Message posted by Magoo on March 27, 2001 at 15:09:21 PST:
Whilst on the subject of F-117s, the episode of 'West Wing' where the F-117 was shot down over Iraq aired here last night. I love the show, but for those of you who may have seen it (Gary no doubt!), I just thought I'd clear up a few mistakes from that episode! * They said it was shot down whilst patrolling the no-fly zone. I doubt very much whether you'd use such a high value asset such as the F-117 to 'patrol' anything, and besides, being a no-fly zone, the idea is to prevent Iraqi aircraft from operating in this area, or from using their anti-aircraft defences. The F-117 is neither a 'fighter' nor a SEAD platform! They would be using F-15C/Es, F-16CJ/Gs, F/A-18C/Ds or Tornados for this task. * To the best of my knowledge, there are no F-117s deployed in south-west Asia (or anywhere overseas) at present, nor would there be unless the proverbial really did hit the fan! Again, for the latest 'downtown' raids, the (ever dwindling) coalition has been using TLAMs, Tornados, F-16CJ/Gs, F/A-18C/Ds and F-15Es. * The pilot extraction mission was flown using "four CH-53Js, carrying 80 soldiers". I'm happy to stand corrected on this by Spooky or Andre who have no doubt had more exposure to special forces than I, but this sounds a little excessive! It would have been more like two MH-60s, and perhaps a KC-130 tanker and two or four supporting SEAD F-16CJ/Gs. Four CH-53s would attract alot of attention!!! Sorry to sound picky, but I love the show! Magoo
In Reply to: F-117 crash details posted by Magoo on March 27, 2001 at 14:51:19 PST:
Replies: