Two Nighthawk Pilots Honored For Precision Bomb Runs In Spite
Of Hardships
Two F-117A Nighthawk pilots from the 379th Air
Expeditionary Wing at a forward-deployed desert air base in the
Middle East were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross recently
for extraordinary achievement while flying in support of Operation
Iraqi Freedom.
On the opening day of the air campaign Lt. Col. David Toomey and
Maj. Mark Hoehn flew the very first strike mission which targeted a
senior Iraqi leadership compound in Baghdad where intelligence
sources believed Saddam Hussein and other top regime leaders were
staying. President George W. Bush approved the target.
The president told the nation in a televised statement that on
his orders coalition forces had begun "striking selected targets of
military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage
war."
The next day Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld told a full
pressroom at the Pentagon that the mission was the first strike of
the war to liberate Iraq and that the US Central Command exercised
flexibility in the strike by taking into account the "realities
that you find in the world."
Fast Launch, Precision Strike
The pilots launched on the strike less than two hours after
being notified of the mission, with minimal planning material
available. They met up with aerial refueling and electronic warfare
aircraft on their way to Baghdad and coordinated the many details
of the mission elements they needed in the air to support the
attack formation.
Maj. Hoehn faced another challenge when his aircraft developed a
malfunction during the flight and had degraded communications
ability. He was able to handle the aircraft through superior
airmanship and was still able to achieve complete surprise in the
heavily defended target area.
Lt. Col. Toomey also had to overcome a weapons system
malfunction as daylight approached in the target area and the two
aircraft entered into the heart of an Iraqi Integrated Air Defense
System with more than fifty strategic surface-to-air missile
systems and more than two hundred anti-aircraft artillery sites
defending it.
Despite the malfunctions, both pilots penetrated the defenses
and placed enhanced precision munitions exactly on target within
one second of the planned time over target.
"In The Finest Traditions Of Our Air Force"
Their performance in carrying out the mission was "in the finest
traditions of our Air Force," said Lt. Gen. T. Michael "Buzz"
Moseley, Combined Forces Air Component Commander, on presenting the
medals. They "made us all very proud," he added.
"The days of the Saddam Hussein regime are numbered," said
Rumsfeld. This mission opened the air war by striking at the very
heart of the Iraqi regime and began a continuous stream of what now
numbers more than 42,000 sorties. Those sorties are aimed at
supporting the operation's key goals of ending the regime of Saddam
Hussein, eliminating Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and
liberating the Iraqi people.