Quote:
Originally Posted by N9373M
You got it USMCF -from Wikipedia:
The lead F-15E of a formation of two (from the 335th) acquired a helicopter unloading Iraqi soldiers through the FLIR pod and released a GBU-10. After 30 seconds, the F-15E crew thought the bomb had missed its target and the pilot was about to use a Sidewinder missile instead, but suddenly the Hind helicopter was vaporized. The Special Forces team estimated that the Hind was roughly 800 feet (240 m) over the ground when the 2,000 lb (910 kg) bomb hit its target.[23] But the air-to-air kill was not recognized until 2 November 2001.
I went to F-4E RTU with the Pilot (Last name Bennett; can't remember his first name).
He went to Seymour-Johnson and got to convert to the F-15E. Ran into him after the war, and he told me the story.
While patrolling, they picked up the helo and dropped the bomb while the helo was on the ground. It was dark (don't know if it was night, but it was almost certainly smokey and/or hazy from the bombs, oil fires, and general chaos of war). During the bomb time of flight, the helo lifted off.
"Rats," he said (OK, that wasn't what he really said, but I'm complying with the TOS). He told his WSO "Keep lasing it" because, he said, he didn't think the bomb would guide against a moving, airborne target. He hoped it would land, and they could get the bomb to follow the beam.
He said they were shocked when it blew up in-flight.
Even more shocking, after they relayed the good news to AWACS: "Uh, confirm you have a visual on the friendly helicopter in your area?" (I believe that was the helo for the Special Forces, mentioned above).
They spent a couple of anxious minutes hoping they had not made a tragic error, and were understandably relieved when all was well....AWACS had never told them there was a friendly helo there before the drop.
Today
Today
I can't imagine the anxiety while waiting to find out if you killed the right guys.