“Any landing you can walk away from…”
May 1996, and Serbia has broken the Dayton peace accord between the various parties in the civil war following the break-up of the Yugoslavia. In a lightning strike, they have managed to overwhelm Croatia and Bosnia and are now consolidating their position. Intense diplomatic moves to persuade Serbia to withdraw have failed. More alarmingly, troops and armor are massing near the Slovenian border. NATO has decided to answer the pleas of the Croats and Bosnians. Following a request from the Slovenian government, NATO is preparing to restore the situation which existed when the peace accord was signed
From the Allied Force manual
The 22nd Fighter squadron has been assigned to Ljubljana airbase and our missions have been in direct support of NATO operations in the region, primarily the suppression of the Serbian Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS). Other NATO aircraft will provide strike support against strategic targets and provide air cover. Additionally, AWACS and tanker flights are operating over the Adriatic to support NATO aircraft. Two US carrier battle groups are stationed there.
In Allied Force I find it very effective to take control of the ground forces as well as managing and flying the air war. During this campaign I will take charge of the ground troops as well. There is a clear and definite concentration of enemy troops forming a line north of Zagreb. I select a couple of strategic areas to move and concentrate the NATO forces. Once the troops are in the position I will order them into weak points along the enemy lines. Our targets are the Zagreb MOD, the Zagreb airport, Koprivnica Army Base, and the Tuslovic Army base. This should slow the enemy and force them into a defensive posture. Our missions will be in support of the pending offensive. My hope is to demoralize and reduce the fighting effectiveness of the enemy so that our ground ponders an easier time of it.
Our mission for today is to strike the Yugoslavian 107th Division Northeast Od Dugo Selo town. Our efforts will be specifically directed against the 89th Air Defense Artillery battalion embedded with the division. I will lead a four ship of F16 Block 50, designated as Avenger 2. As flight lead, I will fly in the number one position (Avenger 21) Dawg will be on my wing in Avenger 22, with Duke and Sluggo filling the other two slots. Our lift off time is 0610 which gives us about a 45 minute ingress to the target area. I check over the latest Intel and position our steer-points away from the threats. We will be loaded with 12 Mark-20Ds. This weapons load is significant and should spread destruction amongst the enemy formation. Although we do not anticipate any aerial confrontations we will carry the standard air-to-air weapons load of Amraams and heaters.
Following our walk around we all strap in and prepare for the mornings activity. The airfield is abuzz with activity as hot pit fueling is taking place for the returning BARCAPs, on the other end of the airfield arming is going on for some future strikes. We are all wound up and ready to go. I speak into my mask and request taxi instructions while my crew chief removes the chalks. Receiving taxi instructions, I drop the canopy and bump the throttle. My falcon lurches forward flights, and I pick up the center yellow line that will take me to the main taxi way. Looking around, left and right, I see that I am clear as my flight falls into trail behind. Holding short of the active runway I call the tower and request permission for take off.
“Avenger 21 Ljubljana tower you are cleared for take-off”. I push the throttle forward and past the Afterburner stop. The fuel dumps into the GE turbine and exits in a bright orange cone of flame from the aft end of my jet. I am accelerated rapidly as my jet hurtles down the runway. My head is pushed back into the head rest and my jet struggles into the air. Once my plane establishes positive climb I retract the landing gear and continue to climb out. “Avenger 21 resume own navigation”, I bank to the right and pick up a course to the second steer-point. I am now flight parallel to the runway and I look over to watch the rest of my flight takes to the air. Ok, I set up my defensive counter measures, semi-auto, program 4. I turn off my lights, and flick on my master arm. We have a fairly long ingress so I set up air-to-air mode and range my radar looking out 40 miles. “Avenger 21, Avenger, close up” I order as I pull back on the throttle to 400 knots. I call for the flight to close in again (I like to see the guys tucked in close)
We continue towards the target passing the second steer-point. Passing through the steer-point I change the mode to air-to-ground. Ground Moving Target (GMT), Snow Plow (SP) I slew over the target area looking for movers. It does not take long before a column of vehicles is illuminated on my radar. I call for the AWACS to declare “Avenger 21 target is a bogey” OK, I suspected as much but better to be sure. “Avenger 31 attack targets”, Avenger 22 attack my target”, I command as I quickly switch over to another vehicle and set my release mode to CCIP.
OK, I stage my munitions to drop in pairs and lean into the attack as my wing mates do the same. I line up the column under my death dote as the flak burst up all around. I have been engulfed in flak so much that I hardly even notice but this seems a bit more intense than normal. “thump thump” two of my bombs fall from their rails. Pulling off the target I look over my shoulder while pumping out flares and chaff. Just as I think I am clear, my plane is peppered with small arms fire. “Caution caution caution” rings in my head set as I climb out of harms way. “Damn it”, I think as my HUD fades and then dies. My right Multi-function display is dead and I am training smoke slightly. My plane otherwise seems to be responding. I roll right and padlock the enemy column. “Avenger attack my target”, my order to the rest of my flight while I take inventory of my own condition. OK I was too low, too slow and too lackadaisical (read STUPID). Some grunt with an AK got me with the proverbial “golden BB”. Now I am just pissed, I turn back to the target (another mistake) and take my best guess at where my bombs might drop…assuming they drop at all. I lean into the attack again. By this point my flight has made a mess of the area and the enemy is no longer in a neat column. They are running back and forth aimlessly in chaos and confusion. I don’t want to drag all these bombs home and I don’t want to drop them on a bunch of trees. So aim for the center of this mass of armored confusion below and ripple off my entire remaining ordinance. “Whomp whomp whomp whomp whomp whomp”, yes my bombs all come off and I streak away with little attention from the troops below. Climbing back over the battle, I circle and watch the rest of my flight continue to work over the target.
Suddenly, my plane shutters and lisps right…”Damn-it what was that” I pull the stick to the left to keep level and attempt to trim it up. “OK enough of this shit”, I think. “Avenger 2 regroup, lets get out of it”, I call. The Avenger flight checks in and all close in on me. I set a direct course for home bypassing a couple of steer-points and push my throttle full open. Now I am trailing smoke badly and with a right lisp and with about 90 miles to go home. I shuffle through my maps and start looking up alternate airfields but there is really nothing suitable and close. I bring up the SAR package on my number two radio and relay my position and condition.
I place the rest of my flight in an arrowhead formation so that I have eyes on both sides to take me home. I have my plane pretty well trimmed up at this point requiring just a bit of left pressure. We continue towards Ljubljana as several other flights pass traveling in the opposite direction. “Avenger 21 declaring an emergency”, I call the tower and announce my situation. “Avenger 21 cleared straight in, emergency equipment rolling,” is the response. The airfield is coming into view and my anxiety level starts to rise as I start to make small adjustments in my flight path. Fortunately, since we are coming from the south it is a pretty straight shot into the airfield. I have no indicators relative to speed and sink rate so I will be doing this purely by feel and the old Mark 1 eyeball. I throttle back a little bit to reduce speed as the airfield comes closer I extend the airbrakes fully and continue my descent. Working the peddles, I try to align my nose with the centerline but I drift just off to the right. By now I am but a few hundred feet above the earth and sweat is forming on my brow. I clear the fence that surrounds the field and extend my landing gear. They fully extend and lock just before making contact with the ground.
I
touch down a little hard but start a rapid roll down the runway. Just as I am
patting my self on the back for a great emergency landing my gear give out… I
can hear the concrete scrubbing the belly of my plane, I look left and right at
the, still armed missiles on the rails…”not good” I think I am blinded by a
cloud of smoke and dirt as my plane continues to skid along the runway. I know
it is only a matter of seconds but it feels like my plane skids on and on
forever, just for a millisecond I think about ejecting…Never seen an ejection
from the ground and I am not eager to see it from the ejection seat, I ride it
out. My plane finally comes to rest on the right side of the runway, partway on
the runway and part on the grass.
Helicopters are in the air and the rescue team has me out of the plane almost instantly... None the worse for ware, I am eager to check the score. How many hits did I get without the use of computers I wonder? That would be a big fat donut…my first two bombs score hits (CCIP) and my eyeball go 0 for 10. Fortunately the rest of the flight picked me up and we did some serious damage to the enemy.
Looking on the strategic map I can see all of my ground forces moving south in mass. Playing general is very cool. The best way to clear the enemy air is not to blow up the enemy airfields but to take them…we are on our way to taking several.
Puma - Out
