The image above was taken from an MH-53J from the 20th Special Operations Squadron, piloted by Capt. Thomas Trask, during the first Combat SAR (Search And Rescue) mission behind the enemy lines since Vietnam.
The combat rescue mission was launched on Jan. 21, 1991 to rescue Lt. Devon Jones, 130 miles into Iraq.
Jones was an F-14 Tomcat pilot from USS Saratoga’s VF-103, who was downed along with RIO (Radar Intercept Officer) Lawrence Slade by a SAM (Surface to Air Missile) over Iraq.
Larry “Rat” Slade endured interrogation, torture and starvation in the Iraqi hands for 43 days.
David Cenciotti is a freelance journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written four books.
Graphic footage shows the massive ramp strike of a Tomcat in 1993. The footage below was filmed by the Pilot’s Landing Aid Television (PLAT) camera aboard Nimitz-class USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), in the eastern Indian […]
This is how the cockpit of a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft looks like at night The image in this post was taken as Capt. Erica Stooksbury, C-17 pilot with the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, adjusted […]
Developed in the late 1960s to protect US Navy Carrier Battle Groups (CVBG) from the raids conducted by the Soviet bombers armed with long-range cruise missiles, the F-14 was the best fleet defender thanks to […]
This website makes use of cookies, both proprietary or by third part, in order to improve your browsing experience. For more information check our cookies policy.
By closing this message, proceed surfing or using this website, you accept to use cookies. Don’t show this again
