SERB AIR DEFENSE SHOT DOWN U.S. AIRCRAFT

BIJELJINA, JUNE 1 /SRNA/ – The air defense forces /PVO/ of the Army of Republika Srpska in northwestern Bosnia shot down a U.S. F-16 fighter jet on June 2, 1995, while its pilot, Scott O’Grady, survived by ejecting from the aircraft.

O’Grady and his fellow pilot, Bob Wright, had taken off from NATO’s base in Aviano, Italy, on a mission against Serb positions and did not expect such fierce resistance, according to the magazine The National Interest, for which the pilots later recounted the events.

Although they were familiar with the locations of the Army of Republika Srpska’s air defense positions, they nevertheless flew into intense anti-aircraft fire.

They were met by a concealed mobile missile unit of the Serb army, which had not been detected by NATO’s advanced pilot warning system known as "Magic", which received information from spy satellites and U-2 reconnaissance aircraft.

"At exactly 3:03 p.m., my warning system showed a red dot. I stared at my console in disbelief. At the same time, the alarm in my helmet went off. Enemy radar had locked onto me! Forget the threat from the north. This was coming from the east", O’Grady said.

He stated that Serb forces launched two missiles without the immediate use of radar.

According to the account, the Serb troops delayed activating their radar in order to avoid detection, switching it on only when the missiles were seconds away from the aircraft flown by O’Grady and Wright.

O’Grady explained that he did not immediately see the white smoke trail left by the missile, which is the only visual indication available to a pilot of an incoming threat.

Once the missile’s motor shuts off, the smoke trail disappears, while the projectile continues toward its target silently and at a speed twice that of the F-16 aircraft.

He added that the first Serb missile passed between his aircraft and that of his wingman, while the second air-defense missile struck his jet, splitting it in half and physically separating the nose section from the cockpit.

The American pilot ejected and parachuted onto territory held by Serb forces, after which, the article states, an intensive search operation began.

O’Grady hid for a week and at one point, he said, a Serb helicopter searching for him came so close that he could see the faces of the soldiers inside.

U.S. Marines located and rescued him on June 8, 1995.