on staying alive, following protocol and knowing that the US and UK, we don't leave people behind.
Just as an aside, maybe do a breakdown of the Russian pilot shot down over Syria who once surrounded by isis blew himself up with a grenade, rather than end up in a snuff video. That was also worthy.
Got to know the door gunner on that rescue mission! He was the Command Chief at Luke AFB…..just retired. He is the most humble awesome dude! So thankful for Airmen like these❤🇺🇸🥃
Because this story ended well, I really appreciate this. Would love for you to do more hud footage analysis. It would be helpful if you could give more details to help the average civilian commerical pilot understand his military brethren.
Those chopper crews that rescued hammer 34 are great.
Somewhere on TH-cam there's an interview with a Serbian officer who was tasked with capturing the pilot. I've always found it interesting to hear what the other side has to say.
Can you give me link?
That would be cool if we could get Dave Goldfein to do an interview with you.
"Oh yes", that would be great!
I'm assuming, if he became chief of staff. He wasn't exactly the rebel they portrayed him as in the movies?
@@ernielarkin4793 That film was terrible.
Loved that you helped explain sayings and conversations that people who don’t fly don’t understand
I've met Gen Goldfein a few times, he is such a great leader and true badass. In his office he displays his boots that he was wearing when he was downed. He painted them green and filled them with concrete in honor of the Jolly Green AF rescue squadron that pulled him from the desert. I hope he is enjoying retirement.
Had the good fortune to meet Gen. Goldfein last year. He was good fun to speak with, his security detail were a load of fun as well. I was presented his challenge coin by his security detail at his direction when he heard I was leaving and couldn't do so himself. Just such a neat experience.
The story goes that when he got back to Aviano, the flight surgeon wanted to evaluate him. He told him that he only had x amount of time to examine him because he was going in to crew rest and was ready to start flying the next day.
He can't flying the day if he ejects from an aircraft. There is a waiting period involved for safety reasons
@@GeeBee909 not necessarily during contingency operations. I know a guy, personally who flew a day after ejecting while we were in Afghanistan.
He was my base commander when I was at Spandahlem AB Germany. Met him several times and heard him speak about it. He’s an amazing person and leader. It really was an honor.
Spang? Were you there when Trigger Stevenson became a mig killer?
@@pontiacGXPfan not sure when that happened. I was there 2000-2006
@@Vapor0040 this was in 93 so you might've missed it. He's a airline pilot now
Being friends with one member of the crew of the unit that shot him down (the same guys shot down F-117) I know the other part of this story as well. Both stories are quite thrilling.
Would be glad to hear it :)
What’s the story
He’s lying like a bitch
I swear every Serb on TH-cam claims they a friends with someone from the crew 🙄
@@Aboleo80 Serbia is not a big country so most are probably true. I didn't meet any of that crew, but I remember seeing a fireball in the sky when F117 was shot down.
Goldfien is the shining example of a professional fighter pilot. He evaded and communicated by the book and got himself recovered fast. Less than a week later he was back in the saddle. He didn't do everything wrong and then quit the AF immediately and try to convince everyone he's supposed to be some kind of hero when he f'ed off back to 'merkuh...like someone else that got shot down in Bosnia. I was there for both.
I was airborne that night in a German ECR TORNADO. Our AOR was further South over Kosovo doing SEAD down there. We were on different frequencies, so I did not hear his famous calls. Our mission was terminated as soon as the word of an unlucky jet was spread. Our post strike AAR was cancelled because all tankers were held for the CSAR mission. We had to divert to Gioia del Colle in Southern Italy, perform a 4am gas and go to make it back to our homebase Picenza in northern Italy. By the time we landed in Piazenza, Hammer 34 was already back in Aviano with his squadron! That was a night, I will never forget.
🇦🇱🇽🇰❤🇩🇪 danken ! Thank you for your service in the name of All Albanians
That was showing coolness under pressure, and I definitely felt the chills.
F-16 was shoot down with late 60 Neva air defence sistem ,F-117 Nighthawk also (some adjustments was done)
Sorry we didn't know it was invisible !
Best greets from Serbia .
Hell yeah fuck nato 🤟
117 is first gen and out dated stealth.
@@testy462 not in 1999
Wow! Great story Mover. My wife and I are up in the Northeast for Xmas and it helped to watch this and help the great dinner we had at one of our son’s house to settle. This Military hero deserves his position. Hope you had a great Xmas. Bill from Slidell.
+Cop Flyer Cool story except that back on planet Earth, and it is a known thing is Serbia, Serbian army had explicity orders not to capture him because they were afraid you animals would bomb hospitals and other civilian buildiings again in retaliation. Not that you haven't been targetting civilians the whole time, but you were pretty butthurt anytime some guy of yours get captured and beaten up a bit. In this particular case, the cops were sent explicitly to stop local villagers from grabing your general.
I gotta hand it to y'all who serve. I was never able too and thank you guys for doing what you do so I can sleep at night
This is intense stuff. Thanks so much for posting this. I have so much respect for our service folk, who go and do this job everyday. Love them all.
You should also be aware that serbian dudes on opposite side also had nerves of steel.:-) It is not easy to fight world's remaining superpower with product of 60s, okay they had also AN/TPS-70, 63 as early warning radars, but you got the point. Keep the good work C.W. :-)
The more I learn about what actually happened there... the more I’m convinced we fought against the wrong people.
The SAM commander who shot down the F-117 had his men practice shutting down and moving their sites in two minutes to minimize the time they could be shot at by HARMs. He dismissed anyone who he thought couldn't handle the pressure of being targeted.
There were also the MiG-29 pilots who sortied without functioning RWRs, including one who was seconds away from getting a missile off before his plane was hit. A few desperate pilots who took off in trainers to try to disrupt raids against their hometowns. The Serbs were definitely more motivated than the Iraqis. It did help that Serbia is mountainous and the weather wasn't very good for much of the campaign.
250th AD enters chat. xD
@@RsRj-qd2cg The SAM commander who shot down the F117 was the same one who shot down this F16: Zoltan Dani. Indeed he trained his team to pack and move in half the standard time reqmt, but it wasn’t 2 minutes, it was sg like half an hour, if I remember well. The SA-3 is not a self-mobile platform, so that would be impossble. He also used many false transmitters to lure HARMs away from the real target. He was a very clever guy indeed - a baker btw in civil life, not even a professional soldier but a reservist, who continued his civil profession after the war...
@@ThomasCallahanJr We were hoping that one day America is going to see what they had done in Serbia... Thank you for your nice words.
This guy has ice water in his veins, he's so cool and calm in a situation you'd expect someone to be VERY stressed, especially when it's all dark and you can't even see your altitude to know when to eject.
I am from Serbia and I was mobilized in that unfortunate 1999. On the night of May 2, I was at VOST (VISUAL SURVEILLANCE OF THE FIELD). That night, I was sitting on a meadow with a radio station and personal weapons (AK 48 and a BERETA F 22 pistol) and watching the sky over Serbia. We were not allowed to turn on the radars and use any technique because we were weaker against you both militarily and technically. I also know a man who was in charge of the air defense that night and who was responsible for shooting down f 16. That night we knew your every move, the pilot who landed on Serbian soil, as well as the units you sent on a rescue mission. The military did not want to look for your pilot or in any way stop your rescue operation. We even ensured that you entered our territory safely and pulled out your pilot. That was our policy then, so that they would not resent you even more and so that they would not shoot at our civilian targets, because you also knew how to do that. That pilot was searched by ordinary people that night with hunting rifles, and whoever had what, about thirty people from that nearby village were looking for him with civilian vehicles through the night. The army was ordered to intercept civilians and not allow them to interfere in your action in any way. So much from me. I just want to say that it wasn't all as "cool" as the gentleman wants to portray. It is also heard in the voice of the pilot who was brought down that he did not care at all and that he was scared, which is completely normal, understandable and simply human (if it were not otherwise normal) he still fell into the then "enemy territory". I want you to know that by any chance it was ordered that night, I'm sure none of your soldiers would return home alive. Thank GOD, so even then there were people who had enough understanding not to deepen the conflict that you started and to kill each other as soon as possible. Do you know that that year was the most beautiful spring in the last 100 years, know that for many of us that spring did not exist that year. There were many civilian casualties that year and much innocent blood was shed. It was, it passed and it never happened again. Let us never forget the innocent victims who lost their lives that beautiful spring (such as Mila, who was only 3 years old), without being involved in any segment in that insane killing and savagery. I wish you all all the best and may there be peace in the future !!!
Dont ruin their story lol. They like to make fairytales and movies later on based on them. The army command was affraid of the retaliatory attack on the civilian targets (a method that this criminal organization has already done several times before whenever they were hit). Our guys shot down the god damn F-16 and they think the army couldnt destroy several helicopters..our brothers on the other side of Drina though..probably would have strap the pilot to a radar:)
Yep, we also had orders to let them pick up pilots. Once it was very close since they were going straight to our position. I was in 12. brigade arj pvo near Beska. And I dont wish them all the best but all the worst, since I know how cowardly they behaved targeting civilians when they couldnt find us, and I say COWARDS because they didnt fly lower to find us...it is much easier to shot civilian target than to engage in real fight. bitches.
@@bbeelluuttaakk lol, straping pilots or any military man was really shocking when it happened ... i wonder if there are stories of those poor men anywhere on internet? ... i cant remeber now were they members of peacekeeping mission or regular army ?
That's one hell of a reply
Great reply. But western propaganda in making savages of us. Of course we could down any of their helicopters. We shot down F117, and maybe two more F117, but they fell somewhere else and we shot B2. And they think we could not shoot down helicopters. I served in 126. brigade, but haven't been in war because i was born few years earliers, but i have honour to serve with people who were there and who told me what was happening and what our men did to fight against whole Europe and US. Many things they told me was never said anywhere in media because west forbids that. And radars they used back in that days are still operational and still work good and of course we still see every exercise and everything that surrounding NATO countries are doing. 🇷🇸
Thanks for telling this story - one of many, I'm sure. What brave pilots and super brave guys who executed the rescue.
I was on air defence systems during Kosovo 99. We could see all the AAA and some of the aircraft going backwards and forwards on missions whilst ground troops sat in Macedonia waiting to go in to Kosovo. Kosovo was the weirdest conflict I think I ever saw in my 12 year career! Thanks for the videos buddy !
Yoi just wait. Once we got a chance to move back we'll be there to claim our lands. In a year, ten or a hundred years
Awesome. Thank You. Thank him, thank the rescue folks, hell , thanks to all. ❤️
Fun fact: The pilot survived and proceeded to change his name to Owen Wilson for safety reasons. He then pursued a Hollywood acting career and eventually landed a role in a 2001 movie called "Behind Enemy Lines" in which he got to play himself.
my father was the weapons load crew chief in aviano when this happened they called him Pap. not many people know about the triple nickel squadron. i only know from the awards and pictures my father has got on the wall from the triple nickel and the storys he tells me now that im older but he remembers this well. the crazzy thing is i was there while all this war was going on but i was only 9 years old and had no idea what was going on why dad was working so much. Goldfein handled this situation with ease. awsome footage
"Lt. Col Goldfein" is a weird thing to hear when you know that he was saved by your rescue group and became "General Goldfein" the CSAF
Of all the times hearing dirt, mud, and singer in training I could never imagine that sinking feeling of having to say it or hear it for real.
Just don't forget it that Serbs saved 500 US airmen in WW2 from Nazis and that Serbs fought and defend western Europe 500 years against evil from the east, please read the history and then judge the oldest European nation, we are old defenders of christianity, big respect to the US pilots.
Got to see this man in BMT last year a few months before Gen Brown took his seat. Was privileged enough to lay down some mulch around the squadron before his arrival. He’s a legend.
"Start finding me boys" and "Let's roll" should be carved in granite at the entrance to the BAMF hall of fame.
I've met him many times both at Shaw and the AOR. Good dude.
Pilot after ejecting: "Alright, evade just like training."
Also pilot while floating down: ::Looks up:: Alrighty then...
I was in the AF as an A1C TDY to Aviano in 94 when we lost a 16 in bosnia. I was a 46130 at the time (AMMO IFYAAYAS) working Line-D. Aviano was awesome. The A10s used to come back in scraps, held together with luck. F15-Es from Lakenheath ruled the skies. I am a proud veteran. Love your videos. subd
I've heard many times the stories of my poeple's Air defense guys and even regular soldiers with manpads and AA guns that fired on that god damn plane and hitting it and damaging it but manages to escape to Macedonia or Albania..really tough plane to destroy
@@bbeelluuttaakk u talking about the a10 warthog ?
@@NoName-fr6mp well obviously:) the Fs were anyway flying well above several km
@@bbeelluuttaakk those flying tanks
@@NoName-fr6mp yep...sad to hear our guys didnt bring at least one of them down
Start Finding me Boys.. "I wanna be Chief of Staff..." The missing part of that RT call
Keep bringing up videos like this, enjoy you give me an explanation on what’s happening, I am visually impaired so I enjoy how are you, describes the situation.
Pozdrav iz Srbije !
"Magic" is the call sign for either the NATO or UK AWACS. Since it wasn't a British accent, probably the former. They were not GCI.
Was in Sig when this was going down. Big time happy when we heard
Great story.. Another great documentary is the DHL A300 Shootdown out of Baghdad (controls shot, hydraulics gone and managed to land only with differential thrust). I think Nat Geographic did a full story on it
Excellent video, especially coming from a former viper pilot,
Mover, do you think you can do the HUD footage of Stroke 3 dodging 6 SAM’s during the gulf war?
Man that video scares me. What a terrifying situation
Apparently his countermeasures were broken too, shot at 6 times and he got out with his skill alone.
@@olivialambert4124 he was later shot down
@@SeekerHead not on that sortie he wasn’t
I met him Mover a year before in ‘98 at Aviano because the Triple Nickel was my TDy for summer training when I was an Air Force Academy cadet. He was special and had that presence that you wanted in a leader. Also Brig. Gen. Tim Peppe was the Wing Commander and we went out with his daughters after he hosted us at his mansion 🤣 who were our age, and had a blast!!!!
Weird....I thought the pilots name was Owen Wilson....
Bro, I just laughed so hard at this comment. If only more people know of Behind Enemy Lines, and how it was pulled from actual events.
Cant confuse bad assery and propaganda.
Plus Owen Wilson was a WSO in the back so her wasn’t doing jack shit in the airplane lol
Incredible story, very chilling words when you understand the situation, wow! Nerves of steel paid off followed by a great rescue. Thanks Mover.
There were at least a couple of other successful rescues during that conflict. The ones I am familiar with include Basher 52 (Scott O'Grady) and Vega 31 (Dale Zelco). The latter was a highly experienced F-117 driver and I can just imagine how badly the bad guys wanted him. I remember that evening distinctly, being glued to CNN and hoping they'd get that guy out safe. Yes, the Aerospace Rescue & Recovery folks are the most unsung bad-asses in the AF. I had a chance to meet one of the dudes from the NYANG who was involved in the "Perfect Storm" rescue back in 1991, and who ultimately had to be rescued themselves after being forced to ditch their helo at night in hellacious sea conditions. Their stones are big and made of the finest brass.
Scott was shot down during war in Bosnia not in Serbia. Also that sentence "how badly bad guys wanted him". So bad guy is someone who defends his own country from terrorists and NATO. You are perfect example of people who trust propaganda created by media such as BBC, CNN etc
@@bijeliorao4800 No, I am just a US citizen who, like the citizens of most countries, supports the folks in my nation's military when they are in harm's way. Therefore, by definition, anyone who is trying to kill or capture them are the "bad guys", at least while conflict is in progress. Afterward, it is entirely possible that some can be friends. Hey, Ltc. Zelco, the F-117 driver who was shot down, has since become friends with Zoltan Dani, the fellow who led the anti-aircraft battery that shot down his aircraft. I know of another situation in which the roles were reversed and a USAF F-4 pilot who shot down a Vietnamese Mig pilot during that war have since found each other and become friends. Read B/G Cherry's book "My Enemy, My Friend." All 4 of these gentleman are glad that none of them were killed in their wartime encounters.
@@kevinmadore1794 except that in this case you should have in mind that our army had orders to enable safe extract of your pilots so that your other concerned US citizens wouldnt bomb civilian targets in retaliation, again. I get your love of fairytales, but the fact is that no one was looking for the guy, I even heard that the police was send to stop local civilians from searching the pilot.
And I would really like to ask you to imagine being a friend to the pilot of a foreign contry that dropped a fucking cluster bomb on the city center (hitting a hospital amongst other), after the "conflict" had finished. Your "good guys" were animals whatever the side you take.
@@bbeelluuttaakk It's amazing how brainwashed they are isn't it. Stalin would be envious.
Thank you for breaking this down.
Can you please also break down Lt Col Zelko's(the F-117 pilot) shootdown and rescue, if possible? We the viewers would love to hear your insights on that event since you covered General Goldfein's(he was my wing CC at one time when he was an F-117 pilot) shootdown during the same conflict. Thank you.
Stupid question: Aren't the comms encrypted? (Referring to Hammer 34 requesting that they should stop talking about his position)
would you bet your life on it being encrypted?
Why do you worry about your house getting robbed? Don’t you have locks?
Most of the comms are encrypted. Important flight data of course. There are many things our (Serbian) SAM operators couldn't understand.
What if someone unintentionally transmits on 123.45. That ain't encrypted.
As a prior service Army commo guy, I was wondering the same thing. We changed COMSEC regularly in Iraq. Not sure what things were like in 99 though.
This is the best breakdown video you've done.
Great job Serbia , nice shot :D !❤️🇷🇸🔥
Thanks for sharing this. Awesome timing, too, given GEN Goldfein's retirement a couple months ago.
How'd the HUD tape get back into US hands? Recovered by SAR? Genuinely curious
From the article: "The cockpit recording, which Goldfein confirmed was his, was recovered by the Serbs in the wreckage of his jet and has since made its way onto TH-cam."
@@stormingdemon Thanks!
@@stormingdemon Thankfully he didn't end up on TH-cam (which didn't exist at that time).
@@cassiespencer6134 or worse yet, liveleak.
Calm cool and collected. You guys are all warriors what a terrifying but awesome story thanks for shining light on it!
Two gold stars to represent his two brass balls he flys with.
it doesnt take big balls to fight weaker opponent. Actually, its cowards job.
@@charlieharper2529 a pilot by himself and unarmed against an entire battalion in Siberia and you still say their weaker. Wow you must think awful highly of that man. He is a hero but I really don’t think the odds were on his side.
@@badbatch974 in Siberia?
@@badbatch974 he wasnt fighting alone, he had US military and NATO behind him. Serbia has 7 million people and was blocked by its neighbors for 10 years.
@@charlieharper2529 did you watch the video? The whole of the USAF and nato did not crash their planes and have to escape from behind enemy lines. It was one man, by himself. Unless you think that’s an easy task? I really don’t care where your from or what side you you prefer. I still say he’s a hero and if you doubt that your wrong.
"start finding me boys"
dude that give me chills👌
The tragedy of bravery being spent on misplaced struggles... what a shame this was an illegal and immoral war they were sent to fight in. Anyone gonna talk abou that?
What are you talking about, Serbia committed the biggest genocide in Europe since the Holocaust. You should really rethink your own morality if you think we should have let them continue.