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Nighthawk down

When there's a war on, sometimes you miss the interesting news from the last one. In late 2006, the US Air Force declassified the identity of the F-117 Nighthawk pilot who was hit by a Serbian surface-to-air missile on March 27, 1999 and forced to eject from his stealth "fighter". With the model scheduled to be taken out of service this spring, Lt.-Col. Dale Zelko is likely to go down in history as the only F-117 pilot ever to be shot down by an enemy. His rescue just outside Belgrade makes for a remarkable story, the more so because he had the amazing presence of mind to use his survival radio to contact orbiting AWACS and KC-135 aircraft with his position details while still parachuting to the ground. The wreckage of his plane is still the pride of the Air Museum in Belgrade.

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Comments (1)

Half Canadian:

Didn't this rescue get written into the pilot episode of JAG (worthless info courtesy of an autistic mind)

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