00:00It's the early morning of February 28, 1994, and six volunteer pilots are on a bombing
00:07mission in violation of a NATO no-fly zone.
00:11The leader of the flight is pilot Ranko Vukmirovic from the Bosnian Serb Air Force.
00:17He and his men are in Jastreb J-21 jets, which are no match for the NATO F-16s in speed,
00:25maneuverability or weapons.
00:27The Astreb pilots are trying to keep below radar height, but now, with the target getting
00:32close, they are forced to ascend to 2,000 meters to start the attack run on a weapons factory.
00:38In doing so, the aging Serbian jets light up the watching NATO radars.
00:45Fifty miles away, two patrolling F-16s are informed of the J-21's presence.
00:51Black flight, you have six bogeys.
00:53We are AA-320 for 52 at 7,000, flanking, copy that.
00:57The F-16s bank towards the target.
01:00In an attempt to shorten the war, NATO has set up a no-fly zone and the F-16s have been
01:05sent on a route to intercept.
01:08Vukmirovic gets a visual on his target and arms his bombs.
01:12The flight positions themselves in pairs, one after the other, when suddenly a transmission
01:18comes through the radio.
01:20A pit grows in Vukmirovic's stomach.
01:25He can clearly see the trails of the two American Air Force jets dead ahead of them.
01:30He takes a deep breath.
01:32In previous missions, the American jets have only watched and warned the enemy, but not
01:38engaged.
01:39Vukmirovic knows if the F-16s had wanted to shoot him, they could have done so from miles
01:44away.
01:45But his eyes go wide as he sees the two F-16s approach at breakneck speed and roar through
01:52and past the Bosnian-Serb rifle.
01:54A-ha!
01:55A-ha!
01:56A-ha!
01:57A-ha!
01:58A-ha!
01:59A-ha!
02:00A-ha!
02:01A-ha!
02:02Despite the show of force, the Serbian pilots are not distracted and keep their eyes on their
02:07objective.
02:08The Jastrebs are old tech and still use optical sights.
02:12And as the target drifts into the crosshairs, the aging planes release and drop their rudimentary
02:19but effective 550-pound bombs on target, striking them from different directions.
02:27They dropped bombs.
02:28Understood.
02:29You're clear to engage.
02:31Weapons free.
02:32Roger.
02:33Moving to engage.
02:34This is going to be shooting fish in a barrel.
02:37At the very rear of the formation, pilot Zlatan Sirnolic watches the last of the bombs
02:42strike.
02:46The six J-21s turn back towards their airbase, but their speed is no match for the F-16s,
02:53who sweep in behind them, lining up their sights on the very rear of the formation.
02:58The pilot switches to air-to-air mode and selects an AIM-120 missile on his right display
03:04computer.
03:05On his head-up display, a box designates the target.
03:08The F-16 pilot gets a lock and presses the weapon's release button.
03:13The missile flies off from the wingtip.
03:17The AIM-120 AMRAAM radar-guided missile fires and locks onto the running J-21's radar signature,
03:24rapidly approaching its target.
03:26Sirnolic is scanning the skies for the Americans when he sees an enormous flash.
03:33He wonders if he's been hit, but then he sees the explosion on his wingman's left wing,
03:40immediately shredding half of it off.
03:43The five remaining J-21s turn over and dive for the ground.
03:56One of the F-16s gives chase, following them all the way down into the valleys between the Bosnian hills.
04:02Each pair of J-21s goes its own way, leaving Sirnolic completely on his own.
04:09He frantically looks over his shoulder as he flies through the terrain,
04:12catching the terrifying sight of an American fighter hot on his heels.
04:17The F-16 fires an AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missile.
04:32It locks onto Sirnolic's hot engines and chases him down across the sky.
04:38Sirnolic, flying low, skims over some electrical transmission wires.
04:45The missile explodes near the wires and his tail, cutting part of his vertical stabilizer.
04:51But he's still flying.
04:54He reports the situation but finds his radio completely dead.
05:00Alone and vulnerable, Sirnolic looks over his shoulder,
05:05expecting a second impact at any moment.
05:09But instead, he sees the F-16 turning away.
05:14Back with Mikerević, he and his wingman push their aircraft to their limits, racing through the valleys.
05:24But the F-16 relentlessly closes the distance.
05:31He releases another AMRAM missile which rockets towards his target.
05:36Mikerević is still looking across the sky to catch a glimpse of an enemy fighter.
05:41When the missile flies in and disintegrates his wingman, the Yastarev explodes into flame and scrap.
05:48He breaks into evasive maneuvers once again as the F-16 fires another missile.
05:57It slams straight into his engines.
06:00The explosion shreds the fuselage and flames pour out of the holes.
06:05He wrestles a dying aircraft, pulling hard on the stick and willing it to ascend as it burns all around him.
06:12As flames engulf the cockpit, Mikerević pulls the canopy emergency handle and ejects.
06:24The F-16 roars past as Mikerević parachutes safely down.
06:29The F-16s continue towards the next pair of targets.
06:34They swap positions with the covering F-16 diving into action, armed with a fresh set of missiles.
06:40But their fuel is running low and in a few minutes they'll be forced to turn back.
06:45Approaching bingo fuel. Two bandits trying to escape. I may be able to get one shot. Roger that.
06:52South of the F-16 pair, Vukmierević and his wingman, Goran Zaric, have been forced to hear their friends taken down one by one in rapid succession.
07:01Any hope they have is crushed by the sight of an F-16 appearing over the hills behind them.
07:07He's enough.
07:09The pair break formation as the American jet sweeps in.
07:14With just enough fuel left to make it back, the F-16 gets a lot.
07:19Fox two.
07:21Vukmierević sees the missile launch off the rail and turn toward him.
07:28He turns hard trying to outmanoeuvre it.
07:31But it's no use.
07:33It rapidly approaches from his right and explodes just off his wing.
07:39He's stunned.
07:40But the fragmentation does no significant damage.
07:43He looks back, expecting more.
07:46But instead, the F-16 pulls off the chase, out of fuel.
07:54But NATO command has dispatched two more F-16s.
08:03Vukmierević looks back up.
08:06The two J-21s scramble for speed, diving down as far as they dare into the valleys.
08:12They skim the treetops racing between the hills, with the F-16s all the while shadowing them and keeping up.
08:19They look over their shoulders to see the F-16s closing the gap.
08:23There's nothing they can do to come out on top.
08:25In desperation, Vukmierević tries a last-ditch idea.
08:30He turns straight towards a cliff at maximum speed.
08:35Zaric keeping close formation behind him.
08:38His heart races as the two jets head straight towards the earth.
08:44The two pilots pull their controls as hard as they can.
08:50Zaric is crushed down by the G-forces as the ground rapidly approaches his windshield.
09:05Vukmierević's jet clips the ground and bursts into flames.
09:15Zaric looks back.
09:17There's no parachute.
09:25The F-16s burst through the smoke, still in pursuit.
09:29He pulls back into a dive, rushing to use the terrain as cover.
09:34But they're far too close.
09:36The missile closes the gap and explodes into Zaric's tail.
09:43His fighter bursts into flames and he loses all control.
09:51He releases the canopy and ejects but he's far too low.
09:55The parachute has no time to open and he falls into the fireball of his own crashed jet.
10:00Splash one. There's another bandit on the radar. Engaging.
10:11The F-16s leave the scene and catch up to another J-21 flying low over the countryside.
10:16It's Cernolic limping his damaged jet home to safety.
10:21He's keeping an eye on his gauges when an F-16 roar has passed.
10:26He's filled with dread and immediately pulls on the stick.
10:29His only plan is to gain enough altitude to eject before the American can finish him off.
10:36The F-16 gets behind him and he grabs the canopy emergency handle.
10:41But then the F-16 pulls up alongside, matching his speed.
10:46He locks eyes with the enemy pilot.
10:50The American salutes him and flies away.
10:55Out of the six Jastreb pilots that volunteered for that dangerous mission, three never returned home.
11:04Cernolic would later say, I don't have any bad feelings towards the American pilots.
11:09This event is usually referred to as the Banyan-Luka incident and represents the first NATO combat engagement in its history.
11:22Robert Wilbur Wright was credited with three victories.
11:25The highest score by a USAF pilot in a single mission since the Korean War.
11:30While pilot Steven Yogi Allen was credited with one victory.
11:34God help them if we use our F-117s.
11:37Ha ha! Niko nam nije rekao da je ne vidji.
11:41Pogledaj ovaj film i vidi kako je oboren F-117s.
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