OT: the man that downed that F117 in Serbia & some related and unrelated stuff

Mar 26, 2006 3 Replies
Jump to replies (3)

Figured it might be found interesting/amuzing :



Russian TV just aired a segment about the man that downed the F117 back in the days of NATO bombing of Serbia.



Good old S-125 workhorse of Soviet era Air-defense, single missile. The guy was a major in Serbian ADT, Soviet-educated. He's retired now, owns and operates a bakery in a village 30mins from the capital, making traditional form of bread.



Naturally US/NATO declared a war on his unit right after the interception. The guy brought the camera crew to one of former locations of his unit and showed some pretty large holes in the ground where JDAMs went in.



They (the unit) were long gone, but left a running microwave oven at the location.



U can buy a piece of the plane (1"x1" or so), with a certificate, at a local aviation museum still there.



The TV story mentioned the unit still getting together , every year, at a restorant in the capital. And then they showed some footage from a recent gathering:



large crowd, traditional dancing & stuff and then



the lights went out and they wheeled in a cake, out of black chocolate, shaped after F117, with an emergency "candle" stuck into, throwing sparks and stuff. Somehow reminded me a scene from Cotton Club where they were celebrating the end of prohibition.



BTW, one of chief designers of Soviet SAMs, just celebrated his 80th b-day. Amongst many other things he pioneered use of vertical launch of SAMs, using compressed air @ insane pressures. Huge number of benefits to this method: missile stays in a container, fully protected from elements, no need to turn the turret in the direction of the launch path, missiles can attack cruise missiles and such - low flying targets with minimal windows of opportunity to detect and intercept.



Shows you the value of the old saying from the Ancient Mariner - I shot an arrow in the air, where it fell, I know not where...

Stealth or not, you open a bay on an aircraft and lots of radar signal gets returned. Get lucky... I give 'em a few more years to figure out another way to detect aircraft instead of radar.

As to the party, hey, nobody else can claim to have dinged a F117. Odds probably are like hitting a hole in one blindfolded. They got a mean plum brandy, or so I've been told...

As to the decepti> Figured it might be found interesting/amuzing :

I have actually been introduced to the S-125 and have spent a few hours inside one. I am a former Soviet leutenant of air defense. (it is not as big as it sounds, I simply had a military education class as part of deal where students do not get drafted, but study some military specialty in college)

I like the S-300 much better, based on sheer sexiness factor. A very big missile on a very scary looking truck.

I suppose, with the door open and the door switch hot wired.

ROTFLMAO

I never knew this actually, maybe I should read something. Thanks for the post.

i

Igor -

DirecTV now carries 5 Russian channels, for $30 or so - if you ever get nostalgic.

BTW - why do you ask "not to archive" yer messages ? The collective pot of knowledge (Oreshek Znany ;) we all have created through 12 productive years of Usenet-Deja-Google news is priceless, it is a shame to not let is continue to grow .

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required