24.03.1999 - Mig-29 combat flight - Iljo Arizanov

[okopanja]

24.03.1999 - Mig-29 combat flight - Iljo Arizanov

Pilot: Major Iljo Arizanov

Airplane type: L-18 (MIG-29 9.12b)

Airplane ID: 18112

Time: March 24th 1999, 20:00

Take off: Airbase Niš

Landing: Shot down, Drenica area.

Flight length: 10-20 min

Interview with Major Iljo Arizanov, pilot of MiG-29

1st video segment at 03:07

03:07 Narrator: Air alert sirens are heard...

03:22 Iljo Arizanov: On March 24th we were located at airbase Niš, with 2 airplanes

03:28 Iljo Arizanov: Present were me, colleague Ilić, colleague Đurđević and colleague Emeti.

03:34 Iljo Arizanov: Around 19:00, there was an air alert at the airport and we received the readiness signal.

03:42 Iljo Arizanov: Colleague Ilić and me went ahead and sat in the airplanes, where we awaited for further orders

03:47 Iljo Arizanov: A very tense hour passed and around 20:00 we received orders to scramble.

03:56 Iljo Arizanov: I received orders to fly and go to the Suva Reka - Đakovica, Kosovo zone at 3000m and cruise there while awaiting enemy airplanes.

04:11 Remark: Hissing sound with distinct canopy locking click is heard.

04:14 Iljo Arizanov: At the moment when I received the signal for take off we were still not sure if the ”Bombing” had started and what exactly was going on.

04:14 Remark: He refers not to the individual event, but rather to the whole NATO Bombing of Yugoslavia. NATO has designated the this war as “Operation Allied Force”.

04:22 Iljo Arizanov: We did not have any information. During the whole day we were very busy, we were in a general rush.

04:29 Iljo Arizanov: Personally, I was not sure if this was going to be an ordinary flight or a real flight under combat conditions.

04:38 Remark: A single Mig-29 is displayed taxing toward the runway.

04:45 Iljo Arizanov: I took off, when I reached 1000 m in the vicinity of Jastrebac, turned toward Priština, Suva Reka - Đakovica zone.

04:58 Iljo Arizanov: I attempted to establish communication with the GCI officers or with the command center.

05:06 Iljo Arizanov: But I could not reach anyone on any of the channels.

05:10 Iljo Arizanov(over radio): "Hidro, Hidro 101, do you hear me?"

05:14 Iljo Arizanov(over radio): "Hidro 101st, at 3000m above Jastrebac, towards Suva Reka zone."

05:20 Iljo Arizanov: "Krka, Hidro 101, do we hear each other?"

05:20 Remark: Krka refers to the river Krka in Croatia. Unrelated toponyms are often used in open radio communication.

05:24 Iljo Arizanov: Since I could not establish a connection after several attempts, I decided to proceed to the zone.

05:33 Iljo Arizanov: I switched the radar on, it showed it was operational and it was working.

05:38 Iljo Arizanov: Already 1-2 minutes into the flight, I noticed on the right side at great distance, practically at the horizon’s edge, a strong explosion.

05:48 Iljo Arizanov: Later, a colleague based in Podgorica, told me that they hit the airport in Podgorica and that the ordonnance depot had exploded.

05:48 Remark: "Later" does not mean "during the flight", due to the events that followed.

05:57 Iljo Arizanov: It was the first moment that I had confirmation that aggression had started.

06:03 Iljo Arizanov: It meant that it was an actual combat flight and that I was likely to encounter another airplane.

06:12 Iljo Arizanov: After 5-6 minutes of flight, a few minutes before reaching Traversa Priština, I saw an airplane, equally high, coming from Albania.

06:24 Iljo Arizanov: I detected him visually, since it was still illuminated by the Sun, and the condensation trail was visible behind him.

06:32 Iljo Arizanov: Since he was still far I did not want to change my altitude and heading, instead I carried on, tracking him and waiting for him to approach.

06:43 Iljo Arizanov: When I reached 10 km north of the Priština airport, I noticed the target at the distance of 25 km right of me and I turned the aircraft toward that direction.

07:00 Iljo Arizanov: At that phase of the flight, the most hindering issue was a non-functioning SPO device, which was supposed to alert me.

07:06 Iljo Arizanov: I did not have information if another airplane is intercepting me or if a radar is illuminating me, which would allow me to execute the missile avoidance maneuver.

07:17 Iljo Arizanov: Since the target disappeared and I had no further information, I decided to turn toward the airplane that was going toward the airport in Priština.

07:26 Iljo Arizanov: I turned the aircraft resolutely left toward the target, started to climb and brought the enemy airplane into the HUD.

07:39 Remark: Story interrupts here and story of Major Perić and Cpt. 1st class Radosavljević starts.

2nd video segment at 11:52

11:54 Narrator: MiG-29 pilot Iljo Arizanov is above the Drenica area, while holding the enemy airplane in targeting sights.

12:11 Iljo Arizanov: I held the lock button, which we use to direct all devices toward the target, so they can perform the necessary measurements and prepare the missiles for launch.

12:11 Remark: Iljo Arizanov sits in the cockpit at this moment...

12:24 Iljo Arizanov: I needed roughly 30 seconds before I would reach a distance less than 5 km, where one of the missiles would have guaranteed acquisition, or at which I could visually identify the aircraft.

12:42 Iljo Arizanov: At that moment I felt the impact from the left side, an explosion. Missile had hit me.

12:50 Iljo Arizanov: At that moment the aircraft, from climbing position, was displaced to the left with its nose pointing down and started a left downward spiral.

13:02 Iljo Arizanov: I noticed the fire in all 3 mirrors. The airplane was burning.

13:06 Iljo Arizanov: I observed the cockpit, there was no smoke, no warning light indications were shown.

13:16 Iljo Arizanov: When I tried to move the stick to bring the airplane into normal position, the airplane did not react to my input.

13:24 Iljo Arizanov: Once I realized that airplanes could not be flown anymore, I released the stick, I grabbed both ejection handles and pulled them towards myself.

13:33 Iljo Arizanov: First the movable part of the canopy was ejected and afterwards the seat started moving on its rails.

13:39 Iljo Arizanov: A shield extends out in front of the pilot's body that protects him from the air flow impact.

13:46 Iljo Arizanov: To the sides, arm limiters dropped... Their purpose is to press the arms against the body, so they do not hit the frame during the ejection.

13:55 Iljo Arizanov: Legs are tightened together by leg tighteners. The body of the pilot is confined and all the fasteners are tightened, in order for the body to be in the correct position to avoid spine or limb injuries against the sides of an airplane.

14:12 Iljo Arizanov: I managed to see the protecting shield which shields me from the air impact...

14:12 Remark: His statement was abruptly interrupted and continued with the same account... Perhaps 10 seconds is missing.

14:18 Iljo Arizanov: It was a second or less and while I sat normally in the seat, there were small parachutes that were used to stabilize the seat.

14:25 Iljo Arizanov: Then I saw my own airplane in front of me: the left side was burning quite a lot. The whole left wing, from just behind the cockpit where the fuel tanks are, there was fire all the way to the aircraft’s tail.

14:37 Iljo Arizanov: It also seemed to me that the left horizontal stabilizer was missing on the airplane.

14:43 Iljo Arizanov: I wish I was on another airplane watching, but I was in the ejection seat, knowing where I ejected, above Kosovo, I assumed that I will have the "problems" later (he smiles over this).

14:43 Remark: The area was mostly populated by a hostile Albanian population.

14:56 Remark: story interrupts here, and the story of Major Perić continues.

3rd video segment at 19:13

19:14 Narrator: Major Arizanov has been hit in the sky above Kosovo.

19:19 Narrator: He managed to eject and is falling into Drenica Valley.

19:24 Narrator: He lands in the vineyard, just next to the hangar, being occupied by Albanian guards at that moment.

19:32 Iljo Arizanov: I landed at least 5 km from the airplane crash site.

19:38 Iljo Arizanov: On one side this was good, since the crash site was not directly visible behind some hill and only fire reflection was seen in the sky.

19:49 Iljo Arizanov: I was lucky enough to land between 4 vine posts, and I was not hurt. I heard 2 people shouting (at each other), and realized they are Albanians. I knew I had to run away as soon as possible.

20:05 Iljo Arizanov: They were not approaching and I assumed that they were also too scared to come closer and see who was there.

20:11 Iljo Arizanov: I unbuckled my parachute straps and started to run away to the opposite side with my helmet and mask still on.

20:23 Iljo Arizanov: I did not manage to get anything from the equipment stored inside the ejection seat, the so-called NAZ pack (in Russian).

20:23 Remark: The ejection seat separates from the pilot’s body once the required altitude is reached. At the same time the emergency kit packed underneath the pilot and attached to the pilot separates from the seat.

20:30 Iljo Arizanov: It contains food, water and medicines. There is also a radio device - a radio station which can be used to call the rescue service.

20:41 Iljo Arizanov: Simply put, I took none of that equipment, since I did not want to risk being captured immediately.

20:48 Iljo Arizanov: I concluded that its the best to back track the same way I came with airplane

20:54 Iljo Arizanov: I assumed the rescue service would eventually start searching for me the next day, following the direction I flew. If someone tracked me on the radar, they would know where I was shot down.

21:12 Iljo Arizanov: I moved in the direction of East/North-East, moving towards the direction of Priština airbase.

21:12 Remark: Airbase Slatina, near the city of Priština.

21:24 Iljo Arizanov: I again crossed some asphalt road. I spotted the 2 Jeep vehicles going toward the direction of my landing site. I layed down in a ditch and they did not see me.

21:38 Iljo Arizanov: I had no idea who might be inside the terrain vehicles.

21:38 Remark: The vehicles could belong both to friendly/enemy forces.

21:42 Iljo Arizanov: I left that place soon, moved through the woods.

21:46 Iljo Arizanov: The whole night, I was crossing the hills, while the terrain was rising all the time more and more.

21:55 Iljo Arizanov: I could not follow the desired direction, due to the houses, villages, barking of dogs from all sides, numerous gun fires, presumably from people celebrating the beginning of the aggression.

22:13 Iljo Arizanov: The gun bursts echoed from left and right. I based the direction of movement accordingly.

22:21 Iljo Arizanov: I felt thirst and hunger all the time, since I was constantly walking and sweating with no water I could carry.

22:32 Iljo Arizanov: I drank water from streams and ate the snow in order to extinguish the thirst.

22:39 Iljo Arizanov: Around midnight I got out of the woods and went straight into someone's backyard, a house.

22:46 Iljo Arizanov: Luckily it was uninhabited, located in a village, the last house.

22:51 Iljo Arizanov: I heard the voices of 2 men, approaching from behind a curve and still not visible. I quickly jumped the fence.

22:59 Iljo Arizanov: They did not see me, but stood 2m from me, talking about something in Albanian, which I could not understand.

23:06 Iljo Arizanov: They stood there for about 10 minutes, me laying on the snow got stiff from the cold, not knowing what to do.

23:13 Iljo Arizanov: I held my gun, waiting to see the further development.

23:27 Remark: story interrupts and continues the story of Perić/Radosavljević.

4th video segment at 29:11

29:12 Narrator: Iljo Arizanov, shot down on the first day of bombing, in the area of Drenica, whole night attempts to move between KLA camps. His drama continues...

29:28 Iljo Arizanov: The moment I laid down to sleep I was very hot and sweaty, but as soon as my body cooled down after about 30 minutes, I woke up shaking.

29:37 Iljo Arizanov: I took off my boots and wet socks, which I left on a branch to dry.

29:43 Iljo Arizanov: I inspected the First Aid kit containing some bands and used them to wrap and warm up my feet.

29:52 Iljo Arizanov: Time was passing very slowly, waiting seemed long until in the morning around 7:00, until dawn.

30:00 Iljo Arizanov: It was a nice morning, and the sun warmed me up nicely within 30 minutes.

30:06 Iljo Arizanov: I stayed there until 07:00 at the same spot. I realized that helicopters belonging to the rescue service were not coming.

30:15 Iljo Arizanov: From that spot, I could see on the opposite hill a village, houses. I could hear wood cutting and cattle.

30:30 Iljo Arizanov: I approached within 300-400m from the houses and I saw that they were Albanian. All around were Albanian villages with mosques.

30:37 Iljo Arizanov: I could not observe any police or army forces movement on the roads that were visible.

30:43 Iljo Arizanov: I concluded there is no point in establishing contact, since it would lead to my capture.

30:50 Iljo Arizanov: I had to hide myself until the darkness.

30:56 Iljo Arizanov: I arrived again at another road, where the house was being built.

31:01 Iljo Arizanov: Nobody was there. I tried to find some food, since hunger was the main problem. I have not eaten for a long time. Unfortunately I found nothing.

31:12 Iljo Arizanov: I continued further. I was already approaching the river Drenica which I had to cross.

31:20 Iljo Arizanov: Due to tiredness and since I am not a great swimmer, I did not attempt to cross, instead I tried to find upstream the more suitable place to cross.

31:32 Iljo Arizanov: It was muddy, covered with branches, which hurt me, but the basic problem persisted, depth was too high. I ended up chest high in the water, but at the end managed to cross to the other side.

31:32 Remark: Iljo Arizanov is of small stature.

31:50 Iljo Arizanov: In the morning when it dawned, between 6 and 7, I was several kilometers away from the foothill of Goleš.

31:59 Iljo Arizanov: Dilemma was there again, whether to move by day, during which I can be seen, or to hide during day.

32:06 Iljo Arizanov: Given my situation: hungry, thirsty, tired, I decided to continue these few km, hoping to pass through.

32:24 Iljo Arizanov: It was around 7 o'clock, some 500m away from footsteps of Goleš, already very tired, with declining concentration and not listening properly, I arrived at a crossroad of 2 paths.

32:38 Iljo Arizanov: I turned to the left and I spotted a man 10-15 m away from me.

32:45 Iljo Arizanov: He was wearing rubber boots, pants, a camouflage jacket with KLA emblem with a radio station antenna sticking out of jacket pocket, carrying a hunting rifle over his shoulder.

32:58 Iljo Arizanov: I started drawing the gun out, it took a few seconds, he looked at me and the next moment with wide opened arms, he threw himself into the bush, while removing the rifle from his shoulder.

33:12 Iljo Arizanov: He just rolled into the bushes and I did not see him afterwards anymore.

33:15 Iljo Arizanov: I started running away in the opposite direction, this is where I lost my helmet.

33:19 Iljo Arizanov: After some 20 meters, I reached a fenced area of the woods, pole endings tilted toward me in addition to barbed wire. Completely fenced part of the woods...

33:34 Iljo Arizanov: The only direction I could move to... I jumped over the fence and continued running away for another 200-300 m.

33:45 Iljo Arizanov: I could see the asphalt road and once I could cross the road I could start climbing the Goleš.

33:52 Narrator: Arizanov, after 2 days of moving through Drenica Valley, managed to reach the airport at Priština on 26.03.1999.

34:02 Narrator: The command had already written him off.

34:04 Narrator: On that day, March 26th, from Airbase Batajnica, his close friends and colleagues Slobodan Perić and Zoran Perić took off later...

34:19 Remark: Iljo Arizanov story interrupts here.

5th video segment at 40:22

40:22 Iljo Arizanov: When I arrived in Belgrade, it turned out that during those 3 days I lost 7 kg in weight. Next 10 days I suffered from a high fever.

40:32 Iljo Arizanov: I felt pains across my whole body, due to all that "walking", due to the strain.

40:38 Iljo Arizanov: Some 2 weeks later, during the control examination at our institute, doctors established the heart problems.

40:46 Iljo Arizanov: Further examination was conducted in order to establish that due to the stress, the blood circuits have contracted spasmodically.

40:58 Iljo Arizanov: They suggested an operation, and I got an operation at VMA.

41:01 Iljo Arizanov: I have been retired later as an Invalid.

41:01 Remark: In video, retired Iljo Arizanov, in civilian clothing climbs to the Mig-29 cockpit.

41:09 Remark: Video alters to black and white video which shows the pilot Iljo wearing uniform climbing to the cockpit. Briefly the rank of Lt. Colonel can be seen, along the escadrille 127. “Knights” patch on his uniform.

41:10 Iljo Arizanov: Regarding our take offs, my opinion was that we should have flown, despite our airplanes not being functional, despite being inferior.

41:24 Iljo Arizanov: Our country was attacked and our duty was to defend it in every possible way.

41:29 Iljo Arizanov: The same way the common soldier would defend it with his rifle, I must take off and attempt to do something with my airplane.

41:37 Iljo Arizanov: Now the conditions we were utilized? If it could be better? if we could be more efficient? For certain there were problems.

41:47 Iljo Arizanov: Simply we never decided on that, we were in such a situation, it was certainly no excuse not to fly or say “We will just wait for them to drop the bombs on us”.

41:57 Remark: story interrupts, meanwhile major Perić concludes with his thoughts on the matter of inapt operational command. Video shows Iljo Arizanov and Slobodan Perić walking through shelters of a damaged airbase, and occasionally rusted ordnance can be seen.

41:57 Slobodan Perić (angerly): The tactical usage of us was almost complete nonsense.

42:01 Slobodan Perić (angerly): You simply can not scramble someone up to fight in the air, if the opponent has a much longer spear.

42:12 Slobodan Perić (angerly): You can fight him in other ways: get near, get low, come underneath, come from multiple directions, but to take off and fly at someone head to head who has more powerful machines, longer missile range, all possible support...

42:27 Slobodan Perić (angerly): … that was completely absent minded.

42:28 Iljo Arizanov (calmly): We had the feeling all the time, it did not matter to them what you could possibly achieve, since all the time insane orders were arriving.

42:40 Iljo Arizanov (calmly): They scramble you to intercept the airplanes configured for a dedicated air to air combat during an unfavorable situation.

42:44 Iljo Arizanov (calmly): All being perfectly aware you could not achieve anything.

42:48 Iljo Arizanov (calmly): All of us pilots had the feeling that people were not important, but rather a story that shows "The pilots are flying, they are dying...", rather than having a reason or purpose.

43:03 Remark: Story of Iljo Arizanov interrupts here...

6th video segment at 44:50

44:50 Remark: What follows are reactions of Iljo Arizanov on the stories presented by US pilots.

44:49 Narrator: In TV channel History, documentary "Dog Fights", two of the US pilots talk about their flights on March 24th, during which they have reported downing of 2 Mig-29s.

45:08 Iljo Arizanov (after watching the documentary): The stories sound like a kind of free interpretation, however there are elements similar to my flight in both cases.

45:17 Iljo Arizanov: However, there are also lots of things that are different.

45:21 Iljo Arizanov: E.g. There is the variant, which I mentioned also earlier, that our SAM units which had orders to shoot at anything that flies, around that time and that place launched the 3 KUB missiles and reported the downing of Tornado at 3000 m.

45:21 Remark: The first downing of a NATO airplane was reported on March 24th on national television, I vividly remember hearing this news and our reaction.

45:21 Remark: The shot down of Tornado was never confirmed with material evidence, but due to the dark and 2 engine design it could have been one of the plausible theories.

45:21 Remark: Based on the

45:37 Iljo Arizanov: Somebody did hit me, but from the airplane I could not determine that.

45:37 Remark: SPO device was not operational, with no GCI support from his point of view it is really not possible to be sure who hit him.

45:45 Iljo Arizanov: And later no investigation took place at the crash site to determine which exact missile had hit the airplane and what exactly had happened.

45:56 Iljo Arizanov: Unfortunately this will remain a lasting mystery.

45:56 Remark: Lt. Colonel Iljo Arizanov passed away on 03.09.2011 at the age of 51 as result of a heart attack.

Interview with Major Cesar "Rico" Rodriguez, pilot of F-15C

7th video segment at 00:58:10

00:58:10 Remark: The following transcript has been taken from the interview “Rico” Rodriguez, the Last Fighter Ace on VBC’s A Veteran’s Story with Pete Mecca.

00:58:10 Pete Mecca: Tell us about third kill.

00:58:14 Cesar Rodriguez: Third kill, again the opportunity to fly on night one, I can tell you that you can't say to have a T-shirt for flying on night one, I have done it two times already.

00:58:30 Cesar Rodriguez: This is my third one and each of those T-shirts and white underwear I was wearing were drenched in sweat and had brown spots all over the bottom.

00:58:41 Cesar Rodriguez: I was scarred poopless on night one and it does not change.

00:58:48 Cesar Rodriguez: But, I had a real new wingman, lieutenant on mine wing, had a brand new weapons officer as my leader.

00:58:58 Cesar Rodriguez: Again he was being tested, he had never been in combat before, we had a young wingman on his wing.

00:59:03 Cesar Rodriguez: As we were on night one to execute the pre-strike sweep for the NATO strike package, that was going to hit Montenegro and then start to build/open up the corridor to the east, to get us all the way to Kosovo...

00:59:20 Cesar Rodriguez: ... so that air to ground strikes could come in uncontested.

00:59:26 Cesar Rodriguez: And of course we knew there was going to be significant surface to air threat.

00:59:31 Cesar Rodriguez: But they outmaneuvered us in a lot of ways with their SAMs, because they read the book, they took the lessons of "Desert Storm" to heart and they applied them very tactfully.

00:59:45 Cesar Rodriguez: Luckily, we had made investments and capabilities that gives the warnings in airplanes or provide electronic defeat against some of those assets.

00:59:55 Cesar Rodriguez: So, we were prepared but we were surprised.

01:00:01 Cesar Rodriguez: When (I) we came north... We went the south from Cervia, Italy, down to the edge of Italian boot and then hooked a big huge left-hand turn and we started to come north.

01:00:01 Remark: Airbase located there is: Airport Militare di Cervia Pisignano.

01:00:15 Cesar Rodriguez: ONE and TWO were feet-wet. They were over the Adriatic and I was over land with mine wingman as we headed north.

01:00:25 Cesar Rodriguez: As we were heading north, my responsibilities were low-search environment.

01:00:32 Cesar Rodriguez: So as I was searching low, looking up for any movement, I picked up on radar a fast moving target, so I started to work:

01:00:44 Cesar Rodriguez: 1. on opportunity lock him up and 2. start to work on ID matrix and proceed.

01:00:52 Cesar Rodriguez: The target came out of Priština airfield, an airfield that was built by North Koreans for the Yugoslavs, and it was built into a mountain.

01:01:02 Remark: Please note that Iljo Arizanov took of from airbase Niš, so likely the F-15C picked up target first in the vicinity of Priština.

01:01:02 Remark: Airbase Slatina near Priština was home of the 83th fighter aviation, at the time of the event 20 Mig-21bis and 6 Mig-21UM were located inside. Remaining aircrafts were relocated to other airports.

01:01:02 Remark: Except for the underground hangar, there are no hardened armoured shelters at this airbase. Furthermore both blast doors of underground shelter are shaped for single tail airplanes.

01:01:02 Remark: Mig-29 can not pass through the blast doors. The only remaining place where it could be placed is open area with next to zero possibility of camouflage.

01:01:02 Remark: Regarding the North Koreans I would cast doubt. It would be interesting to learn the source of this information.

01:01:02 Cesar Rodriguez: And inside that mountain there was a basically an airfield.

01:01:06 Cesar Rodriguez: They did all their operations, they did their maintenance.

01:01:10 Cesar Rodriguez: They had natural defense mechanism, except when they took off, you wouldn't see them until they broke the line of sight with the doors in the mountain.

01:01:24 Cesar Rodriguez: As we were headed down, I see this fast moving target, I start to talk to my AWACS controller, to get his eyes at the same piece of sky.

01:01:35 Cesar Rodriguez: The target clears the mountains which were 8000 to 10000 ft in elevation, and he is above the mountains and I have a clear RADAR picture of him.

01:01:35 Remark: 8000 ft = 2438,4 m, 10000 ft = 3048 m. For precise information on altitudes see the "Topography" section below the testemony.

01:01:49 Cesar Rodriguez: I start to lock him up and do the ID matrix, to make sure its not a friendly.

01:01:54 Cesar Rodriguez: In the meantime my number 1 is experiencing some radar problems, so I go to his area of responsibility and search in that area and I hand of my target to my number 2 man “Wild” Bill Denham.

01:02:14 Cesar Rodriguez: I look over where number 1... We assess that there is not a threat there, there was a little poodle jumper that was flying around at about 100 knots (185 km/h).

01:02:25 Cesar Rodriguez: And unfortunately that guy would try to land at the Montenegro airfield as the first F-15Es were pretty much dropping Mark 82s and 84s at that runway and that guy never cleared the runway, he became a part of those craters.

01:02:42 Cesar Rodriguez: Once we determined that number 1's air space was clean, then I came back to mine, my wingman accurately had already completed most of the ID criteria.

01:02:47 Cesar Rodriguez: The only problem from his standpoint tactically was, he was not qualified to wear goggles, so he was literally behind me in about 3 miles of my right wing.

01:03:05 Cesar Rodriguez: And tactically we were not going to employ AMRAAMs over our shoulders, just because the AMRAAM as an active missile can also be, what we call "Mad Dog" in the meat park.

01:03:16 Cesar Rodriguez: It can find you and go after you, even though its not a target, that you thought you are gonna engage.

01:03:22 Cesar Rodriguez: So I started to go through my ID matrix, and as I talked with to Googs earlier, I did not complete the matrix...

01:03:31 Cesar Rodriguez: ... because there were some challenges in communication between myself and other partners that were in the air, that were supposed to do other parts of rules of engagement.

01:03:42 Cesar Rodriguez: But I felt that I had enough of information in my jet and I was in a position where if I did take a shot, this guy was gonna start getting very close to the front end of the strike package.

01:03:52 Cesar Rodriguez: So, at beyond... About 37 miles, I took my shot. The AMRAAM missile did everything as advertised. It came off the jet within a couple of seconds. It was no more than a little flicker in the air.

01:04:13 Cesar Rodriguez: But I could digitally track what was happening, both with the threat and a missile, and I assessed that at that point I did not need to take a second shot.

01:04:22 Cesar Rodriguez: Just as I took my shot, my wingman starts to get lock by the surface to air missiles, I start to get locked by surface to air missiles.

01:04:31 Cesar Rodriguez: So we start to maneuver the formation to the west, away from the integrated air missile defense systems of the Yugoslav Air Force and Air Defense Force.

01:04:42 Cesar Rodriguez: When my missile time of flight in the cockpit was approaching time 3 seconds left, I was in a position where the target intercept was gonna happen right in my 1 O'clock -2 O'clock position and probably 14 by 15 miles away.

01:05:02 Cesar Rodriguez: And sure enough when it hit 0, the missile hit the airplane, the airplane blew up, and what really caught my attention was, we were flying over mountainous snow covered terrain.

01:05:16 Cesar Rodriguez: And so, that fireball, when it blew up, missile is coming from high to low, the fireball goes down, the light from the fire goes against the mountains and the it reflects back in the sky.

01:05:29 Cesar Rodriguez: It just lit up the entire sky, like nothing I have ever seen before or ever seen since than.

01:05:36 Cesar Rodriguez: And so, that was the first kill over the "Kosovo campaign", and again I had not only the privilege to use the new technology that we have developed since Desert Storm, but my wingman was part of the training process to get us there.

01:05:53 Cesar Rodriguez: And of course, the team, the nature of the team, not only what we were doing, but what the first night event was taking place, represented some of the strengths of what Coalition brought to the table.

01:06:09 Cesar Rodriguez: It also represented some of the weaknesses. Some of our partners were not ready to fly on night one campaign like we had to do on night one.

01:06:20 Remark: "Rico" ends the story here.

Reconstructed flight

The provided map is rough reconstruction based on interview and publicly known information.

Fictional evacuation path

Map is based on the interview description and does not necessarily correspond to the actual path.

Topography

Majority of terrain in Kosovo as at elevation between 500 m and 1000 m, heavily intersected with low mountains and hills often with steep slopes.

In the central part the area Drenica valley splits the region in two major areas Kosovo on East, and Metohija at west.

Goleš mountain is in central area, located at eastern edge of Drenica and stands at 1018 m ( 3543 ft ).

North of Goleš, at almost 80 km is the Kopaonik mountain range with highest peak at 2017 m (6617 ft).

South of Goleš at distance of 40-47 km the Šar-Planina mountain range raises at the borders of North Macedonia‚ Kosovo and Albania, with peaks from 2092 m (6864 ft) to 2748 m (9016 ft).

West of Goleš at distance of 58 km the Prokletije mountain range raises at borders of Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania with peaks ranging from 1725 m ( 5659 ft) to 2694 m (8839 ft).

East of Goleš, at distance of 20 km extends the region of lower mountains with highest peak at 1260 m (4134 ft).

Sources

1. Niko nije rekao neću (prvi deo) - Nobody refused - part 1, author Slađana Zarić, director Boban Simojlović, journalist Vesna Ilić, montage Marija Bogićević, link.

2. “Rico” Rodriguez, the Last Fighter Ace on VBC’s A Veteran’s Story with Pete Mecca, link.

3. Operation Allied Force - Air war over Serbia 1999 - volume 1, Bojan Dimitrijević, Lt. Gen. Jovica Draganić, link.

4. Three Fingers of Death - Soviet 2K12 KUB (SA-6 Gainful) Missile System, Mike Mihajlović, Danko Borojević, Zoran Vukosavljević, link.

5. The Atlantic - The Last Ace, link.

6. Combat Story (Ep 12) Cesar "Rico" Rodriguez - F-15 Eagle Fighter Pilot | Three Air-to-Air Victories, link.

7. F-15 Eagle Pilot Explains Exactly How He Downed Three Migs During Two Wars, link.

8. Veteran Tributes - Cesar A. Rodriguez, Jr., link.

9. Appendix 10 - Spatial coverage RJ PVO 24.03.1999. god (from unknown book), link.

10. The K-36D Ejection Seat Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) Program, Lawrance J. Specker / John A. Plaga, link.

11. K-36D Operation, link.

Credits

Ronin Gaijin, for review and English corrections (many hours spent here).

Aeria Gloria, for checking the operation of Mig-29 sensors.

 

Edited December 24, 2024 by okopanja
Updated map, removed dropped line of text, typo fix, Fixed first reference

[Ronin_Gaijin]

Bravo @okopanja.
Work like this is so important for people that appreciate the MiG-29 and want to see history preserved.
Very well done!
I can't wait for the rest!

[JayJ]

Very professional study

[kaurin]

Thank you!

[okopanja]

Some additional pictures of things that save pilot's lives...

Soviet survival pack, unsure if it corresponds to the one found in K-36D, thanks @Ronin_Gaijin

Ejection seat itself:

Wind deflector in extended position:

Operation sequence of the seat:

Edited December 2, 2024 by okopanja
replaced discord references with actual pictures.

[draconus]

16 hours ago, okopanja said:

Ejection seat itself:

Wind deflector in extended position:

Operation sequence of the seat:

These are probably visible only to logged in Discord users FYI.

[BIGNEWY]

4 minutes ago, draconus said:

These are probably visible only to logged in Discord users FYI.

image links are broken for me also 

[okopanja]

3 hours ago, BIGNEWY said:

image links are broken for me also 

Will fix when I get home...

I suspect the links were temporary sessions connected with my account.

Edited December 2, 2024 by okopanja

[JunMcKill]

It's not easy to get into a MiG-29 with no SPO, lack of maintenance, faulty radars and no GCI (the backbone of Soviet air doctrine), to fly and fight in the visual style of World War II in the 90s! Everyone who flies the 29 in DCS knows that it's instant death, I've already seen the video, it's impressive. (Video with english subs below)

 

Edited December 2, 2024 by JunMcKill

[okopanja]

7 hours ago, draconus said:

These are probably visible only to logged in Discord users FYI.

7 hours ago, BIGNEWY said:

image links are broken for me also 

Fixed, it should work now.

[okopanja]

On 12/2/2024 at 4:28 PM, JunMcKill said:

It's not easy to get into a MiG-29 with no SPO, lack of maintenance, faulty radars and no GCI (the backbone of Soviet air doctrine), to fly and fight in the visual style of World War II in the 90s! Everyone who flies the 29 in DCS knows that it's instant death, I've already seen the video, it's impressive. (Video with english subs below)

 

The documentary came in 2 parts officially:

- Part 1: focused on 2 flights: Iljo Arizanov on 24.03.1999, and pair flight of Perić/Radosavljević. The documentary also contains the stories that are less relevant and IMHO personal and those parts I left out (e.g. missing is part of how Iljo spends his time as a pensioner). The story of the second flight will be also provided as independent translation.

- Part 2: focused on 6 flights, obviously this part is shorter since it had to fit the format of a single episode for airing. Given the fact that the videos were captured on multiple locations, I assume that original plan was to have more episodes. Inside this part is already published flight of Boro Zoraja(you can find it in the "Mig-29A" section of the forum), and flights of Dragan Ilić, Nebojša Nikolić, Abdul Emeti, Predrag Milutinović and Dragan Milenković. I did make raw translation with timestamps for all of them, but need yet to correlate with additional sources. This documentary part was never fully translated.

- Part 3: strictly speaking this part had different title and is focused on the Lt. Colonel Milenko Pavlović, the commander of the 204th fighter aviation regiment. He flew on May 4th alone, and unfortunately there is no direct account from the mission, but rather interviews with ground crews and his deputy. I do not plan to translate full documentary, since much about it contains interviews with his family and friends which tell more about himself than about event itself. I will focus only on the parts relevant to the flight and interviews from people who did watch the end of this flight from the ground. I am aware that some additional information by pilot who was credited with the shot down, did additional details so I do not expect everything will match.

Aside from these interviews, there is a separate interview of some of them in the show of journalist Milomir Marić. E.g. some additional details are provided for some of the above flights. An example are details about Gazelle rescue mission that picked up Nebojša Nikolić (spoiler: rotorcraft pilot makes jokes on fixed wing pilot).

Missing is the account of the flight of Lt Col Ljubiša Kulačin who was flying on 24.03.1999 and landed his aircraft. To my best knowledge he never gave any interview and very little is known about his flight, so if anyone is aware or has sources that I could use PM me with the information.

The flight that resulted in crash landing does not count toward combat flights, since it included the relocation from Podgorica airport to Ponikve of the aircraft that was damaged on 24.03.1999 on ground at Podgorica airbase. I did find some information including the potential crash site, but at this moment there is not enough information to justify the page here.

Aside from the Mig-29 pilots it should be mentioned that pilots of J-22 Orao aircraft did fly combat missions against ground targets. Their missions were never publicized and were told more in the form of rumors. Lt Col Života Đurić was the commander of the 241. fighter-bomber espadrille and has lost his life on 25.03.1999, during the attack on the target.

When providing the testimonies, primary focus will be to translate them accurately and to enable others to easily locate the section and if necessary validate the translation. Additional information will be provided in form or inline remark or one of the sections below the interview. Such additions are not meant to correct the pilot interview, but rather provide more accurate information, e.g. in case if there is alternative explanation.

Edited December 3, 2024 by okopanja
typos

[skywalker22]

Has any Mig-29 ever fired a missile towards Nato fighters in this 1999 conflict? Based on the SA of Mig-29 and F-16 (or what ever fighter jet NATO used at that time), I would say they shot exactly none. I wonder why they even got airborn, knowing they had very little chance of surviving, and even less firing towards enemy fighter jets. But a very interesting story of very brave pilots, hats off to them.

[okopanja]

1 minute ago, skywalker22 said:

Has any Mig-29 ever fired a missile towards Nato fighters in this 1999 conflict? Based on the SA of Mig-29 and F-16 (or what ever fighter jet NATO used at that time), I would say they shot exactly none. I wonder why they even got airborn, knowing they had very little chance of surviving, and even less firing towards enemy fighter jets. But a very interesting story of very brave pilots, hats off to them.

Officially none of them launched. Boro Zoraja was close to it (see his post, unfortunatly no interviews from opponents), as well as Abdul Emeti (translated, but will be published in several weeks).

At the moment I am preparing flight of Ljubiša Kulačin, a follow up on Nebojša Nikolić(published).

I would say that in several occasions 29s dangerously closed the gap, despite AMRAAM advantage, mostly due to AMRAAM misses at low altitudes.

6 aircraft were lost in air, with multiple friendly(or combined) fire reports. 5 were lost on ground.

Aircrafts had issues with capacitors causing power supply failures. The general overhaul should have been scheduled in 1996/1997.

[skywalker22]

I would say AMRAAM didn't have the advantage, it did, but what was decisive was there was no SA what so ever for the Migs. If you don't know whats going on around you, it's hard to fight, it's like fighting the ghosts. And there was so little number of Migs as well. If the Serbs would have lets say 100 of them, this would be a different story. And also the lack of ground support as well. And as you mentioned, bad maintenace was also a major factor of at least properly using the Migs and their capabilities.

ps: so cool to listen to those pilots, some interesting storries. Like this example   (NATO pilots learned Serbian langauge)

Edited January 1 by skywalker22

[okopanja]

2 minutes ago, skywalker22 said:

I would say AMRAAM didn't have the advantage, it did, but what was decisive was there was no SA what so ever for the Migs. If you don't know whats going on around you, it hard to fight, its like fighting the ghosts. And there was so little number of Migs as well. If the Serbs would have lets say 100 of them, this would be a different story. And also the lack of ground support as well. And as you mentioned, bad maintenace was also a major factor of at least properly using the Migs and their capabilities.

Iljo Arizanov did not have GCI for 2 reasons:

1. Failed radio

2. Primary EWR network was down, see Dragan Ilić flight, from same airport few minutes later, he had GCI support.

BTW: positions of SAMs are accurate for March 24th, including the locations of EWRs. I did this in order to check if friendly fire was likely or not.

I would say Arizanov is a clean AMRAAM hit, since KUBs were kind of on the edge of range ring and, I did not manage to confirm if they fired on that day at all.

[draconus]

11 hours ago, skywalker22 said:

AMRAAM didn't have the advantage

Yes, they did. Newer, longer, active radar stick was very much an advantage.