Clear War,
It is clear that you live in a complete fantasy world. Vega 31 was not shot down in Kosovo. Vega 31 has been named he came out and revealed his identitiy during Jan 2006. Where have you been? The airforcetimes is subscription. A subscriber posted the following onto rec.aviation.military. The poster edited out his name for personal reasons. What you want is a subscriber to inform you of his name. Phantom a regular poster on here should be able to tell you? Clear War you may also not know that Vega 31 gave an interview back in 1999 (see second link)

http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-AIRPAPER-airpaper02272006.php

After long silence, pilot shot down in Serbia recounts dramatic rescue
Nearly seven years ago, an Air Force F-117 Nighthawk, call sign Vega 31, was shot down over Serbia. Though enemy forces tried ferociously to capture the pilot, a rescue task force found the pilot first and brought him home. (For subscribers only)

Air Force Times February 27, 2006

After long silence, pilot shot down in Serbia recounts dramatic rescue

By Darrel Whitcomb

Nearly seven years ago, an Air Force F-117 Nighthawk, call sign Vega
31, was shot down over Serbia. Though enemy forces tried ferociously to
capture the pilot, a rescue task force found the pilot first and
brought him home. Little has been released publicly about the incident and the harrowing operation. Since the shootdown, the pilot has remained behind the scenes and shared details only with those who had a “need to know.”

Only now has he agreed to tell his story. Vega 31 – Lt. Col. Vega 31
– held an audience in thrall Jan. 25 at the National Museum of the
United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

At the museum, it was standing room only as Vega 31, now on staff at
Headquarters Air Combat Command, recounted the incident.

The weather was thick over Serbia that night in March 1999. Only the
F-117s and B-2 Spirits were sent in against the most critical targets.
Vega 31 delivered his bombs near Belgrade. Both hit their targets.
Minutes later, he saw Serbian missiles streaking toward his aircraft.
Their explosions mortally damaged the Nighthawk and it violently
tumbled out of control.

As the negative G-forces built up, Vega 31 had to fight to reach the
ejection handles. Luckily, he did, and he rocketed into the cold night
air.

Temporal distortion seemed to expand the next few moments as he fell
earthbound. Then he separated from the seat and his parachute opened.
As he descended only 20 miles from Belgrade, he resolved that the enemy
had gotten his jet, but that was all they would get. He pictured
himself casually talking to the Serb who had shot him down. “Really
nice shot,” he would acknowledge, “but you are not going to get
me!”

Vega 31 knew at that very moment rescue forces were gearing up. It
focused his thinking because he knew his actions would be critical to
their success. It was a “powerful motivation,” he said.

For the next 3½ hours, Vega 31 recounted for the audience the ebb and
flow of events as he waited in that muddy Serbian field. He shared some
of his actions, being careful to avoid any revelation of still-classified information.

He talked about hearing and seeing Serbian troops and civilians combing
the fields looking for him. One dog came close enough for Vega 31 to
get an unforgettable look at it. “I could pick that dog out of a lineup today,” he said.

Mostly, he spoke of his rescuers. He has contacted many of those who
played a role in his recovery. He mentioned as many as he could and
showed photos and video.

He talked about the KC-135 crew who first reported his shoot-down and
about the support personnel from so many units who worked tirelessly.
He mentioned the F-16 pilots who maintained top cover so the rescue
armada of helicopters could come in.

There was the MC-130 crew of Ogre 01 who were seemingly everywhere in
the operation. And he spoke most endearingly of the A-10 pilots,
helicopter crews and pararescuemen involved. To honor them all, he said
he knew that “no matter what the risk, everything possible would be
done to get me out.”

When those in the audience clamored to ask questions, Vega 31 had to
weigh his answers carefully. They asked how his wife was notified. He
explained that, at the time, she was serving in the Air Force at
Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. When the headquarters there received the
message of the shootdown, the wing commander had to make sure he was
able to talk to her before word spread through the unit.

Perhaps the most touching moment was Vega 31’s description of
returning to his base at Aviano, Italy. His co-workers turned out to
welcome him home, including his crew chief, Airman 1st Class Bart
Ramsey, intelligence specialist Airman 1st Class Christine Yeafoli and
targeteer Airman 1st Class Katrina Kauderer. He hugged them all.

To Kauderer, he presented an American flag, which he had taken on the
flight for her.

To the audience, he said, “Thank you for being the kind of nation
that would do this.”

The writer spent 30 years in the Air Force, both active and reserve. He
is a veteran of two wars and the author of “The Rescue of Bat 21.”

Vega 31’s 1999 interview:

http://www.dcmilitary.com/airforce/capitalflyer/archives/apr9/cf_a4999.html

Rescued Stealth pilot details evasion, inspiration
By 1st Lt. Matthew Borg
31st Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy (AFPN) — During his more than six hours behind enemy lines, the U.S. F-117 pilot who ejected during a night mission over Yugoslavia March 27, waited for his rescuers with a cloth American flag under his flight suit and against his body.

Given to him by an airman as he strapped in for his mission, he secured the flag before he took off, and that’s where it remained until his return, providing him a calming reassurance throughout.

“A moment like this is a prayer in object form,” said the pilot, whose identity is being protected for operational security reasons. “Her giving that flag to me was saying, ‘I’m giving this to you to give back to me when you get home.’

“For me it was representative of all the people who I knew were praying,” said the pilot. “It was a piece of everyone and very comforting. It helped me not let go of hope. Hope gives you strength … it gives you endurance.”

In numerous debriefings over the past week, the pilot spoke of this endurance along with his determination to survive and evade, but credits his return home to the search and rescue team that plucked him from deep within Serbian territory.

Punctuated by repeated statements of gratitude to his rescuers, the stealth fighter pilot detailed his emergency ejection, enemy evasion and eventual rescue.

“I knew I was fairly deep into Serbian territory,” said the Air Force pilot. “I had guessed my position was within 20 miles of Belgrade — not a happy thought, considering the risk involved in a combat search and rescue that deep into Serbian territory.”

The pilot said he purposely wasn’t optimistic about a timely extraction, and was prepared for potential capture.

“I knew everybody was doing everything they could, but I also knew what was involved in trying to recover me,” said the pilot. “Even though that team is highly trained and extremely skilled, I knew the risks and complexity, as well as the danger. I still can’t believe that I got on board that (rescue vehicle) with our guys.”

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but the pilot did provide officials with a detailed account of his ejection from the aircraft.

While he doesn’t know exactly what the negative G-forces were prior to his ejection, he described them as “enormous,” potentially as high as five times the force of gravity.

“I remember having to fight to get my hands to go down toward the (ejection seat) handgrips,” he explained. “I always strap in very tightly, but because of the intense G-forces, I was hanging in the straps and had to stretch to reach the handles.”

While he recalls the intense strain involved in getting his fingertips to the ejection handles, he said he doesn’t remember making the conscious decision to eject from the aircraft.

“‘Am I going to know when it’s time to get out?’ is the question on every fighter pilot’s mind,” he said. “The one fragment of this whole event I can’t remember is pulling the handles. God took my hands and pulled.”

Uninjured except for a few minor abrasions, the Nighthawk pilot described the ejection as “violent.” Although slightly disoriented after the high-airspeed ejection, he was very aware he had just bailed out deep within Serbian territory.

“It didn’t panic me,” he said. “I just got very busy doing what I needed to do.”

After his parachute had deployed, he said he immediately started working the rescue.

“I remember thinking, ‘Why wait until I hit the ground? Let’s go for it now,'” he explained.

The pilot attributes a great deal of his success behind enemy lines to his Air Force SERE training, an intensive program that includes survival, evasion, resistance and escape instruction.

“There was not a whole lot of this that I actually had to ponder,” he said. “The SERE training and periodic life support refresher training provide a very strong foundation of survival techniques. Having experienced (survival and evasion) at some level, even though it was in the training environment, provided some level of familiarity.”

Because of the potential that the Serbs were also monitoring various radio frequencies, the pilot had to minimize his radio transmissions and calls for help.

After making radio contact with NATO forces, he used the remaining minutes of his descent to survey the land — looking for landmarks, areas of cover and a landing site.

Parachuting into a freshly plowed field approximately 50 yards from a road and rail track intersection, he immediately began burying the life raft and other survival equipment automatically deployed during the ejection sequence.

“There was some activity at that intersection,” he said. “Thank God no one actually saw me come down.” While he couldn’t absolutely confirm that the cars, trucks and people he heard were looking for him, he did hear search dogs. At one point, a dog came within 30 feet of where he was huddled.

The pilot spent the next six hours hunkered down in this “hold-up site” in a shallow culvert 200 yards away from his landing site. It was during this time that many questions began racing through his head.

“A very important part of the whole combat search and rescue operation is to minimize transmission on the radio,” he said. “However, for the downed guy, it’s very unsettling to not know what’s going on. You’re thinking, ‘Do they know I’m here? Do they know my location? Where are the assets and who is involved? What’s the plan? Are they going to try to do this tonight?’ It’s the unknowns that are unsettling.”

But amid this road race of thoughts, the Air Force officer had something tangible to get him through six hours of solitude amidst barking search dogs, passing headlights and pursuit trucks roaring up and down the nearby road — the American flag.

And while the downed pilot waited, so did the American people, including those forces deployed to Aviano Air Base, Italy.

“When we heard he was down,” said the airman who had given him the flag, “it was as if we had lost a member of our family. These guys aren’t just pilots to us. We know their families and they know ours.”

The pilot endured for more than a quarter of a day until the special operations unit arrived. With minimal communication but careful and discreet authentication of his identity, the search and rescue team was able to ingress to the pilot’s hold-up location. Search and rescue specialists with emergency medical capabilities and whose mission is to recover combat air crews in austere environments quickly extracted the pilot and whisked him toward friendly ground.

Among the first to greet the rescued pilot at Aviano was the airman. Amid the hugs, back slapping and hand shaking, the F-117 pilot spotted her in the crowd and reached into his flight suit to reveal the flag he had promised to return to her.

“People have asked me if I was thinking about the flag I had given him,” the airman said. “I wasn’t thinking about it at all. I just wanted him back.”

Now, just days after his rescue, the downed pilot is anxious to get right back in the cockpit.

“The leadership said they wanted to give me a breather and that it wasn’t my choice,” said the pilot. “All I asked was that I be able to stay here for as long as possible before heading back. I think all of us need to have time together to visit with our emotions.”

Allied Force air operations continue to launch here day and night, with approximately 140 warplanes operating out of the Northeastern Italy air base. Nearly 400 NATO aircraft in the region have been ordered by Gen. Wesley Clark, supreme allied commander Europe, to focus more intensely on Yugoslav forces.

While the rescued pilot will be miles away from the combat for the foreseeable future, he did want the American public to know how hard those still supporting the operations are working.

“The American people can be very proud of the devotion and hustle everyone is exhibiting over here,” said the pilot. “Keep them in your prayers and support them.” (Courtesy of U.S. Air Forces in Europe News Service)”

Clear War,

Lt. Col. Stephan J. Laushine who led both rescue missions into Serbia to
rescue the pilots of the two aircraft shot down during Operation Allied
Force (F-117A, serial 82-806 and F-16CG, serial 88-0550) revealed during a
TV interview that all three choppers (MH-53 and MH-60s) were hit by small
arms fire during the mission. Two took hits to the rotors and another took a
hit in the aft cabin section. The MH-60G ‘Pave Hawk’ that picked up the F-16
pilot sustained significant damage as revealed by the following:

Details of the awards and the overall team that rescued the F-16 and F-117 pilots from inside Serbia:

http://www.f-117a.com/Vega31-4.html

Clear War, all this is obviously a figment to your mindset.

The reason he kept quiet for a long time is because it’s not him, that person who gave that interview is some one else the U.S. Gov told to do that in order not to show the real pilot was killed, just like Suddam’s sons 1. http://www.vialls.com/transpositions/hussein.html 2. http://www.vialls.com/iraq/vaudeville.html

Are 2000 warheads really sufficient??? I don’t think so observing recent US anti-Russian activity! Only 40000 hydrogen bombs hanged over America can deter Bush from mounting US military bases and ABM sites near Tallin, Vitebsk, Kharkov, Sevastopol, Tbilisi, Baku, Bishkek and Petropavlovsk! Got it, buddy??? If so, try to enlighten Putin, too! 😀

don’t worry we still have ALL 39,000 Nuke warheads, we never have nor will EVEN dismantel 1 of them, threw out the 90’s all you saw being dismanteld was fake warheads, as a matter of fact even the U.S. has not dismanteld 1 of it’s nukes, all these lies are kept up in order not to pankin the public.

, no relatives coming forward saying “my son/brother/husband was a pilot & he’s disappeared”*, no prisoners, no bodies, no wreckage.
*Note that following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, an Israeli journalist produced a list of Israeli dead up to a week before they were officially announced, simply by tracking death notices put in newspapers by relatives. In an open society, you can’t keep these things secret. Too many people know who can’t be kept quiet.

This is the flaw that you Americans have, first U.S. Gov would tell media not to air thier cries for thier relatives, in an open society U.S. media is cencoered beyond beliefe, jews just beause in this case with the jews doesn’t mean it would happen in U.S. For example F-117 pilot would was shot down in Kosavo, U.S. claims he was rescued but he was actually killed, thats why you never saw him being interviewd on T.V.

All this to hide missing informations from the Easter side.
MiG stopped the production of MiG-21s in the 70s and the Cold War ended in the 90s.
How about a production list of MiG-21s produced in the SU with serials? How about a list about the exports?!
Our Russian friends are strong in questioning Western datas, but they are exceptional weak to present such basic datas only. Ever asked the reasons about that?!

You didn’t understand what I’m saying, so here it is again, U.S. put 840+ aircraft in Kosavo bombing, if U.S. could show us the serial # of these planes that went to Italy and Macidoinia, before they headed to Kosavo, and after the war if U.S could show us the planesand thier serial!#’s after coming back to U.S. then U.S. prooved that only 1. F-117 and a F-16 got shotdown, other than that there no eveidence but U.S.’s word that “ALL U.S. planes sent to Kosavo except F-117 came back.” You get what I’m saying now??

Oh Jesus…there are no 700-800 US POWS in Korea still…lol…

This is funny…let me cause some more trouble now…Clear War…what can you tell me about the Serbian AF’s raid on Rinas AFB in Albania that destroyed 18 Apaches on the ground. How was that covered up from the world?? I’ll tell you a secret…I was in Albania at the time…Rinas AFB is about 5km from where I live. Please explain to me HOW was it possible to cover up that event from happening…from my own eyes??

I eagerly await your answer…

Can you hear explosions from 5kms?

There are missing soldiers from WW1, WW2, Vietnam – every war big enough. It doesn’t mean there’s a cover-up, it means they don’t have an identified body. We have an “unknown soldier” in a war memorial in London, from the First World War. No DNA testing back then. Never identified.

Someone killed by artillery could easily be unidentifiable. Sometimes there wasn’t even a body to find – blown to pieces or burned. Bodies of soldiers are sometimes, even now, uncovered on battlefields from the two world wars. Planes sometimes crashed & were never found . Korea was just the same.

BTW, you can check the KORWALD database for US aircraft which were lost in Korea – it notes for some of them that the plane wasn’t found, or the body or bodies of the crew were not recovered. “Cover-up”? ********! It doesn’t take a conspiracy, just the way things normally happen. Wars aren’t nice tidy clean affairs with someone present to pick up every body & note down who it was.

Let me correct my self, there are 700-800 pow’s from the Korean war that U.S. Gov has not told the U.S. Pop about, so there you have it, it’s easy to cover up losses.

Here is a hypothetical thead for you guys.
If Saddam Hussein was still in power and he knew for sure he wouldn’t be able to provide himself with the services of modern western jets, where would you tell him, as an advisor, to do his shopping for fourth generation fighters? Would you have him go to Russia for your usual run of the mill Su-30s or Mig-29s or would you have him go to China for a few FC-1 or a few J-10s or even both!
Anyway, any thoughts would be appreciated and remember, this is just a hypothetical question. Cheers 🙂

Western planes would be a wast of time.Go to Russia and get 400 Su-37 Terminators, and thats all folks.

Clear War, it might have helped if you had tried to read the material. Free-fall from rest: means I am not saying he pushed. I am saying he just dropped.

It does not take .05 sec. Who told you that? Not me.

It takes 0.5 sec. I have been polite, taken pains to be clear, and there is no trick here. My data is correct, my calculation is correct. Weight has nothing to do with this.

You may not accept it, but you are wrong. You may not wish to understand it, but you are wrong.

It was not necessary to re quote my material: please delete it.

Nothing more to say.

Are you telling me “something that falls on earth from 3 feet that takes half a second to hit the ground, will not take 3 seconds to hit the moon’s surface if dropped from 3 feet also”

——————————————————————————–