A CSAR Tale

Nice....Aircrew pulled out of the fires never forget.

I can remember back when if you were wearing an ECM shop hat, you would get dragged into the O club and have to crawl out, and never buy a drink. Thank whoever that the barracks was only half a block away.  Egress guys got a few bottles too.

An inspirational story of human endurance.

Toshi

Stik, do you happen to know if the movie 'Behind Enemy Lines' was based on this story? Just seemed to have some parallels, so I was wondering.

--Chris

No, "Behind Enemy Lines" was "inspired by", but not based upon Scott O'Gradys shoot down over Bosnia in June 1995. He spent several days on the ground evading hostile Serbs before he was able to make radio contact with friendly aircraft. He was then succesfully extracted by a Marine Corps TRAP (Tactical Recovery of Aircraft Personnel) Team from USS Kearsarge in the Adriatic Sea. 

There was one other succesful CSAR of a US airman in 1999. The pilot of the F-117 downed by the Serbs near Belgrade was also rescued by US forces earlier in that campaign. 

I met the crew chief of the CH-53E that extracted O'Grady.  Apparently, O'Grady went running right for the helo.  The crew chief was thinking something along the lines of, "What the *heck* is this guy doing."  The crew cheif, not sure of who exactly was running at him, punched O'Grady in the gut before throwing him on the bird.  I don't know how much of the story is exaggerated, but I bet there's a kernel of truth in it.  

There is some truth in that war story. He did not want to relinquish his pistol, so they had to smack it out of his hand, prior to getting him on the 53. Here is that story...

https://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/rescue-basher-52

"I hate to hit an officer." - Sgt Pfister

Yeah right.

-Chris

ridleusmc

"I hate to hit an officer." - Sgt Pfister

Yeah right.

-Chris

 

"When are ya gonna learn, Nestor? You can saything you want to them officers, as long as your put 'sir' at the end of it."

The Bridges at Toko Ri

Good story from the old country...remebering how p@#$%& the Serbs were

Yes, I have my own conflicting opinions of those folks as individuals and as a group, based upon my experiences there, but will not share them on the open forum. Suffice to say I received the most unfriendly experiences in their areas.

So since I mentioned it earlier, here is the tale of the third CSAR in the Balkans from that era, the downing of the F-117 in the opening days of Operation Allied Force in March 1999... 

http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/the-rescue-of-vega-31-how-special-ops-forces-saved-an-f-117-pilot-in-serbia/

My understanding was that O'Grady did not make contact friendly air until the night before he was recovered. Until that time it was not even known if he was alive. No beeper was heard when he ejected and his wingman did not see his parachute when it deployed so those factors were a major source of that situation. IIRC Air Force CSAR SOP was to not to start the ball rolling on a pick up until confirmation that the airman was alive on the ground or on his way to the ground in a parachute.

Got ya... who were you with?

Commo... you can talk about us, but you can't talk without us...

stikpusher

Yes, I have my own conflicting opinions of those folks as individuals and as a group, based upon my experiences there, but will not share them on the open forum. Suffice to say I received the most unfriendly experiences in their areas.

So since I mentioned it earlier, here is the tale of the third CSAR in the Balkans from that era, the downing of the F-117 in the opening days of Operation Allied Force in March 1999... 

http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/the-rescue-of-vega-31-how-special-ops-forces-saved-an-f-117-pilot-in-serbia/

 

The article says it is not known how the 117 was tracked. It was supposedly tracked by some combination of an old low frequancy British radar and some Soviet technology.

castelnuovo

 

 

stikpusher

Yes, I have my own conflicting opinions of those folks as individuals and as a group, based upon my experiences there, but will not share them on the open forum. Suffice to say I received the most unfriendly experiences in their areas.

So since I mentioned it earlier, here is the tale of the third CSAR in the Balkans from that era, the downing of the F-117 in the opening days of Operation Allied Force in March 1999... 

http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/the-rescue-of-vega-31-how-special-ops-forces-saved-an-f-117-pilot-in-serbia/

 

 

 

 

The article says it is not known how the 117 was tracked. It was supposedly tracked by some combination of an old low frequancy British radar and some Soviet technology.

 

Well, they do not want to give away any confirmation in open source material. Even though the F-117 is now retired, the ability to track stealth aircraft exists, and the necessities of both sides of move and countermove to do so are kept classified to keep the other side guessing.