WSO sits at the front of the F-15E. When you want to fly a recc mission with a senior officer over the target area, you let him sit at the front. The "agriculture strip" might have been newly constructed anyway to lure the US special forces. In my imagination, we have a daring leader who insisted on recc himself. I would guess he is really a special forces colonel, rather than a vice wing commander. AH-6 inside C-130 could have been arranged fast enough with able staff officers, and the SF are always a bunch of highly energetic guys who take initiative. Given that the bulk of the rescue team got away, the prep by the Iranians was insufficient, likely improvised. If so, the agriculture strip simply happens to be there, rather than a constructed "prize" to be taken. The rescue team might have carried out additional recc missions around that airstrip.
Yes, this failure is probably a blessing in disguise and might have knocked out a dumb idea. There are other dumb ideas waiting to be smashed.
Reading the information that Larry and Simplicius provide, plus listening to Larry and Scott talk about the events in Iran this weekend, a total of 6 aircraft were lost in conjunction with the downed F15 on Friday.
Two USAF HC-130J Combat King II planes that carried in four Night Stalker AH-6 Little Bird helicopters were demolished. Each plane has a crew of 8, and two crews of 2 for the helicopters were in each plane--so there is a given 12 soldiers per plane. Now, these planes can haul personnel in addition to crew members, but we do not know how many were aboard each plane. 24 crew plus ? soldiers total had to be evacuated later, plus the rescued F-15 WSO. *Note: I found crew numbers through a bit of research. If I am in error about the crew numbers, I apologize.
I found out that each Combat King plane cost approximately $150 million. Each Little Bird helicopter cost approximately $7.5 million.
But the main thing is: were soldiers killed and/or wounded before the rescue aircraft arrived?
The F-15 WSO on a mountain close to the landing strip has me puzzled, but I think the planes and their cargo came in on a Special Ops mission. The Iranian military set upon the planes, and all aircraft were lost. But what happened to the US soldiers?
WSO sits at the front of the F-15E. When you want to fly a recc mission with a senior officer over the target area, you let him sit at the front. The "agriculture strip" might have been newly constructed anyway to lure the US special forces. In my imagination, we have a daring leader who insisted on recc himself. I would guess he is really a special forces colonel, rather than a vice wing commander. AH-6 inside C-130 could have been arranged fast enough with able staff officers, and the SF are always a bunch of highly energetic guys who take initiative. Given that the bulk of the rescue team got away, the prep by the Iranians was insufficient, likely improvised. If so, the agriculture strip simply happens to be there, rather than a constructed "prize" to be taken. The rescue team might have carried out additional recc missions around that airstrip.
Yes, this failure is probably a blessing in disguise and might have knocked out a dumb idea. There are other dumb ideas waiting to be smashed.
The idea that the rescue team got away is based on which trustworthy source? I would argue too soon to tell.
Quite true.
😀 😃
Reading the information that Larry and Simplicius provide, plus listening to Larry and Scott talk about the events in Iran this weekend, a total of 6 aircraft were lost in conjunction with the downed F15 on Friday.
Two USAF HC-130J Combat King II planes that carried in four Night Stalker AH-6 Little Bird helicopters were demolished. Each plane has a crew of 8, and two crews of 2 for the helicopters were in each plane--so there is a given 12 soldiers per plane. Now, these planes can haul personnel in addition to crew members, but we do not know how many were aboard each plane. 24 crew plus ? soldiers total had to be evacuated later, plus the rescued F-15 WSO. *Note: I found crew numbers through a bit of research. If I am in error about the crew numbers, I apologize.
I found out that each Combat King plane cost approximately $150 million. Each Little Bird helicopter cost approximately $7.5 million.
But the main thing is: were soldiers killed and/or wounded before the rescue aircraft arrived?
The F-15 WSO on a mountain close to the landing strip has me puzzled, but I think the planes and their cargo came in on a Special Ops mission. The Iranian military set upon the planes, and all aircraft were lost. But what happened to the US soldiers?
Here are photos and info about the planes:
https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104468/hc-130j-combat-king-ii/
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