Audio from the shootdown of VEGA-31 (The F-117 shootdown)

In march of 1999 the Serbians managed to knock down an F-117. it represent the only known loss of a stealth aircraft in combat. The shoot down is a whole seperate story, but the rescue in and of itself is like a movie. The audio of the encounter from where the initial declaration of a mayday to punch out. Colonel Dale Zelko, the pilot of the of the doomed fighter narrates the back and forth between, himself (and his limited radio capacity) as he is parachuting down, the controllers making sense of what is going on, coordinating CSAR and tanking, and other F-117's in the air asking about and offering to assist a fellow airmen. The relative calm of everyone in the air despite the critical situation is so very impressive as well Its quite a listen.

www.thedrive.com...

a reply to: FredT

Some additional background...

He observed the two missiles punch through the low cloud cover and head straight for his aircraft. The first passed over him, close enough to cause buffeting, but did not detonate. The second missile detonated, causing significant damage to the aircraft and causing it to tumble, out of control. The explosion was large enough to be seen from a KC-135 Stratotanker, flying over Bosnia.

Zelko was subject to intense g-forces as the aircraft tumbled and had great difficulty in assuming the correct posture for ejecting. After his parachute deployed, he used his survival radio to issue a mayday call and was able to contact the KC-135 that had seen him shot down. Zelko used his survival radio while still descending although this was contrary to his training. He reasoned the altitude would give his signal the best possible range and was also sure he would be quickly taken prisoner by Yugoslavian forces on the ground and wanted to confirm he was unhurt before this happened.

wiki

So was the companion present? And what would it have been doing to assist the F-117s?

a reply to: E92M3

Any other aircraft wouldn't have done much good, as the battery commander was too smart. They moved the battery into position manually, and only brought the radar up for extremely short bursts before turning it off again.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Didn't they also fly the same routes in and out which greatly helped the situation?

a reply to: Woody510

That's what was reported. They had used the same route on at least one or two previous nights, not necessarily with this aircraft, but the same route. It's how he was able to place the launcher where he did.

a reply to: Zaphod58

There's a link to the rescue story in the audio report story. That was a really interesting read also. Brought up a valid point about a stealthy CSAR vehicle needed for the future. Or maybe thats where the stealthy blackhawks come into play now?

a reply to: Woody510

CSAR is another of those missions everyone needs but no one wants. The Air Force was putting money into a new platform that was dedicated for CSAR under the CSAR-X, but as usual mismanaged it so badly they killed it and are going with a new Blackhawk, eight years later. It was initially awarded to Boeing in 2009 or so, with a new H-47 variant. They had it overturned on legal challenges, so they rebid it around 2013, and had one bid submitted.

a reply to: Zaphod58

It does make you wonder if a really high ranking official was in the same situation and their rescue kept being delayed how long it would take for a project like that to get green lit.

a reply to: Woody510

You'd see it fast tracked with only the F-35 at higher priority.

a reply to: Zaphod58




quite hawk

Black Triangle work?

a reply to: penroc3

Where did you get that from?

I know it's probably a question I can look up but I enjoy asking the ATS community as you get better answers than from google. I've seen the images of the cockpit canopy of what looked like to be in a museum. What happened to the rest of the wreckage? Was it recovered? Were there pieces missing taken by enemy forces? Just curious

Listened to the small video clip of the radio commentary, makes you wonder what's going through the pilots head while drifting down under the parachute

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

I think the bulk of the wreckage was on display wasn't it. I heard other countries got some parts as well.

a reply to: Woody510

if i told you id i have to kill you, lol jk...

a reply to: penroc3

Looks like the blackhawk off arma 3 that's been updated.

originally posted by: Woody510
a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

I think the bulk of the wreckage was on display wasn't it. I heard other countries got some parts as well.

I'm not sure about the bulk of the wreckage I only saw a picture of the cockpit canopy on display. I know if it landed in my field I'd be taking pieces of it and hiding it.

My main curiosity with what happened to the wreckage is that I wondered if parts were taken and give to another countries govt

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that China almost definitely asked for parts of the RAM.

They have a few more parts than just the canopy.

a reply to: Woody510

arma 3?

and that is definitely not the same helio they used in Pakistan. just a cool pic