Official review of Serb MiG-29 kills on 26th March 1999.
TJ
On 26th March 1999, two F15C Eagle pilots were credited with shooting down a
pair of Yugoslav MiG-29s that were intercepted as they flew in Bosnian
airspace. However, an official review of the air engagement has concluded
that it was only one of the pilots, call sign 'Claw', who shot down both
'Fulcrums' with a pair of AIM-120 AMRAAM. Accordingly, the Serbian flag
painted on F-15C serial 84-0014 has now been removed although the Eagle
retains the Iraqi flag it gained following the destruction on a Su-22 on
20th March 1991. Instead, F-15C serial 86-0156 has now gained a second
Serbian flag to denote its status as a double MiG killer.' (Source -
Aircraft Illustrated, April 2000)
A picture of F-15C serial 86-0156 was show with the pilots' name Captain
Jeff Hwang displayed above the two flags.
F-15C serial 84-0014 was flown by J. McMurray (no rank available to me).
USAF unit was 493/48FW. Technically the flag is that of the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia rather than Serbia itself. Lieutenant Colonel Slobodan Peric
and Captain First Class Zoran Radosavljevic flew the two MiG-29s shot down.
Peric made a successful ejection, but Radosavljevic was killed.
Radosavljevic was posthumously promoted to the rank of Major. Yugoslav unit
was 127 Squadron.
Pictures of the two Yugoslav MiG-29s downed by Captain Jeff Hwang can be
found at the following link:
An audio recording of the encounter can be found at the following link.
Captain Hwang is call sign 'Dirk-1'.
A Hungarian radio enthusiast who was monitoring the UHF communications
recorded this.
http://www.deltahawks.org/index.htm
The audio can be found under 'Files' as 'splash'
In the recently shown UK BBC2 programme 'Moral Combat - NATO at War' an
account of the first Yugoslav MiG-29 shot down by USAF F-15Cs on the 24th
March 1999 was detailed by Lt. Colonel Cesar Rodriguez of the 493/48FW. Lt.
Colonel Rodriquez's wingman was M.Showers (no rank available to me).
Lt. Colonel Rodriguez stated, "We located a MiG-29 that was coming out of
the Pristina airspace. There was some confusion between the controllers and
our formation. The confusion arose from not having trained together and from
a slight language barrier. I handed him (MiG-29) off to my wingman who was a
very young man - his very first combat mission - who goes by the name of
'Wild Bill'. I've got the MiG on my radarscope and we take the shot. We
couldn't see very far because we're not equipped with night vision
equipment, but when the MiG-29 exploded the large orange fireball erupted
and illuminates the western mountains, lighting up the sky. The first blood
had been drawn on night one!"
Shortly after his wingman's MiG kill, Lt. Colonel Rodriquez shot down a
MiG-29 also using an AIM-120 AMRAAM.
The Yugoslav pilots were Lt. Col Dragan Illic and his wingman Major Iljo
Arizanov (later promoted to Lt. Col.) of 127 Squadron. Both pilots made
successful ejections.
TJ.
Jarmo Lindberg
<snipped>
>
> In the recently shown UK BBC2 programme 'Moral Combat - NATO at War' an account of the first Yugoslav MiG-29 shot down by USAF F-15Cs on the 24th March 1999 was detailed by Lt. Colonel Cesar Rodriguez of the 493/48FW. Lt. Colonel Rodriquez's wingman was M.Showers (no rank available to me).
Capt Shower tells the story at the ACC News site:
http://www2.acc.af.mil/accnews/feb00/000067.html
--
Jarmo Lindberg
Fighter Tactics Academy: http://www.sci.fi/~fta/
Fighter Squadron 21: http://www.mil.fi/joukot/satlsto/
BUFDRVR
>that it was only one of the pilots, call sign 'Claw', who shot down both
>'Fulcrums' with a pair of AIM-120 AMRAAM.
OK, dumb bomber guy question. Why would it take nearly a year to determine that
1 jet got both kills ? I'm guessing that they looked at both jets HUD footage
as soon as they landed, plus interviewed the AWACS controllers. Seems to me
this should have been figured out a few days after ?
BUFDRVR
"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"
Gordon
>OK, dumb bomber guy question. Why would it take nearly a year to determine
>that
>1 jet got both kills ?
They were waiting for Eni to provide proof :)
Chris Douglas
MiG-29's downed?
--Chris Douglas
------------------------------------------------------------
Policies are judged by their consequences, but crusades are
judged by how good they make the crusaders feel.
-Thomas Sowell
------------------------------------------------------------
VJ
(hence, he did not eject, either). His MiG-29 sustained an AMRAAM hit which
severely damaged its engine but Ilic conducted a successful emergency
landing at Pristina airfield. Only Major Iljo Arizanov was shot down over
Kosovo on March 24.
VJ
TJ
VJ <pre...@gov.yu> wrote in message news:8b470g$qsf$1...@SOLAIR2.EUnet.yu...
Details of the interviews appeared in 'Aeromagazin - Specijalno
izdanje II 1999'.
Pilot Dragan Ilic takode pripade 127. lovackoj avijacijskoj eskadrili
Vitezovi i vec 18 godine leti kao pilot-lovac na
nadzvucnim avionima naseg RV.............
Air Forces Monthly also carried reports that were taken from 'Vojska' and
'Politika'
'...Lt Col Dragan Ilic was engaged by a large enemy fighter force between
Kosovska Mitrovican and Pec on the northern boundary of Kosovo Province.....
with indications on his SPO-15 Beryoza RWR that he had been locked up by a
NATO fighter, his MiG-29 turned into a fireball as he took a direct hit in
the engines. With heat and flames cracking the cockpit canopy, Ilic had no
option but to eject.'
TJ.
VJ
one) appeared in "Vojska" war issue No.3, from April 2, 1999. Besides Ilic,
other members of 127th figther squadron were interviewed as well (Nikolic,
Kulacin, Peric, Milutinovic and Arizanov). "Aeromagazin", "Politika", and
all other newspapers as well only conveyed "Vojska's" articles (although,
"Politika" did have one of its own, with Nebojsa Nikolic). In previously
mentioned "Vojska" issue, on page 9, third column, it clearly says: "...I
had an indication that an enemy air to air missile had lock on me. The
fireball hit the aircraft and the plane shook. Cockpit canopy cracked and
got steamed. I haven't felt too much change in engine behaviour, so I was
thinking how to save the aircraft. With reduced speed, about 0.5M, I
directed my aircraft towards the home base (Ilic took off from Slatina AB,
near Pristina). And if the cracked canopy hadn't sustain the pressure,
everything would have been different: I would have to eject and sacrifice
the MiG."
The same article you can see in "Aeromagazin" special (war) issue No.2, page
32. The AFM's article by Alan Dawes wrongly interpreted "Vojska's"
interview, adding to the story things which never occured.
I am telling you this also because I know that his aircraft took of from
Slatina the day after, and headed towards Golubovci airfield, near
Podgorica, Montenegro. It took off using only one of its engines, due to the
damage of the second one, caused by the AMRAAM fired from an F-15C the night
before.
Regards,
VJ
outsider
Now I know this may be a little contentious, but since he made an emergency
landing at a time not originally planned due to damage incurred from an enemy
missile, he was shot down. In the same manner those NATO aircraft that also
'diverted' to other airfields rather than recover to their original destination
due to enemy 'interferance' also consitute a shoot down. I appreciate that this
is not the same definition of shoot down that many if not most people have, but
it is not a black and white topic.
outsider
PS. Was this the aircraft destroyed by cruise missile during the afternoon of
March 26 at Golubovci AB as reported by NATO. Or did it crash on landing at
Golubovci killing general-pukovnik Velickovic as claimed by many Yugoslav
'unofficial' sources.
VJ
The Tomahawk fired from USS Philippine Sea in the Adriatic on March 26 was
aimed at the MiG-29 "parked at the unspecified Yugoslav airport", as stated
in the official NATO press release. It is worth mentioning that this MiG-29
was in fact an M-18 mock-up, "parked at the unspecified Yugoslav airfield."
There was a NATO report on MiG-21 hit on Golubovci by TLAMs, but that was
reported on March 28.
As for Generel Ljubisa Velickovic, he was killed near Pancevo, several
kilometers east of Belgrade, on June 1. He was in the inspection of the
ground PVO components, when the attack happened. I would not like to go into
details concerning this, let's just say it was a rather stupid and unlucky
accident, partly caused by general's fault.
TJ
VJ <pres...@gov.yu> wrote in message news:8b68qh$c96$1...@SOLAIR2.EUnet.yu...
that AFM's translation of Illic's account is in error.
From 'unofficial' Yugoslav sources - Is there any truth in the claim that 'a
MiG-29, serial number 18111 crashed at Podgorica
Airport? The claim is that it was Illic's damaged aircraft from the 24th.
TJ.
VJ
Too bad nobody In Yugoslavia bothered to translate those interviews
seriously.
As for the MiG-29 serial 18111, it was Major Nebojsa Nikolic's aircraft,
shot down near Knicanin (Titel), northeast of Belgrade on the 24th.
Concerning your question...my position doesn't allow me to comment such
things, I hope you understand. But let's say that silence is a word
of....... I think you can draw your own conclusions if you've read my
previous post concerning the take off with only one operational engine.
Ilic's aircraft was 18108.
Regards,
VJ
outsider
VJ,
Up to now the majority of 'serb' posters have been particularly childish and
irrational in their arguments and comments in this group. Therefore most
posters here are somewhat sceptical of everything that comes from JU.
So far you have been most informative and knowledgeable. Thank you. I will
continue to accept your statements on face value.
Are you also able to clarify the serials of the other MiG-29 a/c piloted by
Peric, Radosaljevic, Arizanov and Pavlovic?
Hvala lepo
outsider
TJ
VJ <pres...@gov.yu> wrote in message news:8b8500$8uu$1...@SOLAIR2.EUnet.yu...
> You're welcome TJ, any time!
> Too bad nobody In Yugoslavia bothered to translate those interviews
> seriously.
> As for the MiG-29 serial 18111, it was Major Nebojsa Nikolic's aircraft,
> shot down near Knicanin (Titel), northeast of Belgrade on the 24th.
> Concerning your question...my position doesn't allow me to comment such
> things, I hope you understand. But let's say that silence is a word
> of....... I think you can draw your own conclusions if you've read my
> previous post concerning the take off with only one operational engine.
> Ilic's aircraft was 18108.
>
> Regards,
> VJ
>
>
>
agree,
> > that AFM's translation of Illic's account is in error.
> > From 'unofficial' Yugoslav sources - Is there any truth in the claim
that
> 'a
> > MiG-29, serial number 18111 crashed at Podgorica
> > Airport? The claim is that it was Illic's damaged aircraft from the
24th.
> >
> > TJ.
Many thanks for your reply! I too would like to extend my welcome and I
fully appreciate your information.
I have a further question that has puzzled me. I have seen references to Lt
Colonel Milorad Milutinović 'Grof'
being shot down on the 24th March or simply being referred to as a MiG-29
pilo and shot down.( AFM has inferred him as a MiG-21 pilot.) I know that
NATO has made no claims against MiG-21s. Would I be right in saying that Lt
Colonel Milorad Milutinović was a MiG-21 pilot downed by Serbian AAA?
TJ.
VJ
things up.
As for other Yugoslav posters, you have to understand them, and I don't
blame them too much. War is not something you find happening every day, so
many emotions build up in a person all of a sudden, it has to come out
somewhere. Unfortunately or not, this NG was the most suitable place for
them. But a certain amount of ration has to exist, no doubt. And by saying
that, I mean for both 'sides'.
As for your question concerning other serials, unfortunately, no.
Arizanov crashed into then KLA controlled area, hence the ID was impossible
for some time. Aircraft crashed onto Cicavica mountain, and there are very
few info concerning its further fate. Since KFOR hadn't found the wreckage
(or at least, doesn't say it did), Yugoslav army must have hauled it away.
Arizanov was at the VMA (Belgrade military medical center) for some time
during the war, so it wasn't possible to reach him.
Pavlovic's aircraft, as stated before (even in AFM, although they got it all
wrong, not SA-11 and not over Kosovo) was a victim of a friendly fire
incident, involving SA-6 missile battery. The remains of the aircraft were
so disintegrated that it took a week for a 'clean sweep' crew to gather it.
Unfortunately, Milenko was killed during that incident, so it was also
impossible to get any first hand information, like in Nikolic's case.
As for the other two, Radosavljevic and Peric, it would be best if SFOR
troops could finally publicize some of the details concerning this incident
(US soldiers particularly), since those two MiGs fell onto Bosnian
territory. It is strange that NATO or even some independent news agency that
was on the crash scene hadn't publicized the serials, especially for the
MiG-29 piloted by Peric, which remained more or less in one piece (two in
fact, but you know what I mean :-), and clearly has both of its tails in
good condition. Of course, Yugoslav military has that kind of info, but
since 'there were no violation by its aircraft into Bosnian airspace', there
are no info given concerning this incident.
Does anybody know who was the pilot (or any other detail for that matter)
who shot down Lt.Col. Zivota Djuric, on J-22 Orao over Kosovo, on March
29th, I think?
Regards,
VJ
TJ
BUFDRVR <buf...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000319115235...@ng-fm1.aol.com...
> >However, an official review of the air engagement has concluded
> >that it was only one of the pilots, call sign 'Claw', who shot down both
> >'Fulcrums' with a pair of AIM-120 AMRAAM.
>
that
footage
> as soon as they landed, plus interviewed the AWACS controllers. Seems to
me
> this should have been figured out a few days after ?
>
>
> BUFDRVR
>
> "Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it
harelips
> everyone on Bear Creek"
I've seen a few sites on the web that carry what can only be an e-mail, or
some other form of correspondence, that call sign 'Claw' sent to one of his
colleagues. I remember someone posting it onto r.a.m during 'Allied Force'
and certain individuals believed that it was a fake. Tying it up with the
audio that was recorded on the 26th it has all the same call signs
'Dirk-1/2' and same terminology, bull's-eye's etc. It was signed off as
'Claw' which Aircraft Illustrated has confirmed was the pilot's call/handle.
Exactly how it was obtained is a bit of a mystery, but 'Claw' referred to
his wingman 'Boomer's' VSD malfunctioning and not running, and his
('Boomer's) HUD tape was washed out due to high aperture setting. These were
found out at the mission debrief and may have added to the confusion as to
who scored the 'kills'. Although it makes fascinating reading I don't feel
that its really etiquette to post personal correspondence onto NGs. I do
have a link to a site that features the 'MiG-KILL' text but I have an
agreement not to publish this as the guy (Hungarian radio enthusiast) has
limited bandwidth.
TJ.
outsider
NATO propaganda, half-truths and plain deceit was as good as RTS, so I'm afraid
we in the West are only just starting to get a clearer picture of what really
happened. Thanks to good investigative journalism the UK has in the last 2-3
months had some excellent and eye opening reports on the aims and successes of
the Kosmet campaign - I cannot speak for other countries.
Up to now, there have been no claims by NATO of any shoot-downs other than,
Nikolic, Arizanov, Ilic, Radosaljevic, Peric and Pavlovic - all in MiG-29s.
There are no air-to-air claims of MiG-21, J-22 or G-4.
However, I remain even more convinced that the complete story has yet to come
out than I did last year.
Pozdrav,
outsider
VJ
Oh, yes. You are absolutely right. Propaganda war was at its finest hour on
both sides.
As for other claims, you mean there are no claims of either J-22 or MiG-21
by NATO? That's odd. I know for one MiG-21 that crash landed near Ponikve
returning from Kosovo at the beginning of the war, when it was damaged,
probably by an air to air missile fired from some NATO aircraft.
Concerning MiG-29 claims, maybe I've read it wrong, but you say NATO doesn't
say anything about Lt.Col. Milutinovic's shot down, while on the other hand,
lists Ilic as one of the downed pilots. It may be an error..
Since TJ also asked me something about it, I'll try to answer as best as I
can. BTW, thank you for the support, TJ!
As for Milutinovic, his name is in fact Predrag Milutinovic - 'Grof' ('Grof'
means count, in Serbian, referring to his experience and age), not Milorad
(that's his father's name), as written in Vojska by some 'smart' journalist.
Along with Lt.Col. Ljubisa Kulacin, Predrag was the eldest member of the
127th fighter squadron, "The Knights" ("Vitezovi" in Serbian) and certainly,
one of the most experienced (23 years of flying on MiG-21 and MiG-29).
Kulacin is BTW that pilot mentioned in the article concerning Capt. Mike
Shower, who took off after Nikolic and managed to evade Shower's lock on
maneuvers, trying to draw NATO aircraft closer to Belgrade's SAM rings.
I have a photo somewhere of Predrag Milutinovic as a back-seat instructor
and late Zoran Radosavljevic as his student on Mig-29UB, back in the mid
'90s. According to unofficial sources, Milutinovic even had a one air to air
victory in the early '90s, in the incidents with the 'unspecified intruders'
in southern Serbia, along with the Macedonian border, when a pair o MiG-29s
shot down 2 out of three infiltrating aircraft.
As for actual combat involving Milutinovic in the recent war, it is rather
strange that there are no records WHEN he took off (I mean exact date), or
where from (it says: "from one of the airfields, not mentioned for obvious
reasons, of course"). According to the rest of the article in "Vojska", one
can conclude that it happened on the first night, since there is 'first
cruise missile attack' mentioned, along with '..at the first violation of
Yugoslav airspace, I received an order for taking off.." In the rest of the
interview, he reveals that after taking off, he headed towards the incoming
NATO formation, when he experienced a malfunction on an highly important
aircraft device (I suspect a radar). Soon after, he received an indication
that he was locked on. Immediately after that, he fired one missile at the
closest NATO aircraft, and performed a high G turn to evade a missile coming
at him. While turning, an AMRAAM struck his MiG. He tried to stabilize the
aircraft, but it seems the AMRAAM destroyed its control surfaces or linkage
cables, so he was forced to eject.
As for friendly AAA fire, according to some info that I have, one MiG-29 got
under friendly AAA fire immediately after taking off from Nis airfield on
the night of 24th , but managed to land back safely. That is the aircraft
seen on NATO aerial photos of Nis airfield from March 28 (lower right
corner, next to one Antonov An-26 aircraft).
But, there maybe another possibility, although it seems unlikely. Since
1989, there were several Iraqi aircraft in Yugoslavia, brought for the
overhaul and upgrades. After the UN imposed sanctions on Iraq, they left
here, and are here still. According to several Russian military sources
(particularly General Kvashnin), Yugoslavs used some of those MiGs in the
first few days of the war. Report suggest one downed MiG-21 near Loznica and
possibly 3-4 downed MiG-23s. Possibly some of the 127th LAE members were in
fact flying those aircraft, instead of Yugoslav MiG-29s.
Somebody will publicize the truth soon, hopefully.
Pozdrav,
VJ
outsider
I have not considered this subject for many months so I am likely to make an
error or three due to bad memory. I know that TJ continues to follow this
closely and I ask him to correct me if I go wrong.
NATO air-to-air claims are for just 6 aircraft, all MiG-29. (There was also
talk of a 'possible' MiG-21 on the first night, the Pentagon did not know if it
was shot-down or crashed because of other reasons.)
1. NATO claim 3 on the first night, one over Kosmet and 2 over Central Serbia,
one by an F-16MLU of the Dutch AF and two by F-15C of the USAF.
2. 2 more are claimed over Eastern Bosnia 2/3 days later both by F-15C of the
USAF.
3. And finally 1 more in early May near Valjevo, this time by F-16CG of the
USAF.
Air Force Monthly July 1999 issue implies that Nikolic was shot down north of
Beograd and the other 2, Ilic and Arizanov, were both in or near Kosmet. In
other articles it is assumed that the 2 over BiH were Peric and Radosaljevic and
finally the one in May was Velikovic. (It is then assumed that Milutinovic must
have been in the MiG-21 and reported in error as a MiG-29 pilot).
Now, from your translation and the more detailed information in the Showers
release, it would seem the following is correct:-
Dutch F-16 = Nikolic
Showers F-15C = Milutinovic
Rodreguez F-15C = Arizanov
Hwang F-15C = Peric & Radosaljevic
USAF F-16 = ?? - you say Velikovic was friendly fire but I believe the dates
coincide.
Concerning the MiG-21 and J-22 air-to-air loses I can only offer these 3
options:
a) RTS / VJ reports are false,
b) NATO reports are false,
c) Aircraft were in fact friendly fire losses.
3rd option is looking favourite, especially when you consider that Velikovic,
the one at Niš and one at Golubovci are put down to this.
Finally, a word to all NATO supporters who mocked Nikolic's interview when it
was first published. Showers' release would indicate that Nikolic was fairly
accurate in his claims of the number of enemy against him and how he needed to
avoid AAM.
Pozdrav,
outsider
Abramovic
Do you have, by any chance, pictures of the Mig-23s? I have seen them
(the photos to be precise), but only shortly. I would be very grateful if
you could dig up some information concerning the aircraft-how many remained
in Yugoslavia, were they flown during the 90s etc..
Thank you for your reply,
Regards,
Tvrtko
VJ <pres...@gov.yu> wrote in message news:8bakom$1tj$1...@SOLAIR2.EUnet.yu...
VJ
Zdravo outsider,
There are several misinterpreted things concerning MiG incidents, I'll try
to clear them. Here we go:
>3. And finally 1 more in early May near Valjevo, this time by F-16CG of
the USAF.
This happened on May 4, over Valjevo. The pilot in question was Col. Milenko
Pavlovic, commander of the 204th Aviation Regiment, stationed at Batajnica
(includes 126th and 127th fighter sqns). It was a friendly fire incident.
> Air Force Monthly July 1999 issue implies that Nikolic was shot down north
of
> Beograd and the other 2, Ilic and Arizanov, were both in or near Kosmet.
In
> other articles it is assumed that the 2 over BiH were Peric and
Radosaljevic and
> finally the one in May was Velikovic. (It is then assumed that
Milutinovic must
> have been in the MiG-21 and reported in error as a MiG-29 pilot).
Nikolic was indeed shot down northeast of Belgrade (near Titel), and two
others were in fact Milutinovic and Arizanov. Ilic sustained only a battle
damage. It is possible that NATO misinterpreted reports from pilots while
comparing them to official Yugoslav info in "Vojska", and pronounced Ilic
instead of Milutinovic as the pilot of the third downed MiG. It would be
extremely stupid of YAF to waste Milutinovic as one of the best pilots in
the airforce, assigning him to fly a MiG-21bis.
> Now, from your translation and the more detailed information in the
Showers
> release, it would seem the following is correct:-
>
> Dutch F-16 = Nikolic
> Showers F-15C = Milutinovic
> Rodreguez F-15C = Arizanov
> Hwang F-15C = Peric & Radosaljevic
> USAF F-16 = ?? - you say Velikovic was friendly fire but I believe the
dates
> coincide.
No. Dutch F-16AM shot down one MiG-29 over Kosovo, it is clearly written in
the article by Jane's Defence Weekly, "How Dutch F-16AMs shot down a
Mig-29":
"At 19.30hr local time four F-16AMs took off from here for a fighter escort
mission to protect one of the first NATO strike packages. After an in-flight
refueling over the Adriatic Sea, the flight crossed over Albania into
Serbia. Upon entering Serbian airspace, they were informed by AWACS that
three MiG-29 aircraft had taken off from an air base near Belgrade," Col
Abma said.
That base is understood to have been Batajnica, home of the Yugoslav Air
Force's only MiG-29 unit, the 127th Fighter Aviation Squadron 'Knights'. Col
Abma said: "The four F-16AMs headed out toward the threat, working to detect
the MiGs on their own radars. Subsequently, one of the MiGs was picked up by
all four F-16s. When within range, our flight leader fired one AMRAAM
against the MiG. It was an instant hit, after a flight of 30 seconds."
It clearly mentions Albania, hence, the southern sector. The shoot down
happened over Kosovo. Only the identity of the Yugoslav pilot is in
question. There's a certain possibility that it was in fact Predrag
Milutinovic, and not Dejan Ilic, whose plane was just damaged.
Showers shot down Nikolic near Titel, north of Belgrade, while Rodriguez
shot down Arizanov over Kosovo.
Hwang shot down Peric and Radosavljevic, and the MiG-29 over Valjevo is like
I said, SA-6 kill.
> Concerning the MiG-21 and J-22 air-to-air loses I can only offer these 3
> options:
> a) RTS / VJ reports are false,
> b) NATO reports are false,
> c) Aircraft were in fact friendly fire losses.
> 3rd option is looking favourite, especially when you consider that
Velikovic,
> the one at Nis and one at Golubovci are put down to this.
There was no friendly fire incident at Golubovci.
VJ report is true on this, J-22 piloted by Zivota Djuric was shot down over
Kosovo, around March 28, while performing a ground strike mission. Djuric
refused to eject, crashing his plane into an 'enemy formation'. This can
possibly mean that he was operating near or within Albanian airspace, and
crashed his aircraft at the Albanian army positions.
As for MiG-21, I saw one personally, and it was not a friendly fire
incident.
The major issue here is that Yugoslav airforce conducted air operations,
especially over Kosovo, throughout the war. Remember that NATO statement
concerning targeted refuge convoy by an F-16? They admitted that there were
12 Yugoslav aircraft over Kosovo at that time. I happen to know that this
info is valid. There were also Yugoslav incursions into Albania (especially
over the border region), mostly by J-22 and MiG-21, carrying BL 755s. One
Mig-21 crashed during one of those missions.
> Finally, a word to all NATO supporters who mocked Nikolic's interview when
it
> was first published. Showers' release would indicate that Nikolic was
fairly
> accurate in his claims of the number of enemy against him and how he
needed to
> avoid AAM.
Yes, and not just that. It indicates that Nikolic maneuvered quite
skillfully, managing to evade two AAMs (Shower himself admits returning to
base without weapons load) while dangerously approaching to the strike team.
Kulacin also managed to evade one AAM from a distance of 5 miles, according
to Capt. Shower.
Pozdrav,
VJ
outsider
Lots of snipping here and there. :-)
> This happened on May 4, over Valjevo. The pilot in question was Col. Milenko
> Pavlovic, commander of the 204th Aviation Regiment, stationed at Batajnica
> (includes 126th and 127th fighter sqns). It was a friendly fire incident.
OK. I can only go on what I read many months ago. NATO says they shot him
down. VJ (Vojska Jugoslavie not you) says it was friendly fire. From where I
am sitting now I cannot argue one side or the other. :-(
> Nikolic was indeed shot down northeast of Belgrade (near Titel), and two
> others were in fact Milutinovic and Arizanov. Ilic sustained only a battle
> damage. It is possible that NATO misinterpreted reports from pilots while
> comparing them to official Yugoslav info in "Vojska", and pronounced Ilic
> instead of Milutinovic as the pilot of the third downed MiG. It would be
> extremely stupid of YAF to waste Milutinovic as one of the best pilots in
> the airforce, assigning him to fly a MiG-21bis.
Well I agree that AFM (Air Force Monthly) has made that exact mistake.
> No. Dutch F-16AM shot down one MiG-29 over Kosovo, it is clearly written in
> the article by Jane's Defence Weekly, "How Dutch F-16AMs shot down a
> Mig-29":
Not necessarily over Kosovo. (Now I have read on and see that you also agree it
may not have been over Kosovo.)
NATO reports say 1 over Kosovo, 2 over Serbia. As you agree that Arizanov was
over Kosovo, and Nikolic was north of Bgd, Milutinovic must also have been over
Serbia. (or NATO got it wrong.)
> "At 19.30hr local time four F-16AMs took off from here for a fighter escort
> mission to protect one of the first NATO strike packages. After an in-flight
> refueling over the Adriatic Sea, the flight crossed over Albania into
> Serbia. Upon entering Serbian airspace, they were informed by AWACS that
> three MiG-29 aircraft had taken off from an air base near Belgrade," Col
> Abma said.
>
> That base is understood to have been Batajnica, home of the Yugoslav Air
> Force's only MiG-29 unit, the 127th Fighter Aviation Squadron 'Knights'. Col
> Abma said: "The four F-16AMs headed out toward the threat, working to detect
> the MiGs on their own radars. Subsequently, one of the MiGs was picked up by
> all four F-16s. When within range, our flight leader fired one AMRAAM
> against the MiG. It was an instant hit, after a flight of 30 seconds."
>
> It clearly mentions Albania, hence, the southern sector. The shoot down
> happened over Kosovo. Only the identity of the Yugoslav pilot is in
> question. There's a certain possibility that it was in fact Predrag
> Milutinovic, and not Dejan Ilic, whose plane was just damaged.
> Showers shot down Nikolic near Titel, north of Belgrade, while Rodriguez
> shot down Arizanov over Kosovo.
Dutch and Belgian F-16s were based at Amendola 2/3rds of the way down Italy. In
order to avoid flying over Crna Gora or RS enroute, overflying Albania to the
south would not be unusual to get to Bgd.
What is interesting is this? (quotes from Shower's report)
1 - Six minutes into the mission, the captain's radar picture was complicated by
an unidentified aircraft taking off from Batajnica Airfield, a MiG-29 base in
northern Belgrade.
2 - Four minutes after this engagement another MiG-29 took off from the airfield
and once again Shower committed his flight to the engagement.
If this 2nd aircraft is Kulacin it is a 'funny' time for a flight leader to
take-off - over 4 minutes after his wingman.
I am trying to sort out by time what may have happened and all I am doing is
confusing myself. Was Nikolic the 1st aircraft to take-off from Bgd that
night? Unfortunately my serbian is not good enough to understand the text in
Aeromagazin. :-(
> The major issue here is that Yugoslav airforce conducted air operations,
> especially over Kosovo, throughout the war.
I have no doubt that JRV aircraft were operating over Kosmet throughout and have
said so before in this NG.
Pozdrav,
outsider
outsider
I would like to email you directly and I am a little doubtful that I will get
through to you at the VJ Press Centre address. :-) ( I havn't tried!!)
Also, I am not too keen on giving out my email address in a public NG. :-)
This is not meant to be a test, but I hope you can work out my address from
this:-
*******@*****.net
First word is the suburb of Bgd where Topcidersko Brdo is situated - 7 letters.
2nd word is the 'fast' food that you eat with jogurt and buy at a pekara or
kiosk - 5 letters.
Pozdrav
outsider
Bailey of Belgium
In reference to NATO supporters "mocking" the Nikolic interview
(I have a copy from the Yugoslav Army Supreme Command
Headquarters Information Service Press Center in front of me,
dated April 1999), nobody had anything against the stated
circumstances of the shootdown. But then again, there are those
real beauties, such as:
1. "Flying above me were about two dozen state-of-the-art enemy
planes...Astonished by my presence and my determination to cut
them off, they quickly turned against me like a pack." The
figure of "two dozen" certainly sounds reasonable for a large
strike package--a "gorilla" as it's sometimes called--but, they
all turned against him "like a pack"? Even the dedicated
bombers, which would be short on air-to-air ordnance because
they're packing tanks and munitions? Not to mention the fact
that--as you read in the Showers article--they had F-15Cs
dedicated to the escort role.
2. "Enemy planes kept circling around me trying to locate me in
the dark and riddle me with bullets." Surely you understand how
ridiculous this is: I'm trying to picture 24 jets circling
within gun range of a descending parachute--at night--AND firing
their weapons--and not slamming into each other. Furthermore,
remember that 20mm cannons do not "riddle," they "obliterate."
3. "Although they are denying their losses, it's a known fact
that the Yugoslav skies have become a graveyard for western
planes and pilots." This one's been beaten to death already.
Never mind the "photo" issue, though: I want to know why we
haven't heard a peep from the families of all those "captured
and killed servicemen, while the families of Vietnam-era MIA's
are still kicking up a storm nearly 30 years after that war's
end.
Nobody worth his interest in this subject could rightly mock
Maj. Nikolic's courage, capabilities, aircraft, or performance.
But whoever made up that interview did both him--and his
service--a tremendous disfavor. It's them that I personally
ridicule; I can't speak for anyone else.
Cheers,
B_o_B
* Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network *
The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!
VJ
No problem, I would e-mail you there, but just to be on the safe side, does
that first, 7 letter word starts with a 'D', or..maybe 'B'? (it's been a
long time for me :-))
As for fast food, I had no problem in finding that out :-)
Pozdrav,
VJ
outsider <outs...@mailgetlost.com> wrote in message
news:38D98960...@mailgetlost.com...
VJ
Yes, sure. I will send them to you probably tonight.
As for infor regarding those a/c, still very confucing after the war. They
were stationed at Moma Stanojlovic overhaul facility until March 1999, then
transferred on other locations before the war, according to one source from
'Moma', one MiG-23 was destroyed in the air raids on the facility itself,
but it wasn't exactly airworthy, so it was mainly used for spare parts and
reviving those operational.
Pozdrav,
VJ
Abramovic <tvrtko.a...@zg.tel.hr> wrote in message
news:8bbhm4$v41$1...@as102.tel.hr...
outsider
outsider
Abramovic
Thank you very much for taking time to mail me these photos, and for the
information provided.
Regards,
Tvrtko
VJ
No problem at all, glad I could help. The photos are coming in a minute or
two...
Regards,
VJ
Abramovic <tvrtko.a...@zg.tel.hr> wrote in message
news:8be898$svb$1...@as102.tel.hr...
VJ
Hear you soon...
VJ
outsider <outs...@mailgetlost.com> wrote in message
news:38DA9A62...@mailgetlost.com...
TJ
I'd just thought I would slot-in my tuppence worth in here:
The events on the night of the 24 March 1999 and actually linking up which
NATO pilot/aircraft combination shot down/damaged which Serbian MiG-29 is
confusing and was made even more so by the Alan Dawes report in the July
1999 edition of AFM. I totally agree with you VJ that the MiG-29 pilot's
interviews should have been more accurately translated.
It's clear from reading some of these reports that the Serb propaganda
machine has doctored and spiced up the initial interviews before they
appeared in print in certain Serb media.
NATO claims the following:
David Wilby, Air Commodore, RAF
"I can give you a small update from night one. Whilst I am obviously unable
to give you the tactical details, I can confirm that 3 MIG 29 Fulcrums were
shot down. One over Kosovo and 2 over Central FRY."
NATO aircraft involved in MiG-29 shoot downs on 24th -
a) Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16AM (MLU) - 1 MiG-29 claimed.
b) Two USAF F-15C's - 2 MiG-29s claimed.
26th March 1999 - David Wilby, Air Commodore RAF
"Two of our F15s were on a combat air patrol in the vicinity of Tuzla as
part of Operation Deny Flight. They were warned of 2 MiG 29s to the east,
who were deemed hostile. The MIGs subsequently violated Bosnian airspace
with hostile intent and moved into a threatening position on our aircraft.
Our aircraft took the appropriate counter-offensive action and engaged their
targets, shooting both down. The wreckage of one aircraft lies in a
minefield in SFOR's MND north sector and the other has yet to be located. We
have no information as the whereabouts of the air crews."
NATO aircraft involved.
Two USAF F-15C's - 2 MiG-29 claimed. Subsequent USAF review finds that only
one F-15C is responsible for the two MiG-29 shoot downs.
04th May 1999 - David Wilby, Air Commodore RAF
"At approximately 12:41 pm local Kosovo time, the aircraft was detected. A
flight of 2 NATO F-16s were leaving the area after completing their mission.
By 12:43, the E-3 airborne early warning and control aircraft had identified
the aircraft as a hostile MiG-29 and committed the F-16 flight against it.
At 12:46, the F-16s fired air-to-air missiles. At approximately 12:47, the
F-16s observed an explosion and the AWACS confirmed that the MiG-29 had been
destroyed."
NATO aircraft involved.
USAF F-16CJ - 1 MiG-29 claimed.
Col. Pavlovic who was killed flew the only MiG-29 lost that day.
To sum up NATO claims 6 MiG-29s by the use of AIM-120 AMRAAM. No other
type(s) are claimed.
Eyewitness/pilot reports:
24th NATO aircraft involved in MiG-29 shoot downs on 24th -
a) Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16AM (MLU) serial J-063 - 1 MiG-29
claimed.
b) Two USAF F-15C's piloted by Rodriguez/Showers - 2 MiG-29s claimed.
NATO aircraft involved in MiG-29 shoot downs on 24th -
Lt Col Jon Abma, RNLAF, commanding officer of the Belgian-Netherlands
Deployed Air Task Force.
"At 19.30hr local time four F-16AMs took off from here for a fighter escort
mission to protect one of the first NATO strike packages. After an in-flight
refuelling over the Adriatic Sea, the flight crossed over Albania into
Serbia. Upon entering Serbian airspace, they were informed by AWACS that
three MiG-29 aircraft had taken off from an air base near Belgrade," Col
Abma said. That base is understood to have been Batajnica, home of the
Yugoslav Air Force's only MiG-29 unit, the 127th Fighter Aviation Squadron
'Knights'. Col Abma said: "The four F-16AMs headed out toward the threat,
working to detect the MiGs on their own radars. Subsequently, one of the
MiGs was picked up by all four F-16s. When within range, our flight leader
fired one AMRAAM against the MiG. It was an instant hit, after a flight of
30 seconds." The AMRAAM, credited with a speed of over 4,000km/h, would be
capable of covering a distance of more than 33km in 30s seconds. According
to RNLAF personnel at Amendola, the head-on missile intercept took place
18km from the lead F-16. "The pilot involved visually saw a fiery explosion.
At the same time, the AWACS recorded that the MiG disappeared from the
scope," Col Abma said. "We have never seen the other MiG-29s, but around the
same time two US F-15s shot down two of those aircraft."
Lt.-Col. Sylvain Faucher, Canadian Air Force CF-18 pilot, being escorted by
Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16s on the 24th March. stated:
" And on the radar: two MiG-29s, Yugoslav fighter jets 110 km off their nose
and coming at them fast. An American airborne surveillance plane immediately
tagged them "bandits." Two Dutch F-16s patrolling the skies over the Kosovo
capital of Pristina picked up the surveillance signal and intercepted the
MiGs on the Canadians' behalf. Pelletier and Faucher both saw the Dutch
missiles streaking towards the Yugoslav planes, saw one MiG hit and the
other pilot turn and flee. "I could hear the instructions to fire and knew
the Dutch missiles were going past me," recalls Faucher. "You could see one
spark in the sky and then what looked like a shooting star." That, he says,
"is when I knew what we were doing was for real."
Lt. Colonel Rodriguez, F-15C pilot, USAF- on the events of 24th March
stated:
"We located a MiG-29 that was coming out of the Pristina airspace. There was
some confusion between the controllers and our formation. The confusion
arose from not having trained together and from a slight language barrier. I
handed him (MiG-29) off to my wingman who a very young - his very first
combat mission - who goes by the name of 'Wild Bill'. I've got the MiG on my
radarscope and we take the shot. We couldn't see very far because we're not
equipped with night vision equipment, but when the MiG-29 exploded the large
orange fireball erupted and illuminates the western mountains, lighting up
the sky. The first blood had been drawn on night one!"
Details from Capt. Shower's interview on the events of 24th March:
'Capt. Mike Shower, flying an F-15C, was escorting the first of two strike
packages - one package flew into southern Serbia while Shower's package went
north over Belgrade. The strike packages were made up of 10 F-117s and two
B-2 bombers with escort coming from a total of eight F-15Cs and
F-16CJs.Approximately four minutes into the mission, Shower said they heard
a "Splash one MiG-29" (a MiG-29 has been shot down) call from Airborne
Warning and Control System from the south strike package. We got a little
excited at that point since there was no doubt the Serbians were going to
launch their aircraft. Six minutes into the mission, the captain's radar
picture was complicated by an unidentified aircraft taking off from
Batajinica Airfield, a MiG-29 base in northern Belgrade.. The captain said
the final shot illuminated his aircraft from the rocket plume so the F-117
pilot could tell the two aircraft were approximately 2,000 feet from each
other. The missile went right across the front of his aircraft down to the
MiG-29 which blew up about 7,000 feet underneath the F-117. The MiG-29
crashed within 25 nautical miles of Batajinica Airfield.'
4th May 1999. Unidentified pilot, call sign 'Dog', of F-16CJ serial 91-0353
was interviewed during the conflict and stated the following. He was
photographed with his back to camera in front of his aircraft 91-353.
"It didn't take but a few seconds; wasn't much of an engagement; one more
MiG-29 gone."
(The pilot, whose name cannot be released for security reasons, carries the
call sign "Dog". He was part of a four-ship formation en route to an air
refuelling when the warning of a Serbian MiG was received.)
"We turned around and intercepted him," he said."What the Serbians were
thinking as far as tactics (when they launched the MiG), I can't speculate,"
Dog said, "but he was airborne so we engaged him."
."Frankly, if one of my fellow F-16 pilots hadn't made the first call
stating he'd heard AWACS communications, I might not have turned around and
gotten the successful engagement," he said. "Of course the AWACS controller
got me there, so it was a team effort from start to finish."
F-16CJ, serial 91-0353, appeared in AFM (December 1999) and stated that the
yellow kill mark only lasted for a few weeks - it was removed and placed
inside the aircraft. What is interesting is that an F-16CJ serial 90-0830 is
featured in the January 2000 edition of AFM sporting a MiG-29 kill yellow
star. The yellow star has the stencilling 'MiG-29' in the centre. The serial
of the F-16CJ is stencilled on the canopy frame.
To try and link up the pilot/aircraft combination on the night of 24th would
be conjecture on my part. Maybe someone can work out the events from the
pilot interviews above.
To re-cap on the events of 24th using some of the excellent VJ information:
24th March 1999 -
F-16AM (MLU) RNAF (pilot unknown) serial J-063 shoots down one MiG-29B using
AMRAAM.
F-15C, USAF, (serial unknown) piloted by Lt. Col Rodriguez shoots down one
MiG-29B using AMRAAM.
F-15C, USAF, (serial unknown) piloted by Captain Showers shoots down one
MiG-29B using AMRAAM.
Serbian MiG-29 pilots who ejected on the night of 24th March:
Major Nikolic flying MiG-29B serial 18111 ejected near Knicanin (Titel),
Vojvodina, northeast of Belgrade after being hit by AMRAAM.
Major Arizanov flying MiG-29B (serial unknown) ejected with aircraft
crashing onto Cicavica Mountain, Kosovo after being hit by AMRAAM.
Major Milutinovic flying MiG-29B (serial unknown) ejected over Serbia after
his aircraft was hit by AMRAAM.
MiG-29 combat-damaged:
Lt. Col Ilic flying MiG-29B serial 18108 was hit by AMRAAM and made
emergency landing at Slatina airbase, Kosovo. If I understand VJ correctly
the MiG-29B, 18108, subsequently crashed at Podgorica, Montenegro after it
took off from Slatina, Kosovo with only one engine operable.
26th March 1999 -
F-15C, USAF, serial 86-0156, flown by Capt. Hwang shoots down two Serbian
MiG-29Bs.
Major Peric flying MiG-29B, serial unknown, was hit by AMRAAM and ejected
with his aircraft crashing inside Bosnia.
Capt. First Class Radosavljevic flying MiG-29B, serial unknown, was hit by
AMRAAM with his aircraft crashing inside Bosnia. Radosavljevic was killed.
No NATO report of body/remains of Radosavljevic being returned so credence
is given to Bosnian eye-witness reports of seeing two-parachutes. NATO,
after error of Jamie Shea of having stating the pilots were in custody,
later reported that the pilots were not in custody. The aircraft crashed
some 5km inside Bosnian territory, which gives me the impression that the
aircraft were engaged near enough on/over the border at between 20-25
thousand feet (heights from audio recording of shoot down)
4th May 1999 -
F-16CJ, serial 91-0353, pilot name unknown (call sign 'Dog') shoots down
MiG-29B using AMRAAM.
MiG-29B, serial unknown, flown by Col Pavlovic came down over Valjevo,
Serbia. NATO claim shoot down by F-16CJ/AMRAAM. Serbs claim friendly-fire
SA-6 incident.
I've seen manyNG/forum posters/websites use the designation MiG-29A for
Serbian MiG-29s. I firmly believe that no MiG-29A (9-12A models were
delivered to the Yugoslav Air Force). The MiG-29A (9-12A) was supplied to
Warsaw Pact allies with the SRO IFF and 'Lazlo' data link for
inter-operability with Russian forces. The difference between an 'A' and 'B'
model is purely internal electronics. WAPJ report that MiG-29B models may
have had the downgraded N-019E radar.
The very long running claim by certain Serb military, political leaders and
individuals of more than two manned NATO aircraft shot down has been raised
yet again with an article that appeared in the Washington Post on 18 March
2000.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000318/aponline030354_000.ht
m
Cedomir Mirkovic, Yugoslav Minister for International Scientific and
Cultural Cooperation, stated the following in the interview:
' "It is truly amazing how many aircraft and drones were downed with the
relatively modest and primitive equipment" of the Yugoslav army, Minister
for Science and Development Cedomir Mirkovic said Friday. .... Mirkovic
refuted Western claims that Yugoslav air defense downed only the two planes.
"We shall prove we have more," he said, without elaborating. During the
bombing, the then-chief of the Yugoslav army, Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic,
claimed 61 NATO aircraft had been downed. '
The Official Yugoslav Government website still has the 'official' and
'un-official' claims of Serbian shoot downs of NATO aircraft and helicopter
on the 'tour of duty' page.
http://www.warfacts.org.yu/tourofduty/index.html
Hmmm, I await all those undisclosed manned NATO aircraft wrecks to appear :>
I'll promise to eat my RAF beret if they do! I've got seven years left in
the regulars with another 17 years on top of that in the reserves, so I'll
still have it for a while yet!
TJ.
VJ
Jokes aside, I have one correction of my statements, I've just digged
through some of my stuff, and realized it, and a friend of mine gave me some
additional info too. This will also help clear things up concerning downed
MiG-29s. I apologize...
Ilic and Arizanov took off from Nis airfield, not Slatina. Arizanov was shot
down over Kosovo, while Ilic returned to Nis again, not Slatina as I've
mentioned earlier. There is a certain possibility that Ilic is in fact the
pilot of the MiG-29 that was damaged by Yugoslav AAA and had to make an
emergency landing. Of course, 'Vojska' made up a different story, for moral
boosting. It would explain why this incident wasn't stated in NATO shootdown
claims.
Milutinovic is the second MiG-29 pilot that was shot down, over central
Serbia.
Nikolic is the third, shot down north of Belgrade.
But, there is a certain puzzleness, because the MiG-29 which reportedly
crashed at Golubovci cannot not be the same MiG piloted by Ilic. Ilic's MiG
can be seen on NATO aerial photos from March 28 at Nis airfield.
And concerning MiG-29 version, you are correct, TJ. Yugoslav MiGs are B
variant, with slightly downgraded radar N-019E characteristics.
Regards,
VJ
Paul J. Adam
writes
>And concerning MiG-29 version, you are correct, TJ. Yugoslav MiGs are B
>variant, with slightly downgraded radar N-019E characteristics.
Informed, rational debate? Sharing facts? Discussing details in a calm
and polite manner?
This will never do! I demand that VJ and TJ start screaming at each
other _at once!_ What _is_ this newsgroup coming to? ;)
--
There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable and
praiseworthy...
Paul J. Adam pa...@jrwlynch.demon.co.uk
Gordon
entire year of reading posts from other posters claiming to be in Serbia.
Thank you for giving us your time and helping to sort through the actual events
that occured last year.
v/r
Gordon
Jarmo Lindberg
>
> I've seen a few sites on the web that carry what can only be an e-mail, or
> some other form of correspondence, that call sign 'Claw' sent to one of his
> colleagues. I remember someone posting it onto r.a.m during 'Allied Force'
> and certain individuals believed that it was a fake. Tying it up with the
> audio that was recorded on the 26th it has all the same call signs
> 'Dirk-1/2' and same terminology, bull's-eye's etc. It was signed off as
> 'Claw' which Aircraft Illustrated has confirmed was the pilot's call/handle.
> Exactly how it was obtained is a bit of a mystery, but 'Claw' referred to
> his wingman 'Boomer's' VSD malfunctioning and not running, and his
> ('Boomer's) HUD tape was washed out due to high aperture setting. These were
> found out at the mission debrief and may have added to the confusion as to
> who scored the 'kills'. Although it makes fascinating reading I don't feel
> that its really etiquette to post personal correspondence onto NGs. I do
> have a link to a site that features the 'MiG-KILL' text but I have an
> agreement not to publish this as the guy (Hungarian radio enthusiast) has
> limited bandwidth.
The full story was published in the January issue of the Journal of
Electronic Defense (p. 74). It is also published at the JED site:
http://www.jedefense.com/jed/html/archives/index.html (you have to
register first)
The whole story as it was posted here a while ago:
Bros,
I’m finally back in England after being TDY since the end of January, at
least for two weeks anyway. Got sent direct to Cervia AB, Italy, from
Operation Northern Watch in Turkey after being at the Incirlik AB for
over
7 weeks (“Luv the ‘Lik no mo’!”). My house and yard are a total mess!
There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight in the Kosovo situation, but
the war
is over for me for a while. Some of you probably already heard through
the
grapevine about what happened to “Boomer” M. and me. Here’s the
proverbial “rest of the story.”
MEET THE MIG
Boomer and I were tasked as Bosnia-Herzgovinia DCA on 26 Mar, vul time
from 1500Z to 1900Z. We were established on CAP over Tuzla for about an
hour after initial refueling. At 1602Z, while eastbound approaching the
Bosnian-Yugoslav border, I got a radar contact 37 nm to the east, 6K’,
beaming south at over 600 kts.
Of course, AWACS had no clue and did not have any inkling [that] someone
was flying on the other side of border (although he was really good at
calling out every single friendly WEST of us!). I called out the contact
and
Boomer locked [on] same. Without an ID and not tactically sound to cross
the border at the time, I elected to pump our formation in a right-hand
turn
through south and called, “Push it up, burner, tapes on!” (we were
initially
flying 0.85M, 28K’) and rolled out heading west/southwest. At that time,
I
didn’t think anything much would happen. I figured the contact would
probably continue south or turn east and remain well on the eastern side
of
the border. Nevertheless, I called the flight lead of the southern CAP
over
Sarajevo and gave him a craniums-up on the posit of contact, altitude
and
the heading. This entire time, AWACS still had no radar contact, even
after I
called it out on the radio. Man, running away with the contact at our
six
o’clock with AWACS not having any clue was NOT comfortable! Boomer
and I continued west for a total of 60 sec. (about 10 nm) before I
directed
the formation to turn back hot, again turning through south in an
attempt to get
some cut-off. Boomer was on the north side of the formation (left side
as we
rolled out heading east). We both got contact BRAA 070 for 37 NM, 23K’,
target now heading west (hot towards us). AWACS finally woke up and
starting seeing the same thing. Now, I’m starting to think, “Shit is
gonna
happen” (as evidenced by the increase of about two octaves in my
voice!). It
was fairly obvious that these guys originated from FRY and there were no
OCA missions at the time. Checked AAI for friendly squawk: nobody home!
We still needed to get clearance from AWACS to engage, so I requested
(codeword) and got no reply from the controller (pretty sure he had no
freakin’ clue what that codeword meant!). About this time, both Boomer
and
I got good ID on the target in our own cockpit and, with threat hot
towards
us inside 30 nm, decided to blow off the AWACS/clearance-to-engage
restriction and go for it! Target was now inside 30 nm, and I directed
Boomer to target the single group. I broke lock and went back to search
in
40-nm scope and 120 sweep. The target check turns towards northwest
(about 14L aspect) and descends to high teens. Boomer and I checked
about
30¡ left to northeast for cutoff. This check turn slung me aft in the
formation,
so I stroke it up to full AB to get more line abreast. I called “Combat
1, arm
hot” and saw Boomer’s wing tanks come off with bright flames under the
wing. Pretty impressive! I was well over the Mach when I punched my
tanks
off, and the jet jumped up abruptly (you can see it in the HUD). Took a
quick
look back to see if my stabs were still intact, rolled my elevation
coverage
looking from about 5K’ to 21K’ and — no kidding — stay in search for at
least one full frame (believe me, I wanted to go back to single-target
track
SO DAMN BAD!). AWACS started calling out two contacts, lead trail.
Sure enough, I was starting to see the break out on my scope! At about
20
nm, Boomer called “Fox 3, 18K’!” I saw the cons/smoke coming from his
jet and thought, “Sonofabitch! I gotta get me some!” I commanded
miniraster
on the leader and, as soon as the radar locks (about 17 nm), immediately
thumb forward to HDTWS. My first shot came off inside 16 nm from the
leader. When I pressed the pickle button, it seemed like an eternity
before
the missile actually launched, but when it did — WOW! I have never shot
an
AMRAAM or AIM-7 before at WSEP (and I don’t think I have a chance in
hell of shooting more missiles at WSEP after this!). The missile came
off
with such a loud roar/whoosh, I not only heard it clearly in the cockpit
above the wind noise, radio comm, ear plug and helmet, but I actually
felt
the rocket motor roar! In the HUD, you can see the flames shooting out
from
the tail end of the missile, and the smoke and cons following it!
Stepped
immediately to the trailer in HDTWS and pressed and held the pickle
button
for at least 3 seconds — again, thinking, “Come on, dammit! Launch!” The
second missile came off just as impressive as the first after the same
painful
delay. I yelled “Dirk 1, Fox 6, lead trail!” (“Cricket” R. later
critiqued my
comm as incorrect 3-1 terminology.) Since Boomer was the primary
shooter, I assumed he was locked to the leader, so I kept the trailer as
the
PDT. Not wanting to screw with a good thing, I stayed in HDTWS inside 10
nm (“Dozer” S., our WIC dude, promptly criticized me for not going STT
inside 10 nm upon reviewing my VSD tape, thus I still have to pass my
IPUG Tac Intx ride!). Both targets started a check turn to the southwest
(14L
to H to 16R aspect) and continued to descend to low teens. Approaching
10
nm, checking RWR to make sure we weren’t targeted: “Dirk 1 naked!”
“Dirk 2 naked!” “Dirk, let’s go pure!” From 30K’, both of us rolled our
jets
inverted, pointed nose low directly at the TD box on the HUD and pulled
throttle to idle. I think my heart rate at this time was reaching my
aerobic
limit for my age (you know, that formula: 220 minus age, etc.). Against
a
broken cloud background, I saw a tiny dot in the TD box about 7-8 nm
out.
“Dirk 1, tally ho nose 7 nm, low!”
Realizing I saw the trailer, I was praying Boomer would soon follow up
with a tally call on the leader. Approaching 5 nm, I’m scanning in front
of
the trailer for the leader but no joy. Shit! The trailer continued his
left turn to
southwest, and I was looking at approximately 14R aspect. Inside 5 nm,
thumb aft to AIM-9 and tried twice to uncage, but the tone was not
there.
Just then, between the HUD and the canopy bow (about right 12:30 to 1
o’clock position), I saw the leader explode! The best visual description
I
can think of is if you held a torch from one of those Hawaiian luau
parties,
and swing it through the air. The flame with an extended tail trailing
the
torch is exactly what I saw! Turning my attention back to the trailer,
the
trailer exploded into a streaking flame seconds later just as I tried to
uncage
the missile the third time! Never mind! “Dirk 1, splash two Mig-29s, B/E
360/35!”
Heater, I’m ashamed. I was screaming like a woman! Didn’t really bother
to
keep an eye on the fireballs, so I didn’t see any chutes. Later report
confirmed both pilots ejected safely. Not that Boomer or I would’ve felt
bad
if they morted. Anyway, I called for Boomer and I to reference 080
heading
and short-range radar. Thumbed aft to autoguns, plugged in full AB and
accelerated to 460 kts at 20K’. My cranium was on a swivel and breathing
like I just ran a full sprint! “Dirk 2, blind!”
Crap! I looked north, and it took me a few seconds to find Boomer (about
3.5 nm left and stacked high). Tried to talk his eyes back to me, but
Boomer
called out to west in a right turn. I waited a few seconds to sanitize
and
turned west as well. During the turn, I immediately pulled into double
beeper due to airspeed and Gs.
Rolling out, I was 3 nm in trail of Boomer, so I had him shackled to the
south to pick up line abreast. The fun wasn’t over yet. Boomer got an
autogun snap lock less than 10 nm south of us — low alt, with no ID. I
told
him to press for VID while I followed him 3 nm in trail. We were diving
back down to the low teens and I saw absolutely nothing on my radar! All
of
a sudden, Boomer pulls up and yells “Dirk 2, unable ID!” That’s BAD!
I just about shit my pants! I saw nothing, and after a few seconds, I
asked
Boomer if he saw anything at all. Boomer said he didn’t see anything, so
we
just stroke it up and separate to the northwest for a while, then came
back
for a second look. Nobody home! Boomer thought it may have been a bad
radar lock. I sure hope so! The rest of the sortie was one excitement
after
another. While on the boom, AWACS controller started calling out every
single [unit of] ground traffic as possible contact crossing the border
into
Bosnia. For a while it sounded like a mass attack on Tuzla! By now it
was
nighttime, and Boomer (in an offset 3-5 nm trail) and I were still
running
around with our hair on fire! One time AWACS called out contacts at very
low alt moving west towards Tuzla. I didn’t see squat on my tube;
neither
did Boomer. As the position of group started getting closer to Tuzla, I
expected to see a burst of explosions from the airfield underneath!
Boomer
and I were gonna go from “heroes to zeros” really soon! Finally I turned
the
GMTR setting on my trusty APG-70 to low and immediately saw the targets.
Locked them up and show 80 kts ground speed! I wanted to reach through
the mic and strangle the shit out of the controller! AWACS later called
out
MiG CAPs just 15 nm northeast of the border! Boomer and I were ready to
“pop a cap in their ass” across the border as soon as we got contact and
ID.
Again, nothing on the radar. We even did two iterations of grinder with
a
two ship of Vipers, and no one got a solid radar hit. That night we
committed and armed hot three more times after the MiG kills based on
ridiculous AWACS calls! No kidding! By the time our replacement showed
up (4 hours of vul time later), I was totally exhausted and drained. The
flight
across Adriatic was uneventful, and Boomer and I finally had a moment to
think about what happened.
RETURNING TO BASE
After I landed and pulled into dearm, I saw a freak in flight suit and
wearing
a reflective belt, jumping up and down. Sure enough, it was “Freak” O.
welcoming us back! The taxi back to the chocks was like having a bunch
of
kids following an ice cream truck! Everyone came running out and waited
at
the parking spot for Boomer and me. Boomer taxied in front of me as I
pulled into my spot. Losing all professionalism and radio discipline, I
called out on Ops frequency, “Boomer, you’re the shit!”
Getting out of the jet and greeting all the bros and maintainers was the
greatest moment of my career! Our Ops Grp commander “Wilbur” E. was
first to shake my hand, followed by the mob! We were laughing, shouting,
hooting, high fiving and hugging! It was awesome! Unable to wait to
review
the tapes, we all piled into the “Turtle” and watched my HUD tapes.
Thank
God it recorded everything clearly, including the fireball from the
trailer.
“Homer” S. and “Bull” M. almost knocked me over when they came
storming into the Turtle! We were all screaming and jumping so hard in
the
Turtle I thought it was going to tip over! Too bad Boomer’s VSD tape
didn’t
run, and his HUD tape was washed out due to high aperture setting.
Boomer
and I were laughing and high fiving the entire car ride home! We weren’t
even suppose to fly that day!
AFTERTHOUGHTS
It took over a day for this to finally sink in — no kidding! It felt
almost
surreal that day/night. “Fish” B., our MX officer, said it best when he
saw
me hours after I shut down engines: “So, Claw, have you landed yet?”
Only
one way to describe this event: unbelievably fucking lucky! Not the fact
we
shot them down, but that they were airborne during our watch. Any Eagle
driver could’ve easily done what Boomer and I did, but as “Heater” G.
said, “You guys won the lottery!” The sequence of events happened in our
favor like the planets lining up. The jets, the missiles, the radar
(well, mine,
at least) performed marvelously! Our MX dudes deserve the bulk of the
credit. We had no spares that day. The crew chiefs and the Pro Super,
Jim
S., absolutely busted their asses working red balls and launched us on
time!
Boomer, my wingman, what can I say? Regardless of whose missile hit
which MiG, we shot down two Fulcrums that afternoon. We succeed as a
team, and fail as a team (good thing it was the former)! Boomer did an
outstanding job of finding the group, working the ID matrix and
targeting
according to plan. If I didn’t have faith in him, I would not have
broken lock
and broken out the lead trail formation. Of course, I’m proud of what we
did, but there’s one thing I’ll really stick out my chest for: To
everyone who
taught me and influenced me on my tactical flying and gave me long
debriefs
(though painful at times), especially “Razor” J., “Elwood” A., “Heater”
G.
(even though he’s a meat gazer...), “Homer” S., “Dozer” S., “Nuts” D.
and
“Bear” G., I DID NOT LET YOU GUYS DOWN! It doesn’t get much better
than this, guys!
Well, maybe two more kills would be pretty cool...
Claw, aka Po
As already mentioned, Capt Shower tells his MiG-29 story at the ACC News
site: http://www2.acc.af.mil/accnews/feb00/000067.html
--
Jarmo Lindberg
Fighter Tactics Academy: http://www.sci.fi/~fta/
Fighter Squadron 21: http://www.mil.fi/joukot/satlsto/
TJ
Many thanks for posting it.
For those of you who want to hear the actual audio of the engagement and
shootdown of two Serbian Mig-29Bs that took place on 26th March 1999, you
can find it at the following link:
http://deltahawks.org/index.htm
From the index click on 'Audio/Video' to take you to -
'Real Comms' - The file is called 'splash.mp3 (445k)
The audio was recorded by a Hungarian radio enthuisiast who was located in
Budapest. Equipment used was a
Yupiteru MVT-7200 scanner, preamplifier, and a yagi antenna.
A transcription of the audio is posted below. Call sign 'Dirk 1' is USAF
F-15C, serial 84-0014 flown by J. McMurray. Call sign 'Dirk 2' is USAF
F-15C, serial 86-0156 flown by J. Hwang. An official USAF review has awarded
the MiG kills to Captain J. Hwang. The aircraft, based at RAF Lakenheath,
England, sports two Republic of Yugoslavia Flags beneath the cockpit. The
pilots of two MiG-29B 'Fulcrum A' were Major Peric and his wingman Captain
First Class Radosavljevic.
Radosavljevic was killed in the engagement. F-15C, serial 84-0014 carries an
Iraqi flag for a Su-22M that was shot down on 20 March 1991 by Captain
Doneski.(Although I have seen it as Danesky)
Images of the two MiG-29Bs, which crashed in Bosnia-Herzegovina, can be
found at the following link:
MAGIC 77 (AWACS)
DIRK FLIGHT (2-ship F-15C.)
Magic 77 (AWACS): "All players, Magic-77 ... Magic clean, zero,
zero-three-zero, 45.[unintelligible] break, break"
Magic 77 (AWACS): "All players, Magic, picture - bogey
[unintelligible] zero-two-zero, forty-five, westbound, twenty thousand,
radar track."
Dirk 1(F-15 lead): "Dirk 1, contact there"
Dirk 1(F-15 lead): "Arm hot"
Dirk 1(F-15 lead): "Magic, Dirk, request "Purple Onion" (Codeword for
firing/engagement clearance?)
Magic 77 (AWACS): "Standby"
Unknown: "Clear"
Dirk 2 (F-15 wingman): "Two, bandit, MiG-29.one-four, forty-five,
twenty-three thousand"
Magic 77 (AWACS): "Magic, the same contact.bogey.radar, twenty-
two thousand"
Dirk 1(F-15 lead): "Dirk 2, threat hostile, hostile"
Dirk 2 (F-15 wingman): "Dirk 2, engaged there"
Dirk 1(F-15 lead): "Bogey, bandit maneuvering northbound"
Dirk 2 (F-15 wingman): "2 shows same.two's engaged"
Dirk 1(F-15 lead): "Press" (this is an ACM term for the wingman to
remain the engaged fighter)
Dirk 2 (F-15 wingman): "Zero-five-five, twenty-four, BRAA, twenty
thousand"
Dirk 1(F-15 lead): "Dirk, Combat jett" (combat jettison fuel tanks)
Magic 77 (AWACS): "Maneuvering north, twenty-four thousand"
Magic 77 (AWACS): "Do you show two contacts?"
Dirk 1(F-15 lead): "Copy, two contacts, Sir"
Dirk 2 (F-15 wingman): "Fox 3!" (AIM-120 missile launch)
Unidentified: "I have, eh, Frank 35 up, that's about it, it's
all yours."
Unidentified: "Oh, he's uh descending to two-three-zero if
he's not there already"
Magic 77 (AWACS): "One bandit's turning hot [unintelligible].
Dirk, Magic, zero forty-one"
F-15 - "SHOOT!"
F-15 - "..een thousand.. nose - 8 miles"
F-15 - "Dirk 1, [unintelligible] on nose"
Magic 77 (AWACS): "He's up to twenty-four thousand.southbound"
Dirk 2 (F-15 wingman): "Splash 2, splash 2 MiG-29s! Bullseye, three-
six-zero, thirty six!"
F-15 - "Switch radar"
Magic 77 (AWACS): "Do you copy Splash 2?"
Dirk 1(F-15 lead): "A-firm, splash 2"
Magic 77 (AWACS): "At this time picture clear, picture clear"
Magic 77 (AWACS): "Clean.give me your.give me the bogey's
position"
Magic 77 (AWACS): "[unintelligible] zero-zero-five, thirty-five,
eastbound"
TJ.
Jarmo Lindberg
TJ wrote:
>
> Excellent job, Jarmo! You always seem to find all the best stuff on the web!
> Many thanks for posting it.
My pleasure. If you want to keep in touch with military aerospace news
you might check the Fighter Tactics Academy Current News page at
http://www.sci.fi/~fta/aeronews.htm
I have put a bunch of news links over there to make news tracking a bit
easier. One other thing that I use is the Excite news page
(http://www.excite.com/) where you can personalize the news searches and
the engine will go through hundreds of international newspapers and
other news media in seconds based on your keywords. Warmly recommend it
- works.
Jarmo
Vladimir
I just want to say that I am happy to, finally see the clear thinking
discussion regarding the events during the last war. That is why I decided
to join this discussion
I want to point out something that looks a rather strange to me, when
looking in the light of the downing of the Yugoslav MiG's during the first
night of the war. There are some story about the friendly shot downs. They
haven't to be ruled out.
So far I haven't seen the serials of the Shower and Rodriguez aircraft!?
This is a bit strange for me since the serials of all other MiG killers
(KLu's F-16, F-15's flown on March 26th and USAF F-16) except this two.
About the serials:does anybody examined those photos posted on tuzla.net? I
think that that photo could give some clues about the serial of one of the
aircraft that were brought down.
An ask for Tj: I would be very thankful if You could me send a photo
published in Aircraft Illustrated of 86-0156
Any comments about this?
Vladimir
VJ
Glad to help...
Regards,
VJ
Gordon <krzta...@aol.comMAYBENOT> wrote in message
news:20000324234804...@ng-fw1.aol.com...
TJ
Vladimir <vla...@beotel.yu> wrote in message
news:8bl6fi$lpt$1...@neptun.beotel.net...
I would expect that the 'MiG Kill' markings are on Rodriquez and Shower's
F-15Cs but pictures (if any taken) haven't appeared in any
official/unofficial media to date as far as I'm aware. I don't think that
there is anything suspicious about this!The pictures on the 'Tuzla.net' show
that the fin area on the relatively intact MiG-29 is scorched obliterating
the serial on that side. This is widely believed to have been Peric's
aircraft. Has Peric given an interview detailing the events on the 26th
March?
I picked up the following on the 'Serbian Cafe' site which states references
to the Republic of Srpska and the use of his (Peric's) personal weapon
(CZ-99). I would be grateful if you, or anyone, could either confirm or
translate. Is there any truth in the account?
'>Slobodan Peric, pilot, potpukovnik VJ, bio je na pocetku rata pogodjen i
>katapultiran na
>teritoriju Republike Srpske. Priblizavali su mu se naoruzani seljaci:
>"Nisam znao ko su [Srbi ili Muslimani]. Da sam poceo da bezim, sasekli
>bi
>me. Svi su imali 'kalasnjikove'. Odlucio sam da im se javim i viknem:
>'Zdravo, momci!' Svi su stali. Sa njima je bilo troje-cetvoro dece koja
>su
>potrcala ka meni. Poceli su da vicu: 'Stanite, sve ce vas pobiti.' 'Ne
>bojte se, mi ne ubijamo decu!', rekao sam. Prisao mi je najhrabriji i
>trazio dokumenta. Nisam ih poneo. Oznake VJ na kombinezonu ne pomazu.
>Pita: 'Ko si?' Sta sad da mu kazem?! Ne znam da li su Srbi ili
>muslimani.
>'Nas sam!', kazem. 'Koji nas?', pita. 'Srbin!', odgovaram. 'Vidi
>agresora,
>majku mu... Zna srpski!', dobaci neko iz grupe. 'Sta imas u dzepovima?',
>
>pita glavni. Izvadio sam pistolj, a on kaze: 'Jes, nas pistolj, CZ-99!'
>
>Drugi mi u dzepu nadje 200-300 dinara i vice: 'Jes nas, j... mater! Da
>je
>Amerikanac imao bi vise para!'" ("Svedok") '
Can you give me any information on what information is being shown on RTS or
any other station in the Republic of Yugoslavia in regards to the events
last year. Judging by the frenzy on the 'Serbian Cafe' forum the TV stations
seem to be up to their old tricks of spouting some mistruths.
From the very misguided Mladen Stekovic site:
'.... Yugoslavia showed a documentary on RV i PVO. It was said that 2xNeva M
missiles were launched at the F-117 shot-down over Yugoslavia, early in the
campaign. The missile that hit the invisible airplane was called "NATALIJA"
(Nathalie). It was also said that a total of 30 airplanes, 2 helicopters and
45 cruise missiles were shot-down by RV i PVO VJ. In the same documentary,
there was an interview with a soldier who shot-down a Harrier with Igla SAM.
In the same documentary, it was confirmed that additional 2 F-117s were hit
and that they have information that B-2 "Sprit of Missouri" had been hit and
damaged (not shot-down). Alas, the long awaited confirmations have somewhat
came. On March 24.03.2000, a year after NATO aggression, a documentary was
shown where Jacques Chirac confirmed that France lost 2 pilots over
Yugoslavia while visiting a base Mont-de-Marsand. Lost, being....what??
Ejected?? Captured?? Killed?? That means that at least one airplane (Mirage
2000, probably) was shot-down. These are reported shot-downs:
April 15 A French Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft was shot down over Podgorica
in the evening hours of 04-15-99. The aircraft crashed into the Rumjie hill.
The plane was shot down by Lt. Zdravko Bankovic, who on the same day shot
down a Tornado ground strike aircraft, using the same L70 Bofors. According
to reports, the Mirage was only lightly damaged, but the pilot panicked and
ejected. He was captured shortly after.
May 7 Another French Mirage 2000 was downed between 3:43 and 4:30 on May 7,
1999 by a Yugoslav SA-6. The aircraft crashed near Svrljig, about 30 km
northeast of Nis. The SA-6 SAM system responsible for this kill fired a
total of 4 missiles during the war with NATO and downed 2 NATO combat jets.'
Hmmm, ' B-2 "Sprit of Missouri" ' No explanation, from Mladen, as to how the
documentary makers know the exact name/serial of the B-2. It must have been
the Mayday sent out, "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, this is 'Spirit of Missouri'
":->
As to the claim that Jacques Chirac has confirmed the loss of two pilots-
Herewith Jacque Chirac's speech at Mont-de-Marsan air base:
I would be grateful if anyone can find any mention in his of these two
pilots that the documentary is supposed to have claimed?!
TJ.
PS. Vladimir, thanks for the confirmation that you received the picture of
the F-15.
Jörg Bihlmayr
TJ schrieb:
>
<snip>
>
>
> As to the claim that Jacques Chirac has confirmed the loss of two pilots-
>
> Herewith Jacque Chirac's speech at Mont-de-Marsan air base:
>
> http://www.elysee.fr/
>
> I would be grateful if anyone can find any mention in his of these two
> pilots that the documentary is supposed to have claimed?!
Hello TJ!
Chirac visited Mont-de-Marsan on the 17. March 2000. Here is the direct link to
his speech (in Frech, of course):
http://www.elysee.fr/cgi-bin/auracom/aurweb/search_all/file?aur_file=discours/2000/marsan00.html
Nowhere in this speech is the loss of one (or even two) Mirage or any other a/c
mentioned.
Regards
Jörg
outsider
Copy of interview / article that appeared in Vojska concerning Peric.
I'm not even going to attempt a translation but I'm sure someone will do the
honours.
Potpukovnik pilot Slobodan Peric
ZNAO SAM STA MI JE CINITI
Kada su se prvi agresori ustremili prema jugoslovenskoj granici, potpukovnik
pilot Slobodan Peric je u kabini svoje letelice iscekivao znak za poletanje.
- Neprijatelj na nivou 17 iz pravca 02 ulazi u nas vazdusni prostor - bile su
poslednje reci koje je od kontrole letenja cuo pre nego sto se maksimalnom
brzinom uputio prema cilju. Jos jednom je proverio naoruzanje i ukljucio
radar...
- Znajuci da je domet agresorskog naoruzanja veci, leteo sam tako da me sto
kasnije uoce. U tome je bila moja velika sansa. Vec u rejonu Lazarevca otkrio
sam neprijateljski par koji je hitao prema prestonici. Znajuci sta mi je ciniti
otpoceo sam manevar za napad. Uljezi su me primetili i naglo okrenuli letelice
prema smeru iz kojeg su dosli. Tog trenutka bilo mi je jasno da su price o „Top
ganu" izandjalazvaka za internu upotrebu. Nanisanio sam i pritisnuo dugme za
lansiranje. Pre nego sto sam velikim opterecenjem krenuo u zaokret iz pravca na
koji sam upravo lansirao rakete, primetio sam blesak.
Pilot Slobodan Peric nije imao vremena da se raduje onome sto je pre nekoliko
trenutaka ucinio. Snazna eksplozija pracena jakim vibracijama potresla je njegov
avion. Letelica je pocela da gubi visinu. Otkazale su komande, avion je postao
neupravljiv. Povukao je rucicu za katapultiranje...
- Odmah posle prizemljenja primetio sam da sa obliznjeg brda pristize naoruzana
grupa ljudi. Posao sam im u susret. Na nekoliko koraka od njih uperili su oruzje
i povikali da stanem.
- Vas sam braco, Srbin sam - uzviknuo sam.
Koscati seljak s brkovima repetirao je automat i uzviknuo:
- Vidi agresora, majku mu ... zna srpski. Potom mi je prisao i ugledao pistolj.
- Jes nas pistolj, CZ-99, ala se ovaj dobro kamufliro, rekao je.
Tog trenutka Peric je shvatio da sa mestanima nece lako izaci na kraj. Predlozio
im je da telefonom nazovu njegovu porodicu i provere da li je istina ono sto
govori. Tek kada je supruga Vera potvrdila istinitost njegovih reci, seljani su
sklonili oruzje. Tada su rodjena nova prijateljstva koja ce trajati i biti jaka
bas kaozelja potpukovnika pilota Slobodana Perica da sto pre ponovo poleti.
regards
outsider
PS. Do you want a copy of the others as well? (Nikolic, Kulacin, Arizanov,
Ilic, Milutinovic and Malinovic)
Zoltan Pele
>(Nathalie). It was also said that a total of 30 airplanes, 2 helicopters and
>45 cruise missiles were shot-down by RV i PVO VJ.
The word was "hit" ("pogodjen").
>In the same documentary,
>there was an interview with a soldier who shot-down a Harrier with Igla SAM.
Again, he only said that the missile struck the plain, no mention of a
shotdown.
--
In every colour there's the light.
In every stone sleeps a crystal.
Remember the Shaman, when he used to say:
"Man is the dream of the dolphin".
<---------------------------------------------------->
Pelle Zoltán <gen...@cyberdude.NOSP.com>(Remove NOSP)
http://genesys.freehosting.net ICQ# : 8477892
<---------------------------------------------------->
Abramovic
Lieutenant colonel pilot Slobodan Peric
I Knew what I had to do
When the first aggressors poised toward the Yugoslav border, Lieutenant
colonel pilot Slobodan Peric was in the cockpit of his aircraft, awaiting
the signal for takeoff.
-Enemy at Level 17 form direction 02 is entering our airspace-were the last
words he heard from air traffic control before he sped towards the target at
maximum speed. Once again, he checked his weapons and turned on his radar...
-Knowing that the range of the aggressors' weapons was greater, I flew so as
to be detected as late as possible. That was my big chance. Already in the
Lazarevac region I detected an enemy pair that was speeding towards the
capital. Knowing what I had to do, I started to maneuver for attack. The
intruders saw me, and sharply turned to the direction whence they came. At
that moment it became clear to me that the stories about "Top Gun" were
"chewed-out gum" (not certain about this, but it is the most likely
translation)for internal use only. I aimed and pressed the button for
launching. Before I started a high-G turn form the direction where I
launched the missiles, I noticed a flash.
Pilot Slobodan Peric didn't have time to be happy about the things he did
earlier. A powerful explosion followed by strong vibrations shook his plane.
The aircraft started to lose altitude. The controls have failed, the plane
became uncontrollable. He pulled the eject handle...
-Right after I touched the ground I noticed that an armed group of people
was approaching me from a nearby hill. I went towards them. A few steps
away,
they pointed their weapons at me and told me to stop.
-I'm yours, brother, I'm a Serb-I yelled
A bony peasant with mustaches loaded his gun and yelled:
-see the aggressor,his mother... ( a common profanity-direct translation:I
f**k his mother-majku mu jebem njegovu). Then he approached and saw the gun
-it is our gun, CZ-99, this one camouflaged himself good, he said
At that moment Peric realized it won't be easy to deal with the locals. he
suggested to them to call his family and check that what he's talking is
true. Only when his wife, Vera, confirmed the truthfulness of his words did
the locals put away their weapons. New friendships were born then that will
last and be strong, just as Lieutenant colonel pilot's Peric wish to fly
again.
Regards,
Tvrtko
Petar Lazarevski
TJ<TJ1...@MY-DEJA.COM wrote in message
<7cHD4.748$jk1....@nnrp4.clara.net>...
>I picked up the following on the 'Serbian Cafe' site which states
references
>to the Republic of Srpska and the use of his (Peric's) personal weapon
>(CZ-99). I would be grateful if you, or anyone, could either confirm or
>translate. Is there any truth in the account?
OK, let's give it a try...
“ Slobodan Peric, pilot, lt.col. VJ was shot at the beginning of the war and
ejected over the territory of Republika Srpska. Armed peasants approached
him. “I haven’t known who they were (Serbs or Muslims). If I have started
running, they would have slaughtered me. They have all had “kalasnikovs”. I
have decided to salute them, so I shouted: “Hi, guys!” They have all
stopped. A few children who were with them have run towards me. They started
shouting: “Stop, he’ll kill you all!” “Don’t worry, we don’t murder
children!” I said. The bravest among them have approached me and asked for
some ID. I haven’t taken them with me. VJ marks on my uniform are of no
help. “Who are you?” he asks. What to say? I can’t tell whether they are
Serbs or Muslims. “I’m one of yours!” I say. “Us who?” he asks. “Serbian” I
reply. “The aggressor speaks Serbian! &@#$%$##@%”, said somebody from the
group. The main man asked: “What have you got in your pockets?” I have
pulled out my gun and he said: “Yeah, it’s our gun, CZ-99” The other guy
have pulled some 200-300 dinars ($5-$8) and shouted: “He is ours, mother
%$#@$@! If he were an American he would have had more money!”
(“The Witness”).
I apologize for this not-nearly-perfect translation, but I think one is able
to understand the general idea.
Of course, I can’t tell anything about the veracity of the text.
Regards, Peter
Abramovic
Petar Lazarevski <tex...@net.yu> wrote in message
news:8bodcn$9jt$1...@SOLAIR2.EUnet.yu...
> I apologize for this not-nearly-perfect translation, but I think one is
able
> to understand the general idea.
>
> Of course, I can’t tell anything about the veracity of the text.
>
> Regards, Peter
There's nothing wrong with the translation. It's good.
regards,
Tvrtko
Patrick Hayes
> Herewith Jacque Chirac's speech at Mont-de-Marsan air base:
>
> http://www.elysee.fr/
>
> I would be grateful if anyone can find any mention in his of these two
> pilots that the documentary is supposed to have claimed?!
Here you go. Straight from the translation service at www.altavista.com
(slightlt edited...)
MR JACQUES CHIRAC
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
MONT-DE-MARSAN THE AIR BASE
FRIDAY MARCH 17 2000
My General,
My Colonel,
Ladie & Gentlemen.
Firstly a word of thanks for you, general, for welcoming me, as always
with precision, your passion for your army, and the skill with which
you comprehensible to laymen that which what really occurs there, and
why it is admirable. When you are listened to, one is suddenly proud
to belong to a country which has an Air Force of this quality. I know
what it owes you, I know the place that it has in your life, of
course, in your heart, I know all that you made for it and I make a
point of expressing to you all my recognition.
The interest that I carry in the world of the civil aeronautics and
military is an old interest, even if my competence is weak, as some
among you know. But the pleasure that I feel today, by visiting the
air base of Mount-of-Marsan, one of most prestigious, is initially due
to satisfaction that tests the Head of the armies, to note the high
level of motivation and professionalism of the civil personnel and
soldiers who prepare the future here.
What I saw and heard, during this visit, initially confirms my
impression that the path to professionalisation is well underway and
is already contributing to the improvement of the operational
capacities of our forces.
The Air Force, as a whole, and Mount-of-Marsan base, in
particular, endeavoured to make a success of this major
transformation, while preceding, you said it to us this morning my
General, the deadline. And this thanks to the effort, with the
intelligence, the heart of the whole of the personnel of which I am
not unaware of the constraints that this transformation made weigh on
them, on their personal or family life.
The "technicians of the airforce", that I meet today, are
young enthusiastic, happy people to serve their country in a
developing environment. Officers and the warrant officers who form
them and who frame them appeared to me, rightly, concerned, very
concerned to help them to be integrated in the military community, but
also in the civil company to which they belong and which some will
find after a few years spent under the flags.
I know that the Air Force is a young and modern army. I know that it
is particularly attentive with the maintenance of its links with its
local and regional civil environment. This community of life and
thought is the condition necessary so that is established essential
osmosis between the professional army and the nation. It is also, as
you know, a requirement to ensure the recruitment and the reconversion
of your aviators.
In the same spirit, I make a point of stressing that your significant
participation and who were very appreciated with the cleaning of our
polluted ranges, with the fight against the consequences of the storm,
[ A major storm knocked out much of France's electrical & telephone
net just before new years eve] testify to your engagement to the
service of the very whole national community, and it was sensitive
there. The French indeed could measure, during these last months,
devotion, competence, the availability of their armies, whereas they
were already largely requested by external operations. And on their
behalf, I express you my gratitude and my recognition.
Naturally, the participation in emergency plans and the operations of
civil aide is not the armies primary mission. Naturally, It should not
be prolonged with the detriment of their operational readiness.
I thus wish to briefly return with you on the air operations of Kosovo
in which much among you took part, that is to say directly, in the sky
of Balkans, or indirectly, in Italy, in Corsica or here, at
Mount-of-Marsan.
I already had the occasion to strongly pay homage to the courage and
the professional rigour of our pilots and our mechanics. And I can
carry testimony of the unanimously admiring judgement related to them
by all the heads of State major of the countries with which we took
part in these operations of Kosovo. I would also like to underline
how much I have appreciate the reactivity of personnel of
Mount-of-Marsan base, when it became necessary to accelerate certain
programs which air operations depend on as well as when it became
necessary accomodate, for almost three months a doze allied tankers.
The lesson of the Kosovo crisis is multiple and I would like to
greet here the considerable work carried out by the ministry of
defense from which we shall benefit from in the future.
I will mention only, and the General Rannou will not contradict me,
that this conflict showed that, in certain cases, the air force could
be decisive. Of course, it was necessary to deploy a force of
peacekeepers afterwards, in the difficult context that we know, but
the air forces will have played a role determining in the process
which allowed the return, in their country, of hundreds of thousands
of Kosovars victims of a monstrous ideology.
and then, I repeat it because we should not be afraid of complimenting
ourselves from time to time, we have the second largest airforce in
with Kosovo, behind the United States of course, but before all
others, we have collected this unanimous feeling, I say again, of
quality of our intervention, of rigour of our work, and we can of be,
more exactly you can, of be legitimately proud.
But it is also clear that to be able to take part in coalition
operations, which became the general rule, France must have the
suitable capacities. The air over of Kosovo showed that the
choices carried out by the Air Force were coherent choices, but also
that there were certain insufficiencies which deserved to be
corrected. And it will be the objective of the future law of military
programming prepared by the ministry for Defense. I will take care for
my part so that it gives you the means of involving you and equipping
you in adequation with your needs, for the security for our country
and its ambitions for construction of Europe of defense.
To conclude, I want to say to you that the visit of your air base
enabled me to discover equipment and means of simulation which
fascinated me. But I retain especially the quality of the men and the
women, civil and military, of of course the DGA and other army but Air
Force, also, which I met, which lives, which works here, in good
intelligence, in perfect harmony.
My General, Mesdames, Messrs, you showed, collectively and
individually, that our country can count on you and you can be proud
of it.
Mesdames and Messrs, you showed that our country can count on you and
you can be proud of it.
I express you, for my part, all my confidence. I thank you.
Petar Lazarevski
Abramovic wrote in message <8bofrf$rpv$1...@as102.tel.hr>...
>There's nothing wrong with the translation. It's good.
Thanx...It's nice to hear something like this 'cause more than 8 years have
passed since I had spoken some real English (letters don't count, though).
Regards, Peter
Bailey of Belgium
Mirage 2000NK2 lost over Bosnia at the start of Operation
DELIBERATE FORCE in late August 1995.
I couldn't help noting that the official FRY claim for manned
aircraft shot down has dropped from 128 (immediate post war) to
61 to now 30...hmmmmn...and there's still only two at the museum.
Cheers,
B_o_B.
outsider
Thank you both for your translations. I am now trying to learn those
'&@#$%$##@' words. Maybe they will be helpful next time I am in JU????
outsider
Abramovic wrote:
> Petar Lazarevski <tex...@net.yu> wrote in message
> news:8bodcn$9jt$1...@SOLAIR2.EUnet.yu...
> > I apologize for this not-nearly-perfect translation, but I think one is
> able
> > to understand the general idea.
> >
> > Of course, I can’t tell anything about the veracity of the text.
> >
> > Regards, Peter
>
> There's nothing wrong with the translation. It's good.
>
> regards,
> Tvrtko
outsider
Bailey of Belgium wrote:
> The "two French pilots" Mladen claims probably refers to the
> Mirage 2000NK2 lost over Bosnia at the start of Operation
> DELIBERATE FORCE in late August 1995.
No. Mladen saw a post in another forum that made this claim. In his usual
manner he just plain assumed it was true without any follow up research.
> I couldn't help noting that the official FRY claim for manned
> aircraft shot down has dropped from 128 (immediate post war) to
> 61 to now 30...hmmmmn...and there's still only two at the museum.
Now unfortunately YOU have fallen into the Mladen syndrome and carried through
the belief that what you read in this NG is correct without further research.
:-( Sorry! But you're not the first.
Here are the actual 'offical' claims made by the Yugoslav authorities. They
NEVER claimed 128. That figure was one generated by an individual(s) in this NG
by totalling up all the claims by various JU Commanders. Everyone who then
accepted that figure has caught the Mladen bug as it only takes a little
research and knowledge of miltary command structure to recognise that there is
double and triple counting in that figure.
Here is the actual 'claim' made on 18 June 1999.
"........stressed Ojdanic adding that despite great material and technical
inferiority and smaller number of troops we managed to infict unexpected losses
to the enemy air force by downing 61 aggressor aircraft, 30 UAVs, 7 helicopters
and 238 cruise missiles."
The claim is made by te Head of the Supreme Command HQ, Army General Dragoljub
Ojdanic. Equating to Gen. Sir Charles Guthrie in the UK or Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs, General Ralston.
Now all the other figures quoted are by Commanders below Ojdanic and are
contained within this total.
According to lieutenant general Spasoje Smiljanic, the Air Force and Air Defense
commander (RV i PVO) on 17 June 1999:-
"The Yugoslav Air Force and Air Defence units have downed 36 airplanes, 42
cruise missiles, nine UAVs and two helicopters."
Now I have only provided these 2 quotes as they appear on the 'official'
Yugoslav website in english. Go there yourself and read them and check the
dates. Other Commanders made claims in serbian, including Admiral Zet on behalf
of the Navy and Gen. Pavkovic on behalf of the 3rd Army. Here again I ought to
clarify a little about the command structure.
The RV i PVO is an independant force reporting to the 'High Command'. It
includes air defence and attack aircraft, air defence radar and (radar) air
defence missile systems. However, individual units would take their daily
orders in times of conflict through the area Commander. So Airforce units in
Kosovo would be commanded by the 3rd Army Commander. Therefore, and this is the
important part, Airforce claims in Kosovo would be included in both the RV i PVO
claims AND the 3rd Army claims and so on.
However, there is also another point that may confuse the issue. The Army has
down to platoon level, SAM and AAA systems which do NOT come under any form of
Airforce control. So a claim by a soldier with a IR manportable SAM-7 would be
ONLY in the Army totals, but a claim by a SAM-6 would be in both.
To conclude, the official YU total was and ALWAYS was 61. Smaller claims made
by individual Commanders also have not altered.
If you have read this far without typing up you responses along the lines of
'show us proof of these 61, two in the museum is not good
enough........blah......blah......', good. Because I also do NOT believe that
they shot down 61. All I'm trying to point out is that people in NG have not
got their facts straight. The Mladen infection is catching!
outsider
Bailey of Belgium
My "128-61-30" post was not meant as an indication that I'm
accepting anything at face value, merely a stab at the likes of
Mladen who still list 128 on their pages (as of today). And I
am well aware of the differences between PVO and organic army
air defenses, not only in the VJ but elsewhere.
I do have one favor to ask, though: surely you know that
equating anyone with Mladen is probably the biggest insult you
can offer on this newsgroup. I'd ask you not do that to me, if
it was your intention. From the sound of him, I've been
involved professionally with military aviation longer than that
whinging git's been alive.
Cheers,
B_o_B
Petar Lazarevski
outsider wrote in message <38E08719...@mailgetlost.com>...
>Tvrtko and Peter,
>
>Thank you both for your translations. I am now trying to learn those
>'&@#$%$##@' words. Maybe they will be helpful next time I am in JU????
You're welcome.
Please don't try to learn those words...
Regards, Peter
TJ
>
> Petar Lazarevski <tex...@net.yu> wrote in message
> news:8bodcn$9jt$1...@SOLAIR2.EUnet.yu...
> > I apologize for this not-nearly-perfect translation, but I think one is
> able
> > to understand the general idea.
> >
> > Of course, I can't tell anything about the veracity of the text.
> >
> > Regards, Peter
>
> There's nothing wrong with the translation. It's good.
>
> regards,
> Tvrtko
>
>
I'll jump in here with a very big THANK YOU! to Tvrtko, Jorg, Outsider and
Petar for taking the time and trouble to post and translate the information
that I requested. Yes, it would be interesting for the interviews of
Nikolic, Kulacin, Arizanov, Milutinovic and Malinovic to be published and
accurately translated. If parties such as Mladen, Venik and Air Forces
Monthly had published these interviews accurately then misunderstandings,
and the resulting 'twisting of the facts' would not have occurred. Many
thanks to all those who have joined this discussion and have presented their
case in a civilised and courteous manner.
TJ.
outsider
> My "128-61-30" post was not meant as an indication that I'm accepting anything
> at face value, merely a stab at the likes of Mladen who still list 128 on
> their pages (as of today).
Personally I do not visit Mladen's site so have no idea what his claims are, the
last I heard was 300+!!!!!
If you have not fallen for the 'Mladen sickness', then I must apologise for my
assumption. However, if you truely belived that it was only 61 officially
claimed and that opinion has not waivered since June last year (only you will
know if that is so) then it would appear that you are trying to 'bait' Mladen or
others of his ilk. I would ask you to refrain from doing that.
Throughout the latter half of 1999, Mladen and others did no service to this NG
by their incoherent rubbish and lies. Western posters took up the challenge to
mock him and did themselves proud. However, they also allowed themselves into
doubting anything and everything that comes out of JU. Any poster with a JU or
Russian sounding name or email address was automatically dismissed. Every
thread in this NG that touches on the war last year ends up being debased by
combative statements and blinkered attitude. Your post was a perfect example of
this.
I for one would like to see a sensible and reasoned debate about many aspects of
that campaign from BOTH sides of the spectrum. I notice in the last few weeks
this is beginning to come through with the likes of VJ, Zoltan, Vladimir,
Peter's return and a couple of others. In just 2 or 3 posts our knowledge of
the night of the 24th has changed dramatically with the help of these
individuals. We do not have to agree with everything they tell us, but lets put
the debate on a more mature level.
> And I am well aware of the differences between PVO and organic army air
> defenses, not only in the VJ but elsewhere.
Good. But it is was necessary to put that in there because other readers may
not have understood it.
> I do have one favor to ask, though: surely you know that equating anyone with
> Mladen is probably the biggest insult you can offer on this newsgroup. I'd
> ask you not do that to me, if it was your intention.
Favour granted if you return my request and refrain from aggressive or combative
posts that add nothing to the debate.
> From the sound of him, I've been involved professionally with military
> aviation longer than that whinging git's been alive.
That's not hard to achieve, although one I can't claim myself. :-(
outsider
outsider
TJ wrote:
> I'll jump in here with a very big THANK YOU! to Tvrtko, Jorg, Outsider and
> Petar for taking the time and trouble to post and translate the information
> that I requested. Yes, it would be interesting for the interviews of
> Nikolic, Kulacin, Arizanov, Milutinovic and Malinovic to be published and
> accurately translated. If parties such as Mladen, Venik and Air Forces
> Monthly had published these interviews accurately then misunderstandings,
> and the resulting 'twisting of the facts' would not have occurred. Many
> thanks to all those who have joined this discussion and have presented their
> case in a civilised and courteous manner.
>
> TJ.
Well my part is easy. I do just like you and cut and paste. It's those doing
the translations that have all the hard work. Thanks therefore should be
directed their way.
All the following texts are (were) available from the JU Gvt website. I
downloaded them to my HD last Spring as they became available. Anyone wishing
to check the validity of dates and text against mine for changes please feel
free to ask. I have not been to that site for some time as it appears (or at
least that section) to have not been updated since July/August last year.
outsider
U RATU SE RADJAJU HEROJI
Od prvog dana rata leteca masinerija za ubijanje obrusila se na nase pilote,
avione, aerodrome... Hijene NATO-a nisu prestajale da ih progone, danju i nocu,
sumanuto ih traze i - ne nalaze. Umesto toga, bes iskaljuju tako sto unistavaju
zgrade, ucionice, kabinete, institute...
Iako su udarili mucki, nikoga nisu iznenadili niti zatekli nespremnog. Tome u
prilog govori i prica o jedinici „Tigrova" koja je neprijatelju najpre nanela
gubitke, a onda nestala sa njihovih radara. U jednom potezu, poput carolije.
Pocetkom oktobra prepoznali su oblake ratne pretnje koja se nadvijala nad nasim
nebom. Od tada su pocele pripreme za dvojaku ulogu - da se suprotstave
neprijatelju i sacuvaju ljude i tehniku, kaze potpukovnik Sreto Milinovic. Znali
su sta ih ceka i koliko ce agresor biti okrutan. Pocetak napada spremno je
docekan, cime je propao faktor iznenadjenja na koji su obilato racunali stratezi
kasapnice NATO-a. Jedinica je odmah zauzela planirani borbeni raspored. Brzo,
vesto i strucno. Dragoceno ratno iskustvo doslo je do potpunog izraza, istice
major Dejan Joksimovic.
Odmah posle povratka iz vazdusnog boja, pilotima su priskakali u pomoc
pripadnici vazduhoplovnotehnickog sastava, na celu s majorima Jovanom Dimicem i
Draganom Vlahovicem. Pod neprijateljskim bombama sklanjali su tehniku, opremu,
naoruzanje... Tada su se potpuno iskazali veliko iskustvo i organizatorske
sposobnosti majora Dragana Cimbura.
Piloti suzarkozeleli da se vrate u borbu, ali je mudrije bilo sacekati neku
povoljniju priliku, naglasava komandant. Za najteze zadatke javljali su se i
ljudi s manje iskustva, koji su se tek vratili sa skolovanja, poput kapetana
prve klase Valerija Lovrana.
Vec sutradan opet su krenuli u bitku, veliko srce protiv cuda tehnike, domaca
pamet protiv visokosofisticiranih mozgova, David protiv Golijata. Zahvaljujuci
majoru Joksimovicu, obezbedjeni su, kako se to kaze, optimalni uslovi za
dejstvo, polazak na zadatak u najkracem roku i bezbedan povratak u bazu.
U borbenim zadacima istakli su se majori Predrag Milobratovic, Josip Zeli i
Slobodan Dimovski, kapetani prve klase Nenad Ivkovic, Dejan Vasiljevic i Slavko
Kocic, kapetani Denis Andjelkovic i Miodrag Ristic, porucnici Veljko Veljovic i
Nebojsa Svjetlica...
„Tigrovi" su mlad sastav RV i PVO, ciji su pripadnici odreda visoko obuceni i
maksimalno psihofizicki pripremljeni. Medju njima vlada neopisivo drugarstvo i
poverenje, u atmosferi koja se ogleda po celicnoj odluci da se izdrzi i pobedi.
Po svaku cenu!
Umeju oni da se pritaje, pazestoko napadnu, uvek imaju neki adut u rukavu koji
je za neprijatelja nocna mora. Narod ih voli i cvrsto im veruje, posebno
prijatelji jedinice Mladen DZido, Ceda Artinovic, Zoran Debeljak...
U ratu se radjaju heroji naseg naroda koji, poput „Tigrova", ostaju u
nezaboravnim pricama. 
B. KOPUNOVIC
Ratno vazduhoplovstvo i protivvazdusna odbrana
JURISI PILOTA I ODSUDNA ODBRANA
Stavljajuci se u ulogu vojnog servisa siptarskih terorista i nacionalista
fasista, akteri agresije iz vazduha na nasu zemlju nisu ni slutili da ce hrabri
i odlucni branioci naseg neba bas preko olupina njihovih aviona na srpskoj
zemlji uci u istoriju savremenog ratovodstva. Kao da su zaboravili pouke i
poruke naseg naroda i njegovu odlucnost da do poslednjeg brani svoju slobodu, a
jesu, kao sto su zaboravili i istorijska ratna saveznistva.
Dvadeset cetvrti mart tekuce godine visestruko ce uci u istoriju ratovanja: po
bescascu i agresiji NATO-a na nasu zemlju, kao sramna stranica istorije dela
savremenog sveta, po hipokriziji i nemoralu vodja tehnicki najopremljenijih
zemalja danasnjice, ciji se celnici smatraju demokratama i predvodnicima
slobodnog sveta. S druge strane, nas narod i njegova vojska, junacki odolevajuci
zlocinackim hordama, ispisuju nove stranice svoje istorije. I vise od toga:
pokazuju miroljubivom delu sveta i vazdusnim falangama NATO-a kako se voli i
brani sloboda malog velikog naroda na balkanskoj „raskrsnici svetova".
Stati na put tehnicki mocno opremljenim ubicama sa neba, ljudima bez
elementarnog morala, jeste podvig koji nece moci da zaobidje istorija skraja
ovog veka. U svetle stranice odbrambenog ratovanja, tu vec sada nema sumnje,
bice upisan vid Ratnog vazduhoplovstva i protivvazdusne odbrane nase zemlje,
jer hrabrost i pozrtvovanje nasih ljudi predstavljaju primer kako se cuva i
brani sloboda naroda i drzave, kako je to istakao predsednik SRJ i vrhovni
komandant oruzanih snaga Savezne Republike Jugoslavije Slobodan Milosevic,
odajuci priznanje svim pripadnicima tog vida Vojske Jugoslavije i njegovim
najhrabrijim pojedincima.
Stavljajuci se u ulogu vojnog servisa siptarskih terorista i nacionalista
fasista, akteri agresije iz vazduha na nasu zemlju nisu ni slutili da ce hrabri
i odlucni branioci naseg neba bas preko olupina njihovih aviona na srpskoj
zemlji uci u istoriju savremenog ratovodstva. Kao da su zaboravili pouke i
poruke naseg naroda i njegovu odlucnost da do poslednjeg brani svoju slobodu, a
jesu, kao sto su zaboravili i istorijska ratna saveznistva.
Ti savremeni vandali i ubice, naprosto, ne znaju da u ovoj zemlji ni smrt nije
samo smrt i da se ovde izzivota odlazi najcesce u vojnickoj uniformi, da ovaj
narod uvek racuna na svoje vojnike i pesnike: prvi su uvek znali da brane
slobodu otadzbine, drugi takodje, ali i da to opevaju i ostave u nasledje novim
generacijama. Zar vas to cudi. Kad je ugrozena sloboda, u ovoj zemlji je sve u
znaku dezurstva. I ovog marta, kao i onog 1941, nasi piloti su potrcali prema
svojim avionima i jurnuli ka nebu, na agresora. Srbija je u njima i u inim
cuvarima srpskog i jugoslovenskog neba dobila nove Obilice. Letovi su to za svoj
narod, ali i istoriju .
I oni cije suzivote prekratili natovski projektilizive u nama svojeglavo upornim
i kada ih nema, oni ustrajavaju u svojoj braci. Jedan od takvih je i major
magistar Zoran Radosavljevic, pilot lovac ciji je MiG oborila natovska vazdusna
horda. Rodjen je pre samo 34 godine na Kosmetu, u kolevci srpske drzave i
pamcenja, a sahranjen juce na jednom beogradskom groblju. Ogorcenje prema
agresoru i ljubav prema narodu iz kojeg je ponikao bili su na ovim prostorima
uvek jaci od straha i smrti. Na sahrani hrabrog pilota Radosavljevica govorili
su njegovi drugovi letaci i zavetovali se da ce uzletati ponovo, ponovo...
„Sine, majka ce se ponositi tobom", obratila se gospodja u crnom svome jedincu,
poslednji put. A sve majke u ovoj zemlji pozelele bi da radjaju bas takve
sinove, heroje. 
Milijan R. ANDRIC
Potpukovnik pilot LJubisa Kulacin
NEMOGU DA POROBE CEO NAROD
Pilot potpukovnik LJubisa Kulacin vinuo se u nebo one crne srede 24. marta kada
su Jugoslaviju iz vazduha napali avioni neprijateljske armade NATO. Odbranio se
od pretecih krstarecih raketa kojima je bio meta i uspeo da uprkos nadmoci
agresorove avijacije sleti sa svojim neostecenim avionom MiG-29.
- Nema tu mnogo da se prica. Radio sam sve sto je trebalo i mislim da sam mogao
i vise - kazuje Kulacin, a njegove malobrojne reci ubrzo proguta tisina. Hteo bi
nesto da kaze, a u isto vreme i ne bi, jer se plasi da ne bude pogresno shvacen,
jer nezeli da kao junak bude dizan u nebesa. Malo prica, mnogo cuti, ali ta
cutnja sve kazuje.
Tisina se izmedju sagovornika rasprostrla ko more. Odlutao je pilotov pogled,
mozda ka Batajnici. Prezivljava potresne trenutke stradanja svoga naroda. Mozda
sedi u kabini i ceka signal za poletanje. Bez razmisljanja. Hladne glave. Odavno
je odeljen od uobicajene svakodnevice, odvojen profesijom od porodice, sam sa
svojim dvadeset petogodisnjim iskustvom u RV, sa 23 godine druzenja sa MiG-ovima
i 12 sa dvadeset devetkom.
- Uzleteo sam kada su krstarece rakete pocele da padaju na Batajnicki aerodrom.
Bilo je to oko 20,30 - prekida cutnju pilot Kulacin. Poleteo sam prema severu.
Kada sam bio izmedju Beceja i Ecke pojavile su se smetnje na mom radaru. Ostao
sam sâm na uzavrelom nebu. U jednom trenutku sam upao u protivnicku mrezu i
osetio da sam osvetljen. Postao sam meta. Sve sto se desavalo potom bilo je
pitanje trenutka. Iz mene su progovorili iskustvo i rutina. To je bilo presudno
da uradim pravi potez i vestim manevrom izbegnem unistenje.
Prica kako mu jezao sto nije uspeo da pomogne svom kolegi majoru Nebojsi
Nikolicu ciji je avion bio pogodjen pa je morao da se katapultira. Svo vreme je
mislio na njega, a o svomzivotu nije razmisljao. To je normalna reakcija coveka
koji je 18 godina ucitelj letenja.
Ta bitka na nebu trajala je samo 15 minuta a cinilo se kao vecnost. Najteze je
bilo, kako kaze, da prelomi u sebi i shvati da smo napadnuti surovo, bez objave
rata, punom brutalnoscu neprijateljske avijacije.
- Mi smo to mogli da ocekujemo i pripremali smo se, ali je malo ko u to verovao.
Mislili smo da ima mnogo vise humanosti u svetu, ali smo se prevarili.
Neprijatelj nastupa zlikovacki, ne postuje nikakva pravila, deluje prljavo. I
sada mislim da nas provociraju da poletimo kako bi nas sacekali u zasedi i
unistili. Ja sam, uprkos svemu, siguran da cemo se odbraniti. Vreme radi za nas,
mi smo hrabro odoleli prvom udaru i znamo sa kakvim neprijateljem se borimo.
NJihove pilote hvata strah jer su ocekivali da cemo brzo pasti na kolena pod
raketama njihove snazne armade. Tu su se prevarili. Svakim napadom smo sve
snazniji i odlucniji da se odbranimo. Uz nas je i narod. A oni nikada nece moci
da pokore ceo narod - prica pilot polako izgovarajuci reci. U njegovim umornim
ocima na trenutak zaiskrizar kadzeli da dobre istakne i kudjene jos vise pokudi.
Podrhtava mu glas i zatreperi gnevom uvek kad pomene snage NATO, zapale se misli
i reci kad se seti agresije, kad se pred ocima rasprostru slike rusenja i
paljevine zemlje.
- Nemojte nas dizati u zvezde. Heroj je ovaj narod koji sve ovo izdrzava.
Velicina nas pilota je u tome sto smo imali srce da prvi poletimo u susret
neprijatelju. A to je nas posao, najodgovorniji zadatak, to je cast profesije -
istice potpukovnik LJubisa Kulacin, najstariji pilot slavne eskadrile Vitezova,
vladaoca plavog neba. 
M. VUCINIC
Potpukovnik pilot Milorad Milutinovic
CEKAM NOVE BORBENE LETOVE
Pilot Milorad Milutinovic je na jednom od aerodroma (iz razumljivih razloga ne
navodimo lokaciju) bio na borbenom dezurstvu, spreman da za izuzetno kratko
vreme poleti na borbeni zadatak.
Sa prvom povredom naseg vazdusnog prostora krstarecim raketama dobio je signal
za uzbunu. Samo minut-dva nakon toga odlepio se od piste. Krenuo je u susret
roju ostrascenih kobaca, u cijem je srcu i dusu bila samo jedna namera - da
razore sve ono sto sadrzi odrednicu „srpsko". Bila je to borba Davida i
Golijata. Malobrojni avioni suprotstavili su se roju letelica naoruzanih
najsavremenijim sredstvima koja su dosad iznedrena na kugli zemaljskoj.
- Krenuo sam u susret ogromnoj formaciji, kakva jos nije vidjena u dosadasnjim
ratnim dejstvima. Osionost agresorovih pilota brzo je splasla. Necete verovati,
ali istina je da su ispred mog aviona poceli panicno da beze, menjajuci brzine i
visine leta. Uprkos ogromnom borbenom obezbedjenju njihovih snaga, koje
podrazumeva elektronsko ometanje i prijem znacajnih podataka sa „anjaksa" u
realnom vremenu, te drugim merama, desio mi se peh koji nisam ocekivao. Dogodio
se kvar na izuzetno znacajnom uredjaju koji vise nisam mogao da stavim u
funkciju. Ali zar bi pilot koji brani otadzbinu tek tako mogao da odustane.
Stisnuo sam zube i krenuo im u susret. Kroz glavu mi se vrzmala i misao o
pilotima koji su u neravnopravnoj borbi stitili nas glavni grad 1941. godine.
Imao sam na umu svu decu i ostalu nasu nejac koju treba zastititi od projektila
i smrtonosnih bombi. Mada sam vec imao indikacije da sam ozracen i da mi je u
susret krenula raketa, ne caseci ni sekunda, ispalio sam raketu prema najblizem
agresorskom avionu. Naglim zaokretom, trpeci opterecenje koje nikada dosad nisam
imao, pokusao sam da izbegnem protivnicki projektil. Medjutim, samo nekoliko
sekundi kasnije, na mom avionu odjeknula je snazna eksplozija.
Javio sam da je letelica pogodjena i da cu uciniti sve da spasem avion.
Upravljacka palica, medjutim, nije reagovala. Pokusao sam jos nekoliko puta, ali
sve je bilo uzaludno. Letelica je strmoglavo letela prema zemlji. Nije bilo
druge do da aktiviram rucicu za katapultiranje.
Posle prizemljenja major Milutinovic se, nakon orijentacije, zaputio do prvog
sela. Tamo je naisao na teritorijalnu komponentu nase odbrane i odmah se javio
pretpostavljenoj komandi. Ubrzo zatim dosla je ekipa za spasavanje, koja ga je
brzo prebacila u prvu specijalizovanu vojnozdravstvenu ustanovu. Ustanovljeno je
da nema vitalnih povreda i, u skladu sa svetskim normama za takve slucajeve,
lekari su mu odredili mirovanje. Pilot nije poslusao lekara da se odmori u krugu
porodice vec je pohitao u jedinicu lovaca presretaca da zajedno sa kolegama
doprinese odbrani zemlje.
- Jedva cekam da se ponovo vinem u nebo, da protivnike sateram u misju rupu. Oni
su, pokazalo se, kukavice. Ocigledno su svesni da vode nepravedan rat. Nemaju
motiva, dok mi branimo nas narod, nase svetinje i opstanak na ovom prostoru.
Jurisacemo joszesce. Tehnicka prednost koju imaju topi se pred nasom odlucnoscu
da odbranimo otadzbinu - rekao je pilot Milorad Milutinovic.
Milutinovic, koga drugovi iz miloste zovu „Grof", na supersonicnim avionima leti
vec 22 godine. Nedavno je unapredjen u cin potpukovnika, a za koji dan bice
ponovo za komandama svoje letelice. 
Z. PESIC
Potpukovnik pilot Dragan Ilic
SAM PROTIV ESKADRILE
Potpukovnik pilot naseg RV i PVO Dragan Ilic je srdacan i prijatan sagovornik.
Jedan je od onih koji je u noci agresije na nasu zemlju prihvatio neravnopravnu
vazdusnu bitku protiv neuporedivo nadmocnije falange agresorskih snaga.
Medjutim, u ponecemu je zasigurno bio nadmocniji od napadaca: u ljubavi prema
svome narodu i velikom srcu.
- Znao sam dobro kvalitete aviona
NATO-a , ali bez obzira na to poleteo sam na MiG-u 29 zbog naroda i za narod -
kaze skromno Ilic ne smatrajuci to herojstvom vec obavezom prema odbrani
otadzbine i profesiji i dodaje: „Kolega Arizanov i ja smo medju najstarijim
pilotima izeleli smo da damo primer mladjima."
I odista je bilo tako. Usli su u neravnopravnu bitku nad juznom srpskom
pokrajinom i negde izmecu Kosovske Mitrovice i Peci Iliceva dvadeset devetka je
pogodjena.
- Imao sam indikaciju da sam uhvacen u zahvat neprijateljske rakete. Vatrena
kugla je grunula u avion i letilica je zadrhtala. Stakla na kabini su ispucala i
zamaglila se. Nisam osetio promene u radu motora i razmisljao sam kako da spasim
avion. Malom brzinom, oko 0,5 maha, usmerio sam avion prema maticnom aerodromu.
A da ispucala stakla na pilotskoj kabini nisu izdrzala, sve bi bilo drugacije:
morao bih da se katapultiram izrtvujem MiG.
A nasi piloti se u krajnjoj nuzdi odlucuju na napustanje aviona u koje, kako
rece Ilic, imaju veliko poverenje. A o strahu, cim se poleti, nema razmisljanja.
I junak ove price je samo razmisljao o tome da ne osramoti svoje sinove i ovaj
narod.
Potpukovnik Dragan Ilic je Beogradjanin, cetrdesetogodisnjak, pilot lovac
nadzvucnih aviona od 1981. godine. I mladji njegov sin ce verovatno jednoga dana
u plave visine, ocevim putem. Da nasledi hrabrog oca koji je spreman opet da
poleti i da brani cast ovog naroda i slobodu naseg neba. 
M. R. ANDRIC
Potpukovnik pilot Iljo Arizanov
29 NA JEDNOGA
Pripravnost broj jedan. Tacno u 19 sati pilot major Iljo Arizanov iz eskadrile
„Vitezova" u MiG-u 29 ceka signal da poleti. Signal uskoro stize. Major Arizanov
prvi se odlepljuje od piste i leti ka agresorovim avionima. Trazi cilj na koji
ce se obrusiti. Ne zadugo. Otkriva nekoliko aviona. Medju njima i F-117.
Manevrom polazi prema njemu da ga obori i na njega ispaljuje projektil.
– Tada me je pogodila raketa u zadnji deo aviona koji se zabacio ulevo i posao
spiralom prema zemlji. Nisam vise mogao da upravljam avionom. U retrovizoru sam
video da je izbio pozar. Katapultirao sam se. Kada se otvorio padobran, cuo sam
zvukove aviona iznad sebe.
Dobro je cuo. U tom trenutku bio je okruzen sa 29 neprijateljskih letelica. Po
viteskim pravilima ratovanja u vazduhu, pilot koji je iskocio iz aviona vise se
ne dira. Ali sejaci smrti iz NATO-a ne postuju ni to elementarno pravilo
vlastitog esnafa. Kao i mnoga druga, uostalom. Major Arizanov je imao vise od
jednogzivota. Izbegao je vatru i pao u vinograd. Ziv.
Znao sam da sam jugozapadno od Pristine, negde gde nema srpskog stanovnistva, na
podrucju Suve Reke. Cuo sam Albance koji su se dovikivali. Primetili su me i
trazili.
Nemajuci vremena da potrazi komplet za spasavanje, u sirokom luku je zaobisao
grupu koja je krenula u hajku za njim. Krenuo je pravcem za koji je
pretpostavljao da ce ga odvesti na teritoriju sa koje je krenuo. Orijentisao se
pomocu kompasa.
Teren je postajao brdovit, isaran siptarskim selima. Morao je biti na oprezu -
njihove straze su pokrivale celu planinu. Hodao je dva-tri sata, kratko se
odmarao, ponovo brzao da umakne Siptarima i hladnoci. Mokar, promrzao, umoran
toliko da su oci pocele same da se sklapaju, shvatio je da mora da odspava.
Ucinio je to u sumi. Kratko. Probudila ga je hladnoca. „Smesno", pomislio je.
„Da me ubije ledena noc, a nisu uspeli najmocniji svetski avioni. Nece moci."
Krenuo je ponovo. Grad cija je svetla sinoc uocio, bio je jos daleko. Prosao je
jos jedan dan vrludanja uz planinu. Bez hrane. Pio je otopljeni sneg.
- Popustila mi je koncentracija. Na Golesu sam natrcao na pripadnika OVK. Masio
sam se za pistolj, ali on je bio brzi: okrenuo se i pobegao. To mi je dalo
snage. Ako treba, pregazicu celo Kosovo, necu dati da me uhvate, mislio sam.
Ubrzao je hod da brze stigne do nasih polozaja. Nisu vise bili daleko. Popeo se
do vrha, spustio na drugu stranu i oko 10 casova nasao se na Pristinskom
aerodromu.
- Zeleo sam nesto da uradim. Zato sam i seo u avion. Nisam se opterecivao time
sta ce se desiti. Logicno je: ako ih je 10 na jednoga, moje su sanse male.
Sadazelim da sto pre ponovo poletim i vratim im milo za drago - kaze Iljo
Arizanov, koji je sledeceg dana vanredno unapredjen u cin potpukovnika, a ukazom
vrhovnog komandanta odlikovan Ordenom za hrabrost. 
S. DJOKIC
Odlikovani potpukovnik pilot Sreto Malinovic
MEDALJA CASTI ZA MEGDANDZIJU
U porodici Malinovic dubok je i razgranat ratnicki koren. Vazda su se borili za
slobodu ne pitajuci za cenu. Tako su vaspitavane sve generacije. Izdanak tog
tvrdokornog stabla je potpukovnik RV i PVO Sreto Malinovic, staresina u jedinici
„Tigrova", koga je ovih dana predsednik Republike i vrhovni komandant Slobodan
Milosevic odlikovao Medaljom casti.
Rat je, kaze, njegova sudbina od koje ne bezi kao ni njegov narod koji se hrabro
isprsio pred svekoliku neobuzdanu svetsku silu. Takav narod zasluzuje upravo
junake kakav je Sreto. Rodjen pre 37 godina u Travniku, a od srednjoskolskih
dana u Vazduhoplovnoj gimnaziji, potpuno sam je krciozivotni put cije je
sudbinsko obelezje nebo. Jos kao decak vazio je za megdandziju koji je na
nepravdu odmah dizao pesnice. Mladic stamene gradje,zustrog temperamenta i
neverovatne unutrasnje cvrstine, morao je da stigne do svoje odrednice -
pilotske kabine.
Jos u Vazduhoplovnoj vojnoj akademiji vazio je za darovitog letaca, momka
sirokog obrazovanja u cijoj su zanimljivoj licnosti mnogi prepoznali vrednosti
koje ce doci do izraza u njegovoj pilotskoj karijeri. Ali niko ga nije tako
dobro poznavao kao njegov prvi komandir eskadrile pukovnik Mile Filipovic, koji
je Sretov talenat oplemenio iskustvom, a borbenost usredsredio na sticanje
znanja.
Ogledao se u kabinama „utve", „jastreba", „galeba"... Ali javu svojih decackih
snova doziveo je tek na krilima „orla", letelice koja po svemu pripada njegovoj
pilotskoj prirodi, u cijem sredistu plamte pobednicki mentalitet i borbeni duh.
Krozvucni avion velikih mogucnosti, delo nase avio-industrije, postao je simbol
jedne generacije koju predvodi Sreto Malinovic, pilot, ratnik, komandant, oficir
vanredno unapredjen u cin majora i cin potpukovnika.
Satkan od vojnickih i ljudskih vrlina, potpukovnik Malinovic je hrabro poveo
svoje „Tigrove" protiv belosvetskih siledzija koje su se lesinarski obrusile na
nas narod. Bez obzira na to da li je i koliko stariji od pripadnika svoje
jedinice, svima se obraca sa „sine", uceci ih da u vazdusnom boju nema neresive
situacije i nepobedivog protivnika.
Pilotski as, instruktor letenja sa vise od hiljadu sati prozivljenih u vazduhu,
covek izuzetne pozitivne energije koju neodoljivo siri oko sebe, najmladji
komandir eskadrile i najmladji komandant vazduhoplovnog puka, potpukovnik Sreto
Malinovic je junak i ovog rata. Za hrabra dela ga je predsednik Republike i
vrhovni komandant Slobodan Milosevic odlikovao Medaljom casti. Na ponos svoga
naroda, Ratnog vazduhoplovstva i protivvazdusne odbrane i ratnicke porodice
Malinovica. 
B. KOPUNOVIC
Major pilot Nebojsa Nikolic
BRANIO SAM SVOJE
Eskadrila „Vitezova", sjajnih pilota „MiG-ova 29", bila je, kao i mnogo puta do
tada u pripravnosti, kada je major pilot Nebojsa Nikolic, prvi s opremom posao
prema svojoj letelici, seo u kabinu i posle komande poleteo.
Pilot izuzetnog dara, koji je od 1982. godine leteo na svim tipovima borbenih
aviona, nasao se okruzen sa vise od dvadeset najsavremenijih neprijateljevih
letelica. Iako je neprijatelj bio znatno nadmocniji, sledeci motiv imena koje
nosi, major Nikolic je krenuo u neravnopravnu borbu....
Na nisan je uzeo jednog jurisnika NATO-a i lansirao raketu. Radarska
signalizacija mu je pokazivala pogodak. Ustremio se ka sledecem, ali tu ga je
vec stigla vatra neprijatelja. Prvu raketu je vestim manevrom izbegao, ali prema
njegovom MiG-u sjurio se ceo vatreni oblak. Pogodjen je jednom, drugi, treci
put. Ubrzo mu je kabina bila puna dima. Na njega su se obrusili svi ostali
neprijatelji ne bi li ga dokrajcili, lansirajuci prema Nebojsinoj
dvadesetdevetki mnostvo raketa. Ocigledno, nameravali su da se osvete i da ga
jos u vazduhu pretvore u prah i pepeo. Da se bilo ko od tih nadobudnih siledzija
nasao na njegovom mestu, sigurno bi tako i prosao. Ali pilot „Vitezova" ima ono
sto ti zlikovci nikada nece i ne mogu imati - hrabro srce i vestinu stecenu u
najboljem vazduhoplovstvu na svetu.
U magnovenju je izvodio manevre, iako je gubio visinu. U oblaku dima zamaglio mu
se vidik. Komande na njegovom avionu jos su ga malo posluzile. Zavredeo je to
zrnce srece namenjene hrabrima. A onda je poslusao svoj instinkt i povukao
rucicu za katapultiranje. Brzo se i bezbedno prizemljio. Nekoliko stotina metara
dalje pala je plamena buktinja ostataka letelice. Iznad njega, u tami mirne
prolecne noci, kruzili su avioni zlocinaca ciji su pilotizeleli da se osvete za
poraz u borbi u kojoj je sila bila na njihovoj strani. Nije im bilo dovoljno sto
je odnos snaga bio jedan na 24, nije im bilo dovoljno sto su dosli po tudje, a
Nebojsa je branio svoje, nije im bilo dovoljno ni to sto ih je pilotski
nadmudrio i vojnicki nadmasio. Nisu to piloti od casti i morala, ponosa i
ugleda, to su visokosofisticirane ubice, isprani mozgovi u kojima neprestano
otkucava dolarski taksimetar. Pojma oni nemaju o letackoj etici koju su
ustrojili jos asovi neba iz Prvog svetskog rata. Obori avion, ali postuj svog
kolegu, glasilo je nepisano pravilo. Po tom kodeksu bilo je sramno gadjati
pilota koji je spas potrazio spustajuci se padobranom. Medjutim, istorija
ratnog vazduhoplovstva belezi da su piloti nemacke „Luftvafe" upravo to cinili.
Po majora Nebojsu Nikolica je, za svega petnaestak minuta od trenutka javljanja,
helikopterom dosla spasilacka ekipa. U bazi su ga cekali njegovi „Vitezovi" da
mu stisnu ruku i pozele srecan povratak u jato pilotskih asova.
To je samo jedna u nizu dramaticnih prica ovoga rata. Za slobodu i pokolenja
koja ce doci. Onako kako su to cinili hrabri jugoslovenski piloti koji su
uzleteli u susret stostruko brojnijim Nemcima u aprilu 1941. godine, branili
svoje nebo dok su mogli i odlazili u legendu.
Za Nebojsu je rat tek poceo, borice se, kaze, za slobodu svoga naroda do pobede.
U kratkom predahu nasao se u toplom okruzenju najdrazih - supruge Olgice, cerki
- petnaestogodisnje Sonje i jedanaestogodisnje Tanje. Jedino ce sacekati njegovi
pecaroski stapovi da u miru ode na reku, zabaci udicu i gleda u nebo. Lepo i
slobodno... 
B. KOPUNOVIC
Snimio Aleksandar KELIC
outsider
another that maybe worthwhile in english:-
Protivvazdusna odbrana centralne Srbije u najboljoj tradiciji Rake LJutovca,
prvog srpskog protivavionca
OVERENA UBOJITOST BORBENOG SISTEMA
Posle dejstva nase PVO, prve dve rakete su eksplodirale, a neprijateljski avion
se u plamenu rasuo na obronke planine Jelice • Zlocinacki piloti iskocili iz
aviona
Jos pre otpocinjanja neljudske agresije NATO-a na nasu zemlju, a narocito od
kada su Amerika i njeni sateliti brutalno na nas nasrnuli, svetski mediji su
puni americke propagande koja uporno ponavlja pricu o svemogucnosti i
tehnoloskoj superiornosti svog zlocinackog oruzja u vazdusnom prostoru. U
poslednje vreme ta neprijateljska propaganda zvuci potpuno neuverljivo, jer ih
sistem nase protivvazdusne odbrane svakodnevno u praksi demantuje uspesnom
odbranom od zlocinackih letilica. Delotvornost nase protivvazdusne odbrane
potvrdjuje i obaranje agresorske letilice na nebu iznad Cacka.
Jedinica PVO odgovorna za protivvazdusnu zastitu centralnog dela Srbije od
napada iz vazdusnog prostora uspesno je dejstvovala i oborila neprijateljski
avion. Jedinica o kojoj je rec, znatno pre otpocinjanja agresije na nasu
zemlju, obavila je opsezne pripreme za borbena dejstva i tako, potpuno
pripremljena, uvedena u borbu. Te veceri, kobne za agresora, sistem vazdusnog
osmatranja i javljanja je, kao i uvek do sada, na vreme otkrio, identifikovao i
najavio nalet neprijateljskih aviona iz pravca zapada. Posle dobijanja te
informacije jedinica je iz pokreta zaposela vatreni polozaj, otkrila,
identifikovala i procenila manevarska svojstva neprijateljskih aviona koji su
atakovali sejuci smrt i razorne bombe po civilnim ciljevima. Strpljivo ih je
sacekala da udju u dubinu zone unistenja i kad je bila uverena da ce pogoditi,
otvorila je vatru.
Covek koji je najzasluzniji za uspesan pogodak kaze: „Cim sam uocio da je cilj
visokih manevarskih sposobnosti, odmah posle naredjenja za dejstvo, odlucio sam
da ga gadjam sa tri rakete, koje sam lansirao odmah posle dobijanja signala da
je izvrsen zahvat." Ostalo ce uci u istoriju te jedinice PVO.
Jedan od vojnika koji su imali priliku da gledaju nesvakidasnji prizor obaranja
aviona i da se svojim ocima uvere u i te kakvu ranjivost agresora, odusevljeno
prica: „Odjednom je krenula strasna tutnjava, suknuo je veliki plamen, zemlja
je pocela da se trese i rakete su mi pred ocima poletele u pravcu Cacka. Nisko
na nebu primetio sam dolazak dva neprijateljska aviona. Projektili su isli
velikom brzinom ka njima. Neprijateljski piloti su uocili lansiranje i pokusali
ostrim manevrisanjem avionima da izbegnu pogodak. Kada su shvatili da ne mogu da
izbegnu zasluzenu sudbinu, piloti su iskocili iz aviona, a prve dve rakete su
eksplodirale i avion se u plamenu rasuo na obronke planine Jelice, te posle toga
dugo goreo.
Pilot drugog aviona je posle ostrog zaokreta, uplasivsi se slicne sudbine,
kukavicki pobegao u pravcu zapada, napustivsi nase nebo ne obavivsi svoj
zlocinacki zadatak.
Nasoj radosti nije bilo kraja, jer smo se i mi ukljucili u stroj onih koji
uspesno stoje na braniku nase otadzbine."
U toku borbe s neprijateljskim letilicama, komandant je dosao na trenutnu
poziciju vatrene jedinice koja je efikasno dejstvovala da sa svojim ratnicima
podeli zadovoljstvo overe ubojitosti sistema koji je i te noci uspesno stitio
nase nebo. Jedan od pripadnika jedinice ga je u sali podsetio na njegove reci da
se u prvim danima borbe od njih zahteva unistenje makar samo jednog cilja i
nastavio: „Mi smo zadati cilj ostvarili, a sledeci oboreni agresori su od nas
gratis."
Obaranje zlocinacke letilice je dodatno osokolilo pripadnike jedinice i lokalno
stanovnistvo pred cijim ocima je uspeh i postignut. Radost je bila tim veca sto
su neki pripadnici jedinice rodom tu, iz okolnih sela, pa su svoju vestinu
pokazali pred komsijama i rodbinom, u najboljoj tradiciji Rake LJutovca, prvog
srpskog protivavionca. 
Thanks
outsider
Bailey of Belgium
I stand chagrined! No problem on all counts; I see we may share
one sentiment in common--a massive annoyance at people using the
internet to spread rubbish around. Well, that's what the
Blue Ribbon Campaign's all about, I suppose...
However, Mladen's site does have some uses--he's collected some
decent wartime photos, as well as several good pics of JRV
aircraft. I do check his page regurlarly for those purposes,
I'll have to admit.
Abramovic
me a chance to practice-that's always needed). Thank you for your kind
words.
regards,
Tvrtko
TJ <tj1...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:T%2E4.1377$5P6....@nnrp3.clara.net...
>
> Abramovic <tvrtko.a...@zg.tel.hr> wrote in message
> news:8bofrf$rpv$1...@as102.tel.hr...
> >
> > Petar Lazarevski <tex...@net.yu> wrote in message
> > news:8bodcn$9jt$1...@SOLAIR2.EUnet.yu...
> > > I apologize for this not-nearly-perfect translation, but I think one
is
> > able
> > > to understand the general idea.
> > >
> > > Of course, I can't tell anything about the veracity of the text.
> > >
> > > Regards, Peter
> >
> > There's nothing wrong with the translation. It's good.
> >
> > regards,
> > Tvrtko
> >
> >
>
outsider
Bailey of Belgium wrote:
> Outsider:
>
> I stand chagrined! No problem on all counts; I see we may share one sentiment
> in common--a massive annoyance at people using the
> internet to spread rubbish around. Well, that's what the Blue Ribbon
> Campaign's all about, I suppose...
:-)
> However, Mladen's site does have some uses--he's collected some decent wartime
> photos, as well as several good pics of JRV
> aircraft. I do check his page regurlarly for those purposes, I'll have to
> admit.
My memory of his site was that all it contained was a repitition of what you can
find elsewhere. In fact some of his pages were in fact links into other
sites. found very little original content - save for his own rantings!
There are a number of decent sites out there. Some of course have a fair amount
of trash on, but that's more to personal taste than anything else. Here's one
that I found with a decent links page to most of the others.
Are you in Mons?
outsider
Abramovic
Anti-aircraft defense of central Serbia in the best tradition of Rako
Ljutovac, the first Serb Anti-aircraftman
Confirmed lethality of the Weapon System
After our AAD action, the first two missiles exploded and an enemy plane
scattered in flames on the slopes of the Jelica mountain. The criminal
pilots ejected from their aircraft.
Even before beginning the inhuman aggression of NATO upon our country,
especially when America and her satellites brutally assaulted us, the
world's media are full of American propaganda that consistently repeats the
story of the capability and technological superiority of its criminal
weapons in airspace. Lately, this propaganda sounds completely implausible,
because our AAD system day after day disproves them by successfully
defending us from enemy aircraft. The efficiency of our AAD is confirmed by
shooting down an aggressor aircraft from the skies over Cacak.
The AAD unit responsible for the AAD defense of central Serbia successfully
acted and shot down an enemy aircraft. The unit we're talking about has
begun extensive preparations for combat action even before the beginning of
the aggression upon our country and so was taken into combat completely
prepared. That night, so bad for the aggressor, the airspace monitoring and
reporting system has, as always before, detected, in time, identified and
announced the nearing of enemy aircraft from the west. After receiving this
information, the unit, which was mobile, took firing stations, detected,
identified and evaluated the maneuvering characteristic of the enemy planes
that were attacking sowing death and bombs on civilian targets. It patiently
waited for the planes to enter deep inside the destruction zone, and when it
was certain it'll score a hit, opened fire.
The man that deserves the most praise for the hit says:"as soon as I spotted
that the target had high maneuvering characteristics, right after the order
to commit, I decided to fire three missiles, which I launched right after I
got an acquisition signal." The rest will enter into the history of this AAD
unit.
One of the soldiers that had the opportunity to watch this rare sight of a
plane being shot down and to see with his own eyes the vulnerability of the
aggressor, tells ecstatically: " All of a sudden a frightening thunder
begun, a great flame burst forward, the earth started to shake, and the
missiles darted towards Cacak right before my eyes. I noticed the approach
of two enemy planes low in the sky. The projectiles headed towards them at
great speed. the enemy pilots noticed the launch, and tried to avoid a hit
by maneuvering hard. When they realized that they can't avoid their deserved
destiny, the pilots ejected, the first two missiles exploded and the plane
scattered in flames on the slopes of the Jelica mountain, and burned for a
long time after that.
The pilot of the second plane, after a sharp turn, fearing a similarly
destiny, cowardly escaped towards the west, leaving our skies without doing
its criminal assignment.
Our joy was never-ending, as we joined the ranks of those that successfully
stand guard for our homeland.
During combat with the enemy planes, the commander came to the current
firing position of the unit that successfully acted to share the pleasure of
the confirmed lethality of the weapon system with his warriors, and
successfully protected our skies that night. One of the unit members
jokingly reminded him of his words early in the campaign that at least one
target had to be shot down and continued:" We fulfilled our goal, the next
shot-down aggressor from us is free."
The shoot-down of the enemy aircraft additionally boldened the unit members
and the local populace before whose eyes this success happened. The joy was
even grater in that certain unit members were locals, from the nearby
villages, so they showed their skill in front of their neighbors and
relatives, in the best tradition of Rako Ljutovac, the first Serb
anti-aircraftman.
I'll post the rest between 23:00-24:00 central European time (approx 3,5-4
hours from now)
regards,
Tvrtko
Bailey of Belgium
I tried that link--www.jrv.skynow.net/start.html--but
unfortunately, my ISP said it could not be found. But, then
again, the same thing happens when I try to access hotmail or
CDnow every now and again.
To answer your question, yes, I currently work for SHAPE in
Mons, as opposed to the actual "NATO HQ" in Brussels. I'm sure
you realize as well as I do that there's a great distinction
between the two, and thanks for guessing right the first time!
Bailey of Belgium
I recall you saying last week, that a MiG-21 and a J-22 had been
damaged/shot down by NATO aircraft...as another poster noted,
there were no NATO claims to that effect. Elsewhere on the 'net
I've seen one picture of a MiG-21 destroyed at Podgorica
airfield, but are there pictures of this "other" MiG-21 that
you've heard about?
Thanks in advance,
Bailey_of_Belgium
outsider
Try this one:- http://www.jrv.skynow.co.uk/start.html
Cut & pasted whilst there so that's got to be the right one!
Re Mons. Only been there once myself when based elsewhere in Belgium (also not
Brussels!). Highlight of that 'day trip' was climbing the monument at Waterloo
and looking out over the battlefield. What's this got to do with RAM???
:-))))))
outsider
Bailey of Belgium wrote:
> Outsider,
>
> I tried that link--www.jrv.skynow.net/start.html--but
> unfortunately, my ISP said it could not be found. But, then
> again, the same thing happens when I try to access hotmail or
> CDnow every now and again.
>
> To answer your question, yes, I currently work for SHAPE in
> Mons, as opposed to the actual "NATO HQ" in Brussels. I'm sure
> you realize as well as I do that there's a great distinction
> between the two, and thanks for guessing right the first time!
>
> Cheers,
> B_o_B
>
Abramovic
Heroes are born in warfare
From the first day of the war the flying machinery of murder descended upon
our pilots. aircraft, airfields.. The NATO hyenas didn't stop their
prosecution, day and night, searching for them insistently-and finding
nothing. Instead of this they're venting their rage by destroying buildings,
schoolrooms, cabinets, institutes...
Despite their sneak attack, they didn't surprise, or caught unaware, anyone.
This is confirmed by the story of the "Tigers" unit that inflicted losses
upon the enemy, and then disappeared from their radars. In one move, like
magic.
They recognized the clouds of war at the beginning of October. Then
preparations for two roles were started-to combat the enemy and to protect
the personnel and equipment, states Lieutenant Colonel Sreto Milinovic. They
knew what was awaiting them and how cruel the aggressor will be. The
beginning of the attack was met readily, which negated the factor of
surprise that was heavily counted upon by the NATO slaughterhouse
strategists. The unit deployed within the planned order of battle. Quickly,
competently and professionally. Precious wartime experience came into its
old, points out Major Dejan Joksimovic.
Immediately after returning form the aerial battle, the pilots were assisted
by the members of the air technical service, headed by majors Jovan Dimic &
Dragan Vlahovic. Under enemy bombs, they moved equipment, weapons... Then
the great experience & organizational qualities of major Dragan Cimbur came
into great effect.
(Note:the translation here is not entirely accurate. I have translated
"tehnika" as equipment, as this is the analogue use of the word in English.
However, the exact meaning of the word equipment is "oprema", which is here
use in an different context-I think that this means the ground-support
equipment, while "tehnika" means equipment in general:planes, etc...)
The commander points out that the pilots wanted to return to combat, but it
was wiser to wait for a better opportunity. Even people with little
experience,that just returned from training, like captain first class
Valerije Lovran applied for the most difficult missions.
They headed into battle tomorrow, a great heart against the miracle of
technology, home-grown wit against highly sophisticated brains, David
against Goliath. Thanks to major Joksimovic, the optimum requirements for
action were fulfilled, the start of a mission in the shortest time possible
and safe return to base.
Majors Predrag Milobratovic, Josip Zeli and Slobaodan Dimovski, captains
first class Nenad Ivkovic, Dejan Vasiljevic and Slavko Kocic, captains Denis
Andjelkovic and Miodrag Ristic, lieutenants Veljko veljovic and Nebojsa
Svjetlica distinguished themselves the most during combat.
"The Tigers" are the young part of the AF & AAD, whose members are all
highly trained and have the maximum psycho physical preparation. An
indescribable comradeship andtrust reigns among them, in the atmosphere that
is reflected in the steel decision to hang out and win. At any cost!
They can lie low, then attack hard, and always have an ace up their sleeve
that is a nightmare for the enemy. The people loves them and believes them,
especially the friends of the outfit, Mladen Dzido, Cedo Artinovic, Zoran
Debeljak...
Heroes of our people are born in war that, like "The Tigers" remain in
unforgettable stories.
B. Kopunovic
Air Force and Anti-aircraft defense
The charge of the pilots and the faithful defense
By putting themselves in the role of military service of the Albanian
terrorists ( the actual word used is derogatory-equivalent of calling an
African -American a "nigger" (no offense intended)) and nationalists
fascists, the participants of the airborne aggression upon our country
didn't even think that the brave and decisive defenders of our skies will
enter into warfare history right over the wrecks of their planes. Like they
forgot the lessons and messages of our people and their decisiveness to
defend their freedom to the last man, like they have forgotten the
historical war alliances.
March 24th will enter into the history of warfare in many aspects:by the
lack of honor and the aggression of NATO upon our country, as a shameful
page of the history of the modern world, by the hipocricity and immorals of
the leaders of the technologically most advanced countries of the world,
whose leaders consider themselves democrats and leaders of the free world.
On the other hand, our people and army, heroically resisting the criminal
hordes, write new pages of their history. And more than that: they're
showing to the peaceful part of the world and the NATO how to love and
defend the freedom of a little great people on the Balkan "crossroad"of
worlds.
To stand in the way of the technically well equipped murderers from the sky,
people without basic morals, is a accomplishment that will not pass
unnoticed by the history of the end of the century. Into the bright pages of
defensive warfare, there is no doubt, the AF & AAD of our country will be
scriptated, because the courage and the sacrifice of our people sets an
example how to guard and defend the freedom of the people and country, as it
has been pointed out by the president of SRJ and the supreme commanding
officer of the SRJ military, Slobodan Milosevic, giving recognition to all
the members of this aspect of the SRJ military and its bravest individuals.
(The first paragraph is repeated here)
These modern vandals and murderers, simply, do not know that in this country
death is not simply death, and that here from life you most often go into
military uniform, that this people always counts on its soldiers and poets:
the first always knew how to defend the freedom of their homeland, the
latter also, but also to put it into song and leave as heritage to the new
generations. Does this surprise you? When freedom is jeopardized, this
country is all about watchfulness. This March, like the one in 1941, our
pilots ran to their planes and streamed towards the sky, to the aggressor.
Serbia in them, and the other guardians of the Serb and Yugoslav skies got
new Obilics. These flights are for their people, but also for history.
And those, whose lives were cut by NATO projectiles live within us,
resilient and persisting, even when they're not here, they exist in their
brothers. One such is Major magister (he's got an Masters degree) Zoran
Radosavljevic, fighter-pilot whose MIG was shot down by the NATO air horde.
He was born only 34 years ago in Kosmet (Kosovo), in the birthplace of the
Serb state and memory, buried yesterday at a Belgrade cemetery. The
bitterness toward the aggressor and the love towards the people from whence
he came were always stronger than fear and death in this parts. On the
burial of the brave pilot Radosavljevic, his comrade flyers said they'll
take off again and again and again...
"Son, you're mother will be proud of you", spoke the lady in black to her
only son for the last time. All the mothers in this country wish that they
too would bear heroes like that.
Milijan R. Andric
Lieutenant Colonel Ljubisa Kulacin
They cannot enslave a whole people
Lieutenant Colonel Pilot Ljubisa Kulacin rose into the sky on that black
Wednesday March 24th when Yugoslavia was attacked from the air by the planes
of the enemy NATO armada. He was targeted by threatening cruise missiles,
but defended himself , and despite the superiority of the aggressors'
aviation succeeded to land his MIG-29 undamaged.
-There's not much to tell. I did everything that was required and I think I
could've done more- say Kulacin, and his few words are engulfed by silence.
he would like to say something, and at the same time wouldn't, afraid that
he'll be misunderstood, not wanting to be raised as a hero into the heavens.
he talks little, Keeps his silence, but this silence tell everything.
The silence spread between the participants like a sea. The pilot's look
wanders away, perhaps towards Batajnica. he is living the stressful moments
of the suffering of his people. Maybe he's sitting in the cockpit and waits
for the take-off signal. Without thinking. With a cool head. he has been
distanced from normal everyday life for a long time, distanced from his
family by his profession, alone with his 25 years experience in the AF, with
23 years comradeship with MIGs, 12 with the -29.
-I took off when the cruise missiles started to fall on Batajnica airport.
It was around 20:30- the silence is interrupted by pilot Kulacin. I flew
northwards. When I was between Becej and Eck, my radar developed
interference. I was alone in a hot sky. At one moment I was in the enemy's
net and I sensed I was illuminated (by radar, I guess). I became a target.
All that happened afterwards was a question of moments. Experience and
routine spoke from me. It was instrumental, enabling me to take the right
move and avoid destruction with a quick maneuver.
He says he's sorry that he hadn't been able to help his colleague, major
Nebojsa Nikolic whose plane was hit, so he had to eject. All the time he
thought of him, and didn't think about himself.
It's a normal reaction of a man that has been a flight instructor for 18
years.
This battle in the sky lasted for 15 minutes, but it seemed that it lasted
for an eternity. The most difficult thing to realize was, he says, that the
attack was savage, without the declaration of war, with the full brutality
of the enemy aviation.
-We could've expected it and were getting ready for it, but few believed it.
We thought there was more humanity in the world, but we were wrong. The
enemy is malicious, doesn't respect any rules, works dirty. Even now, I
think that they're provoking us to take-off to wait for us in ambush and to
destroy us. I am, despite everything, confident we'll defend ourselves. Time
is on our side, we bravely resisted the first strike and we know what kind
of enemy we're fighting against. Their pilots are in the grip of fear
because they thought we'll fall quickly on our knees under the rockets of
their strong armada. They were wrong about that. with each attack we're
stronger and more resolute to defend ourselves. The people is with us.
They're never be able to enslave a whole people-speaks the pilot slowly. In
his tired eyes a spark appears when he wants to give praise to the good and
berate the evil.
His voice shakes and rage simmers through whenever he mentions the NATO
forces, his thoughts and words flare when he remembers the aggression, when
in front of his eyes a picture of destruction and burning of the land
persists.
-Don't raise us into the heavens. The real hero is the people that survives
all this. The greatness of us pilots is in that we were lucky to have the
heart to fly first towards the enemy. And this is our job, the most
responsible mission, its the honor of the profession- Lieutenant Colonel
Ljubisa Kulacin points out, the oldest pilot of the glorious "Knights"
squadron, the rulers of the blue sky.
Sorry, but I couldn't translate the rest. I'll post the rest tomorrow
between 18:00-22:00 CET.
regards,
Tvrtko
Bailey of Belgium
If that was a quiz of some kind, you've stumped me. I haven't
yet visited the Lion's mound at Waterloo, primarily because it's
been in danger of imminent collapse for most of my time here!
I tried the other site you referenced--well done!
outsider
Sorry no quiz so no points lost or won. :-(
I was only in Belgium for 5 or 6 days 'liaising' with counterparts in NL and
BE. I had a free day so accompanied a collegue to Mons to pick up some
documents. On the way back we stopped at Waterloo (for reflection purposes of
course, being English) and my collegue who saw himself as a bit of an amateur
historian gave me the spiel.
Whilst at Mons I had one chap explain that Mons was for the workers and Brussels
for the free-loaders and politicians. I doubt you'd get too many of those in
this NG. :-) Mind you, I was being 'entertained' at a what is affectionately
known as 'Slipper City' by the less fortunate in BAOR!
I hope you now know some 'better' YU aviation websites to frequent!
outsider
Bailey of Belgium
When it comes to JRV/PVO sites, there's good ones and bad ones,
but again, they all have something to offer--even if only that
one rare pic you haven't found on any other site.
Did you do time in BAOR? Or RAFG?
Fully agree about the Mons V. Brussels comparison (and far too
often, conundrum)...
outsider
Bailey of Belgium wrote:
> When it comes to JRV/PVO sites, there's good ones and bad ones, but again,
> they all have something to offer--even if only that one rare pic you haven't
> found on any other site.
Oh absolutely! If you like pics try this.
http://www.jrv.skynow.co.uk/picweek.html The link to this appeared in the
Serbiacafe forum a week or so ago. It the same site as the link that I gave
yesterday, but doesn't link from the main site. :-( Last week there was a
large pic of 3 MiG-21Ms being rearmed.
There was also a 'pic of the day' site based in Sweden, but it hasn't changed
since December. It had some pics of MiG-29s dispersed out on the roads and a
pic of a destroyed MiG-21 decoy in front of HAS. (Believed to be a PfM brought
out of hiding!!) Also there was a decoy MiG-21MF sitting on the apron at
Batajnica with a large crater about 10 yards away - a near miss?
http://w1.122.telia.com/~u12203530/
> Did you do time in BAOR? Or RAFG?
Throughout my (brief) UK Army career I was working out of UK, but spent a fair
amount of time in various locations in Europe, and, occasionally elsewhere.
Can't ever say I was with one unit in Germany for longer than 10 days. Although
transitting through RAFG bases on numerous occasions, I can't recall ever
putting my head down as a guest of the 'Boys in Blue'.
> Fully agree about the Mons V. Brussels comparison (and far too often,
> conundrum)...
:-)
outsider
Abramovic
Lieutenant Pilot Milorad Milutinovic
I am waiting for new combat flights
Pilot Milorad Milutinovic was on alert on one of the airfields
(understandably, we don't name the airfield), ready to take off into combat
on extremely short notice.
When the first cruise missiles violated our airspace he got the alert
signal. Only a minute or two afterwards he was off the runway. He headed
towards the swarm of scared sparrow hawks, in whose heart and spirit one
purpose loomed-to destroy everything that is determined "Serbian". It was a
fight between David & Goliath. A few planes opposed the swarm of aircraft
armed with the most modern ordinance that has been invented on earth.
-I went towards a huge formation, the likes of which wasn't seen in warfare
until now. The boldness of the aggressors' pilots faded rapidly. You won't
believe, but the truth is that they started to run in panic, changing speed
and height, when I was in front of them. Despite the enormous combat
security of their forces, that includes electronic countermeasures and
receiving important information from AWACS in real time, and other methods,
some bad luck stroked me, completely unexpected. A malfunction in a
critically important device, and I could not start it again. But would a
pilot that is defending his homeland quit just like that? i gritted my teeth
and went towards them. The thought of our pilots that defended our capital
in 1941 went through my head. I was thinking about all the children and
those that couldn't defend themselves that needed to be protected from
projectiles and deadly bombs. despite having indication that I was
illuminated, and that a missile was speeding to me, not wasting a second, I
fired a missile on the closest aggressor plane. I tried to avoid the missile
with a sharp turn, taking forces the likes of which I have never felt
before. Only a few seconds later a powerful explosion shook my plane.
I radioed that the plane was hit and that I'll do anything to save it.
however, the stick wasn't responding. I tried it a few times, but all was in
vain. The aircraft fell toward the earth at great speed. There was nothing
else to do but to pull the eject handle.
After landing major Milutinovic headed to the nearest village after
orienting himself. There he found the reserve forces of our defense and
reported to the command. Soon afterwards a rescue team arrived, that quickly
moved him to the nearest specialized military medical institution. It was
determined that there was no critical injuries and, in accordance with world
norms for such cases, the doctors told him to be still. The pilot didn't
listen to the doctor that told him to rest with his family but went to the
fighter intercept unit so he could, together with his colleagues, contribute
to the defense of the country.
-I can't wait to fly into the sky again, to hound the opponents into a mouse
hole. They are, it has been demonstrated, cowards. They are obviously aware
that they are waging an unjust war. They have no motive, while we are
defending our people, our sacred places and survival in this land. We'll
charge even harder. The technical advantage they have melts in the face of
our determination to defend our homeland-these are the word of pilot Milorad
Milutinovic
Milutinovic, called affectionately "Grof" (Count), flies supersonic aircraft
for 22 years. He has recently been promoted to Lieutenant colonel, and he'll
fly his aircraft again in a few days.
Z. Pesic
Lieutenant colonel Dragan Ilic
Alone against a Squadron
Lieutenant colonel of our AF & AAD Dragan Ilic is a cordial and pleasant
conversational partner. he is one of those that in the night of the
aggression upon our country accepted the unequal air battle against
immeasurably superior phalanx of the aggressors' forces. However, in
something he was, for certain, superior to the attackers:in the love for his
people and his great heart.
Ilic modestly says-I knew the qualities of NATO planes pretty well, but I
took off in my Mig-29 regardless, because of the people and for the
people-not considering this bravery but an obligation to the defense of the
homeland and the profession and adds: " Colleague Arizanov and I, one of the
oldest pilots, flew out to give an example to the younger ones."
It was really like that. They entered into an unequal combat over the
southern Serbian county, and somewhere between Kosovska Mitrovica and Peci
Ilic's -29 was hit.
-I had the signal that I was locked on by an enemy missile. A fireball
pushed the plane and the aircraft shook. The cockpit glazing cracked and
fogged. I didn't feel any changes in engine performance and I was thinking
how to save the plane. I pointed the plane to my home airfield at low speed,
around Mach 0,5. All would have been different if the cracked glazing
failed, I would have to had to eject and sacrifice the Mig.
And our pilots leave their planes, which they trust very much, says Ilic,
only in dire emergencies. And nobody thinks about fear after take-off. Even
the hero of this story kept thinking how not to shame his sons and this
people.
Lieutenant colonel Dragan Ilic is from Belgrade, 40 years old, supersonic
fighter pilot from 1981. His younger son will also follow his father into
the blue skies one day. To inherit his brave father, who is ready to fly and
defend the honor of this people and the freedom of our skies once again.
M.R. Andric
Lieutenant Colonel Iljo Arizanov
29 to one
Standby number one. Exactly at 19 o'clock pilot major Iljo Arizanov from
"The Knights" squadron is waiting for the take-off signal in his Mig-29. The
signal comes soon. major Arizanov takes-off first and flies to the
aggressors' planes. He looks for a target that he'll dive on. Not for long.
He detects several planes. Among them an F-117. He maneuvers towards it to
shoot it down and fires a missile.
-Then a missile hit me in the rear part of the plane that threw itself to
the left and spiraled to the ground. I could not control the plane anymore.
I saw in my rear-view mirror that a fire erupted. I ejected. When the
parachute opened, I heard the plane above me.
He heard well. In that moment he was surrounded by 29 enemy aircraft. By the
knightly rules of conduct in the air, the pilot that has ejected is left
alone. But the sowers of death from NATO don't even respect this elementary
rule of their own establishment (not sure-esnaf is a new word to me). Like a
lot of other ones, as well. major Arizanov had more than one life. he
avoided the shots and fell into a vineyard. Alive.
I knew that I was southwesterly from Pristina, somewhere where there is no
Serb populace, in the area of Suva Reka. I heard Albanians yelling to each
other. They've noticed me and were looking for me.
He ground was getting hilly, dotted with Albanian villages (again the
derogatory term is used). He had to be careful-their sentries were covering
the entire mountain. He walked for two or three hours, rested shortly, and
sped again to escape the Albanians and the cold. Wet, cold, and so tired
that his eyes were closing themselves, he realized that he had to get some
sleep. he slept in the woods. Shortly. The cold woke him up. "Ridiculous",
he thought " Not to be killed by the world's most powerful planes, but by
the cold night. Not today." he started again. The town whose lights he
spotted last night was still a long way off. Another day of going down the
mountain passed. Without food. he drank melted snow.
-My concentration fell. On Goles I ran into an OVK member. I grabbed for my
gun, but he was quicker:he turned and ran. This gave me strength. If need
be, I'll walk across the whole of Kosovo, I won't get caught, I thought.
He quickened his pace to reach our positions. They weren't far away. he
climbed the top, came down the other side and was at Pristina airfield
around 10 o'clock.
-I wanted to do something. That's why I sat into a plane. I didn't concern
myself with what will happen. It's a matter of logic:if there is 10 to one,
my chances are slight. Now I want to fly again as soon as possible and
return them the favor- tells Iljo Arizanov, that was promoted to Lieutenant
colonel the next day, and decorated with a medal of honor by the order of
the supreme commander.
S. Djokic
Decorated Lieutenant Colonel Sreto Malinovic
The Medal of Honor for the warrior
In the Milutinovic family the warrior roots are spread wide and low. They
have always fought for freedom, not asking about the cost. That is how all
the generations were educated. The fruit of this tought tree is Lieutenant
colonel of the AF & AAD Sreto Malinovic, senior officer in "The Tigers"
unit. that was decorated with an medal of honor by the president of the
republic and the supreme commanding officer Slobodan Milosevic.
War is, he says, his destiny form which he doesn't run, like his people that
stood in front the uncontrolled world force. This people deserves heroes
like Sreto. Born 37 years ago in Travnik (this is in BIH), and in the
Aeronautical Academy form his high school days, he has cleared his life's
path alone whose decisive factor was the sky. Even as a boy, he was known as
a warrior that raised his fists at each injustice. A young man of solid
build, quick temperament and great inner strength, had to retch hi goal-the
cockpit.
In the Aeronautical Academy he went for a gifted flyer, widely educated in
whose interesting personality a lot of people recognized the qualities that
will come into effect during his flying career. But nobody knew him as well
as his first commanding officer, Mile Filipovic. who has enriched Sreten's
talent with experience and pointed his aggressiveness to knowledge
acquisition.
he flew in "utvas", "jastrebs", "galebs",... But the realization of his
dreams came only upon the wings of the "Orao", a aircraft that belongs to
his pilots nature, at whose center a winning mentality and fighting spirit
burn brightly. A highly capable transsonic plane, the work of our aircraft
industry, became a symbol of a generation that is led by Sret malinovic,
pilot, warrior, commander, an officer promoted to major and lieutenant
colonel. The stuff of military and human virtues, lieutenant colonel
Malinovic bravely led his "Tigers" agains the world's bullies that, like
vultures, dived upon our people. No matter if he's, or how much, older than
any member of his unit, he calls everybody "son", teaching them that in
aerial combat there is no unsolvable situation, or a invincible opponent.
An ace pilot, flight instructor with over a thousand hours flight-time, a
man of extreme positive energy, that he spreads around him, the youngest
squadron commander and the youngest commander of an aeronautical battalion,
lieutenant colonel Sreto Malinovic is a hero of this war, too. For brave
action, he was decorated by the president of the republic and the supreme
commanding officer Slobodan Milosevic with a Medal of Honor. On the pride of
his people, the AF & AAd and the warrior family of Malinovic.
B. Kopunovic
Major Pilot Nebojsa Nikolic
I defended my own
"The Knights" squadron, excellent pilots of Mig-29s, was, asmany times
before, in a state of alert, when major pilot Nebojsa Nikolic first went to
his aircraft with his gear, sat in the cockpit and after receiving the
order, took-off.
A pilot of extreme talent, that has flown very type of combat aircraft since
1982, found himself surrounded by more than twenty of the most sophisticated
enemy aircraft. Although the enemy was superior, major Nikolic, following
the motive of the name he bears (this refers to Nebojsa) went into unequal
combat.
he targeted one NATO attacker and launched a missile. Radar signals showed
him a hit. he went to the next one, but here the enemy fire reached him. he
avoided the firs missile with a skilled maneuver, but a whole fiery cloud of
them streamed towards his Mig. he was hit once, twice, three times. Soon his
cockpit was full of smoke. All the remaining enemies dived on him to finish
him off, launching a multitude of missiles towards his -29. Obviously, they
wanted to take revenge, and to turn him into cinders in the air. If any of
these overconfident bullies was in his shoes, he would have most surely
perished. But the pilot of "The Knights" has what these criminals will never
and cannot have- a brave heart and skill gained in the best AF in the world.
In a haze he maneuvered, although he was losing altitude. His view clouded
in the smoke. His controls served him a little while longer. He deserved
this little luck meant for the brave. Then he listened to his instinct and
pulled the eject handle. A few hundred meters away the flaming wreckage of
his aircraft fell. Above him, in the peaceful darkness of a spring night,
the aggressors' planes were circling, and their pilots wanted to take
revenge for the defeat in combat in which force was on their side. It was
not enough for them that the odds were 24 to one, it was not enough that
they came for something not their own, and Nebojsa was defending his own, it
wasn't enough that he overcame them as a pilot and soldier. They were not
pilots of honor and morals, pride and reputation, they are highly
sophisticated murderers, washed brains in which a dollar taximeter ticks
insistently. They have no idea about flyers' ethics that was instituted by
the aces of the first world war. Shoot down the plane, but respect your
colleague, went the unwritten rule. By this code, it is shameful to shoot a
pilot who searched for rescue by parachuting. However the history of
military aviation notes that this was done by the pilots of the German
Luftwaffe.
major nebojsa Nikolic was picked up, within 15 minutes of his calling in, by
a rescue team with a helicopter. At the base his "Knights" awaited him, to
shake his hand and wish him a happy return to the flock of piloting aces.
This is only one in a row of dramatic stories from this war. For freedom and
the generations that will come. The way it was done by brave Yugoslav pilots
that flew towards the hundred-fold more Germans in April 1941, defended
their skies while they could and entered into legend.
For Nebojsa the war has only started, He'll fight, he says, for the freedom
of his people to victory. In a short interlude he has found himself in the
company of his most-loved ones-wife Olga and his daughters-15 year old Sonja
and 11 years old Tanja. The only thing that'll wait are his fishing sticks
to go to the river in peace, throw the line and look at the sky. Nice and
free...
Bailey of Belgium
Regarding the "decoy MiG-21MF sitting on the apron at Batajnica
with a large crater about 10 yards away - a near miss?"
Not likely--knowing a bit about frag and weapons effect radii,
even something as "small" as a 500lb bomb is likely to
obliterate and aircraft or decoy sitting that close. More
likely the MiG/decoy was moved following the strike.
Thanks for the pic sites--
outsider
Bailey of Belgium wrote:
> Regarding the "decoy MiG-21MF sitting on the apron at Batajnica with a large
> crater about 10 yards away - a near miss?"
>
> Not likely--knowing a bit about frag and weapons effect radii, even something
> as "small" as a 500lb bomb is likely to obliterate and aircraft or decoy
> sitting that close. More likely the MiG/decoy was moved following the strike.
Quite right of course! I went back and found the pic on my HD. I can't myself
tell if its M or MF and the 'crater' looks alot closer thanthe 10 yards I said.
In fact it proves what a crap memory I have. :-)
> Thanks for the pic sites--
My pleasure.
outsider
stev...@gmail.com
Look that RTS episode and collect the fragments of the all pictures from this shameless episode of NATo
Dean Markley
> https://youtu.be/IZKMP8gnMCA
> Look that RTS episode and collect the fragments of the all pictures from this shameless episode of NATo