On 27 March 1999, during the
NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Serbia and Montenegro, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombing ...
amid the
Kosovo War
The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...
, a
Yugoslav Army unit shot down a
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is an officially retired American single-seat, subsonic, twin-engined, stealth attack aircraft developed by Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). It was ...
stealth ground attack aircraft of the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
by firing a
S-125 Neva/Pechora
The S-125 ''Neva/Pechora'' (, NATO reporting name SA-3 ''Goa'') is a Soviet surface-to-air missile system that was designed by Aleksei Isaev to complement the S-25 Berkut, S-25 and S-75 Dvina, S-75. It has a shorter effective range and lower enga ...
surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...
. It was the first ever shootdown of a stealth technology airplane. The pilot ejected safely and was rescued by
U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen conducting search and rescue.
The F-117, which entered service with the U.S. Air Force in 1983, was cutting-edge equipment, and the first operational aircraft to be designed using
stealth technology
Stealth technology, also termed low observable technology (LO technology), is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive and active electronic countermeasures. The term covers a range of military technology, methods used to make personnel ...
; by comparison, the Yugoslav air defenses were considered relatively obsolete.
[
]
Downing
On 27 March 1999, the 3rd Battalion of the 250th Air Defense Missile Brigade of the Army of Yugoslavia, under the command of Lt. Colonel (later Colonel) Zoltán Dani, downed F-117 Air Force serial number ''82-0806'', callsign "Vega 31".
The Army of Yugoslavia unit was equipped with a Yugoslav version of the Soviet Isayev S-125 "Neva" missile system (NATO reporting name
NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...
, SA-3 "Goa").
At about 8:15p.m. local time, several missiles with a range of about were launched. According to Lieutenant Colonel Đorđe Aničić, who was identified in 2009 as the soldier who fired the missiles, they detected the F-117 at a range of about and operated their equipment for no more than 17 seconds to avoid being locked on to by NATO anti-air suppression.
The F-117, callsign "Vega-31", was being flown by Lt. Col. Darrell Patrick "Dale" Zelko (born 30 November 1963), an Operation Desert Storm
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
veteran. He observed the two missiles rise 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 nearby, its shrapnel and shockwave causing significant damage to the aircraft and causing it to tumble out of control. The explosion was large enough to be seen from a NATO Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling tanker aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the 707. Boeing gave ...
flying over Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
.[
Zelko was subject to intense ]g-force
The g-force or gravitational force equivalent is a Specific force, mass-specific force (force per unit mass), expressed in Unit of measurement, units of standard gravity (symbol ''g'' or ''g''0, not to be confused with "g", the symbol for ...
s 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. Contrary to his training, Zelko used his survival radio while still descending, reasoning that the altitude would give his signal the best possible range.
Zelko landed in a field south of Ruma
Ruma (; ) is a town and municipality in the Srem District of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2022, the town has a population of 27,747, while the municipality has a population of 48,621.
History
Traces of organized human life ...
and around a mile/kilometre south of a four-lane highway, now part of European route E70
European route E70 is an A-Class West-East European route, extending from A Coruña in Spain in the west to the Georgia (country), Georgian city of Poti in the east.
Itinerary
The E 70 routes through ten European countries, and includes o ...
. He quickly concealed himself in a drainage ditch that he had identified as a hole-up site while descending. There, he felt the shock waves of bombs dropped by NATO bombers on targets on the outskirts of Belgrade. Zelko landed around a mile/kilometre from his aircraft's crash site, and an intensive search of the area was carried out by the Yugoslav soldiers, policemen, and local villagers. At one point, searchers came within a few hundred meters of the ditch he was hiding in. Zelko was rescued approximately eight hours later by a U.S. Air Force combat search and rescue
Combat search and rescue (CSAR) are search and rescue operations that are carried out during war that are within or near combat zones.
A CSAR mission may be carried out by a task force of helicopters, ground-attack aircraft, aerial refueling ta ...
team (SSgt. Eric Giacchino and SrA. John M. Jordan) flying in two Sikorsky MH-53 helicopters and a Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk in the early hours of the next morning. According to Zelko, he would later learn that he had been minutes away from being captured. He was initially misidentified in press reports, as the name "Capt Ken 'Wiz' Dwelle" was painted on the aircraft's canopy. The lost F-117 carried the name "Something Wicked" and had previously flown 39 sorties during the Persian Gulf War
, combatant2 =
, commander1 =
, commander2 =
, strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems
, page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
's Operation Desert Storm.
Aftermath
Photographs show that the aircraft struck the ground at low speed in an inverted position, and that the airframe remained relatively intact. The United States did not attempt to destroy the wreckage, surprising analysts and pilots. The F-117 was based on 1970s technology, the military had revealed its existence in 1988, and the aircraft often appeared at air show
An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are trade fair, exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without which they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground.
The ...
s. General Bruce A. Carlson stated that if Serbia gave the wreckage to Russia, the result would be minimal.
A second F-117 was targeted and probably hit during the campaign, allegedly on 30 April 1999. The aircraft returned damaged to Spangdahlem Air Base
Spangdahlem Air Base (International Air Transport Association airport code, IATA: SPM, International Civil Aviation Organization airport code, ICAO: ETAD, former code EDAD) is a NATO air base with the United States Air Force as a tenant constru ...
, but it apparently never flew again. The USAF continued using the F-117 during the campaign. This incident was also reported by another F-117A pilot in 2020, but it remains classified and only some details were revealed.
On 2 May 1999, the 250th Air Defense Missile Brigade also shot down a USAF General Dynamics F-16CJ Fighting Falcon fighter piloted by future Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force
The chief of staff of the Air Force ( acronym: CSAF, or AF/CC) is the service chief of the United States Air Force. They are the principal military advisor to the secretary of the Air Force on matter pertaining to the Air Force. They are a m ...
David L. Goldfein.
Some pieces of the F-117's wreckage are preserved at the Serbian Museum of Aviation in Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
. A small rubber part of the plane was shown as "a souvenir" to Western journalists by Serbian warlord Arkan during the NATO air campaign. The USAF retired its F-117s in 2008.
Zoltán Dani, now running a bakery, and Dale Zelko, now retired from the U.S. Air Force, met in 2011. They have since developed a friendship.
Gallery
File:S125 Neva 250 brPVO VS, september 01, 2012.jpg, S-125 Neva air defense system, from the Serbian 250th Air Defense Brigade, on display at a public open day (2012)
File:Dale Zelko.jpg, Lt. Colonel Darrell Patrick "Dale" Zelko was the pilot of the downed F-117A, alt=
File:Zoltán Dani.jpg, Colonel
Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
Zoltán Dani was the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 250th Air Defense Missile Brigade of the Army of Yugoslavia
File:Serbian poster "Sorry we didn't know it was invisible".jpg, A poster celebrating the shootdown and listing unsubstantiated claims of two other F-117A shootdowns
References
External links
Vega 31: The Loss of #806
Russians admit testing F-117 lost in Yugoslavia
2001 Flight Global article
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:F-117A shootdown
1999 in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
1999 in the United States
20th-century aircraft shootdown incidents
20th-century history of the United States Air Force
Accidents and incidents involving United States Air Force aircraft
Aerial operations and battles of the Kosovo War
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1999
Aviation accidents and incidents in Yugoslavia
March 1999 in Europe
Ruma
History of Syrmia
History of Vojvodina
1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia