The Real Story of Slate 46: The F-14 Tomcat Shot Down in Desert Storm 

Great telling if this story. I learned new things 30 years later! Two very minor corrections: the Moccasins did not launch together on the first sortie, only because we still thought there was an A-6 down also, otherwise we would have always operated as a 2-ship. Also, the gunner you mention was actually MSgt Tim Hadrych. Ben Pennington is the PJ who is in the photo you showed.

Minor correction: Ben Pennington was a pararescue specialist, PJ, and was on the aft ramp with myself, the tailgaters. The left side gunner who made the call was Msgt Tim Hadrych. Tim also took that picture by blindly pointing his camera over the right gunners shoulder. That was an awesome day for sure.

I remember when Boots came back to the ship and I caught him right before he entered the ready room. I welcomed him back to the ship and I noticed the whites of his eyes were red. The blood vessels in his eyes burst with the yaw rate of the flat spin. I am truly grateful to everybody involved in getting my squadron mates back to us.

I work overnights in a convenience store, and being near Oceana and Norfolk Naval Base we got a lot of Navy folks on their way to work. One day my coworker asked me what a particular officer's ribbons were, and I said it isn't like I have them memorized - I would have to look them up. "But the purple one is the Purple Heart, and the star means he got it twice." So the next day my coworker says to the guy, "So, how does one go about getting two purple hearts?" "You get one if you eject over enemy territory, and another if you are actually injured in the ejection." And that's how we met Captain Slader (Rat), who was at the time he retired the last former POW on active duty. Or as he described it, a "former guest of the Government of Saddam Hussein."

A-10 pilot Captain Randy Goff grew up just 10 house down from me in Jackson, Ohio. I delivered papers to his mother when he was in Saudi Arabia. I remember delivering the paper with Randy’s story of this rescue to his mother who was very proud. I still have a copy of that paper. Thanks for covering this story and mentioning the people who were involved.

any guy that takes on an A10 thunderbolt with a datsun deserves a medal of honor or something

OIF in 2003, a F-15E was shot down over Tikrit by a SA-6. His wingman stuck around looking for survivors and ran critically low on fuel. CFACC at the time, Gen Moseley, directed a KC-135R out of Bahrain to go drag the remaining F-15E out of the area. Three days later, Gen Moseley shows up at Shaikh Isa in Bahrain and pins DFC's to the KC-135 crew. NKAWTG!

Adequate proof of the well understood axiom that the SAR mission is always ten times harder than the original mission.

Sounds like that could have gone BAT 21 in a hurry if not for the A-10s and the skill of the CH-53 crew hiding in a wadi. That's awesome.

This is probably the most accurate account of this event we'll ever have. Sometimes, the historical value of this channel is invaluable. BZ, Sir!

It’s so interesting to hear the play-by-play on these uncommon but critical events, thank you. And the digital simulation of that truck exploding was nicely done!

Sandy has been the call sign of SAR escort since at least the 1960s. As for the A-10s being airborne 9 hours I can guarantee (from experience) they had a major flat spot on their ass for the next day. Because of the complexity of the mission I'm also pretty certain all of the helo/F14/A10 crewmembers landed with no adrenalin left in their system.

Great story. Paul Johnson was a new pilot in my squadron when I got out of the Air Force. 20 plus years later we had an A10 reunion at Davis-Monthan AFB. BGen Paul Johnson got up to speak to us and told us he was very confident in his public speaking but when he looked into the crowd and saw the old Captains and Majors he flew with as 2Lt Paul Johnson, Snack bar officer, he was a little nervous. A great guy.

Incredible story. As it turns out I was deployed to Haditha Iraq in 2007 with 1st Battalion 3rd Marines and have been to Al Assad many times. I never knew I was in the general area where a Tomcat was shot down. I’m glad both aviators are alive and well.

Thanks for doing this one Ward! As I briefly mentioned in your preview post of this story, I was a young E5 Medic with the 1st INF DIV during Desert Shield/Storm and the day this happened we heard all of the open freq as well as the encrypted tac freq of comms. I had no idea at the time who was who, we just knew that 2 pilots were down and that SAR was out looking for them. I went back and looked at my journal for that day and it says..."Long day...no orders...no contact...lots of radio calls on open frequency for downed pilots of two planes"...I guess I was wrong about the two planes. Anyway just thought I would add my tiny insignificant participation in this story.

As a former Pavelow aircrew member well done. The picture was taken from the right door (FE position w/50 cal) and not the cockpit. Always enjoy listening to your channel. Keep it up.

Well, that was a story. Us Civvies rarely get to hear the intricate details of operations like this, told so well. Mooch, you always do a great job!

I was on the roof when Boots came back. I'll never forget. Unfortunately, Spike never returned. LCDR (now CAPT) Michael Scott Speicher (July 12, 1957 - January 17, 1991) I proudly salute them all. Thank you very much once again, Mooch.

Remember those guys. Also saw Zule (Jeff Zaun) in that last picture. Jeff and I were on the same strike planning team. Saratoga took its lumps. The worst was the ferry accident in Haifa.

The complexities of navigating a battle space or the globe without GPS are immense. Its amazing that people have been doing it for centuries with any degree of success. From the air the battle space may not look that huge but when you're on the ground the desert out there is massive. It can be very difficult to differentiate the good guys from bad guys when your positioning isn't very accurate.

Again, 18 min of outstanding, detail-saturated history! This all happened while I was out of the mil for 16 years -- didn't re-enlist until after 9/11 -- ending in aircrew life support maintaining the egress/E&E gear for HC-130s & HH-60Gs. PRC-90s were being phased out for the -112s/GPS/encrypted radios (in the aircrew vests). 2012-ish, the new 406MHz GPS ELT beacons (attached to seats & inside the bailout chutes), were prematurely fielded with lots of critical failure points -- however, the faster, precise satellite acquiring GPS signals far exceeded the older line-of-sight beacons. ISOPREP very much in-play, as well. Many hours of disciplined mx and good mil techs behind each piece of your gear... and those systemic goddamn PRC failures were not on us, lads -- we (AF) had to send all of ours to the mfgr for almost every failure. Your happy hour discussion of returning to cel nav would have made my (recon & tac air nav) dad smile. You carry and tell high-speed, no bullshit stories -- all legit and real world, especially with how fast plans & SOP evaporate when the gear comes up. Great descriptions of the different players committing to cut-the-crap decisions and working the problems from their own seats! Thank you, Ward, and all of the old heads chiming-in with facts & stories!

The way Ward tells stories is so captivating!!! Love his channel!

I was in VF 74 at the time. The Squadron had gone out and bought handheld GPS. We put the dome antenna on top of the top of RIOs sunscreen. It was so much better then INS.

what a crazy story. It goes to show how absolutely essential AWACS are. And the A-10s in that story were badass too. You could totally make a movie out of this story.

What a great episode, Ward! You have a gift for story telling that draws us in while also shedding light on the facts of the incident. This took me right back to the early chapters of Punk's Fight and juxtaposed the scenario depicted in the novel with actual events on the ground. Outstanding and thank you for a great way to start out my weekend! The best part is the fact that both aviators survived their ordeal and were able to continue their service. It was especially neat that you subsequently served with each one at a later date. Thanks again for the most interesting recounting of this operation.

I flew with Boots at NSAWC in Fallon in the back seat of an F/A-18B. I was teaching electronic reconnaissance as an EP-3E NFO ('98-'01). Boots taught me to fly from the back seat for the first time, and I had a blast! Every Hornet flight after that, I jumped at the chance for some back seat stick time. Thanks Boots! - Polter

I got to Saudi Arabia as a Flight Engineer on MH-53's shortly after this mission. Thank you for telling the story.

These stories are so awesome. I wish when I was a kid in the 70’s that we had the tech that we do now because my grandpa and many of the men of the small town of Parkton NC had left to fight in WW2 together and some of their stories were absolutely remarkable. One of my grandpas best friends retired as a Brigadier General and was later the commander of the eastern NC Guard units. The man had some stories. They all did, and unfortunately, they are all gone like a breeze on a cool morning. God Bless all who have served our great country. Thank you again for the stories Ward. Maybe you could try and get some of these great older Americans that are left to share some of these stories they have before they are lost as well. Much love and thank you again for all you do and have done. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🤙🏻🤙🏻

This might be my favorite episode so far.

Great story. Always interesting hearing what goes on behind the scenes compared to the "Official release stories". Capt Johnson retired as Major General from the U.S. Air Force. He was awarded the Air Force Cross for this mission. As per the museum website: The A-10A on display was flown on Jan. 21, 1991, by Capt. Paul Johnson on an eight-hour rescue support mission during Operation Desert Storm, for which he was awarded the Air Force Cross, the USAF's second highest award for valor. The aircraft was delivered to the museum in January 1992.

I could listen to Ward tell stories all day long.

I remember reading this story as a kid in Reader's Digest, your wonderful retelling brings me right back to that! I still recall the callsigns and the "Smoke the trucks!" moment.

Hey ! I had one of those Datsun Kingcabs. It overheated but not like that one. lol

Mooch, your description of the faulty location coordinates is a perfect illustration of von Clausewitz’s “Friction of War”, a concept unfamiliar to most folks. Well done!

This took some work to put together. Thank you for investing your time.

I remember the movie "Heroes of Desert Storm" from ages ago where their shoot down was part of the movie. They portrayed it as at night and more towards the opening hours of the air war. But this is great to hear the actual story. Thank you for sharing this.

That's a classic CSAR story, Ward! Thanks for putting this together for us to learn about some of these incredible missions, brave guys, and I do feel for Rat getting nabbed before help could get to him. I remember a friend at University just after Desert Storm describing being in Israel on holiday. They were issued gas masks, and plans were afoot to extract westerners out due to frequent threats of SCUD launches.

Ward, You did it again! You took me right there! I felt like I was in one of the rescue aircraft during this operation. Well done in the finest traditions of storytelling.

First-rate graphics at 15:24! I felt I was actually there. Seriously though, another great video Ward! Thank you for everything you do and everything you’ve done. Take care.

Shout out to the Jolly Greens!

I worked at NADEP Pensacola on the MH-53J PAVELOWS. We were told about this after things had settled down and it was a GREAT feeling know that we were able to give a hand in this rescue. This was the 1st rescue of a down aircrew since Vietnam. PAVELOW Leads...

Hi ward - as a guy that has serious PTSD , after almost 20 years as a firefighter paramedic in an urban environment and very very busy urban dept… and loves history ….. I appreciate your channel and level and steady delivery of small things of history to be remembered - I’m retired and RU-vid and channels like yours keeps me busy and entertained as a stay at home dad doing chores and learning g civilian life and schedules - thank you for your service The transition is hard but worth it - I have a healthy daughter and wonderful step mother that I reconnected with after not talking for 20 years - my high school sweetheart Maybe collaborate on PTSD for a video ? I open and honest - I’m disappointed in the lack of coverage and help - I’m fortunate to have a partner that cares for my mental health and keeps me in check Sending you love, wellness and always keep the blue side up I miss skydiving - something you guys never want to do if you are flying - always was a good release - My hand is jacked up - and I’m 100 percent disabled - so I can’t do it safely - hell - I’d rather eject for fun now just to fix my risers and have a smooth canopy ride down from 12000

Wonderful story sir. Here's to no one ever having to go through that sort of thing again.

Correction: Sgt Pennington was Pararescue (PJ), NOT a gunner.

Never heard about them. Thanks so much Ward for telling us their story.

Well presented dit, thanks for the detail

As usual great episode 👍👍👍

Very interesting! Thanks!

Thanks Ward!! Awesome! And thank you to all the hero’s involved.

Thanks for that story! It is so interesting to get the in-depth story.

Great stuff! So detailed! Thanks Ward!

I love hearing the stories........Great Job Ward!

These stories are just amazing. Please keep them coming.

WEll done as usual...always a pleasure to see your stuff on video!

Always a great story teller. Keep the Tomcat tales coming!

Great detail on the whole event. Very interesting. Glad they both eventually made it home.

Ward - Thanks for the research you did to compile this story. A compelling tale

I could listen to those stories all day long. Well done.

great story to end my Saturday night!

Love these chats, really get a taste of air operations. Thanks Ward (Y)

Awesome story.. thanks for sharing

Thank you very much. We need more stories Mooch. These are great.

Love this stuff, glad to hear it now.

An outstanding recount of that incredible time period in our lives. I was at King Fahd during the entire Desert Shield build up. The 20th SOS, the Pave Low guys, were certainly the right choice for this mission. The INS did have a ring laser gyro that made it pretty accurate but you had to update it regularly in order to keep that small CEP. A good friend of mine was in the 20th and put this on his Facebook. Thanks, LTC. Bill Berner! It is always bitter sweet to hear these great stories because our squadron lost 14 great guys during Desert Storm. Thanks again, Ward Carroll, great job as usual.

You are a great story teller. Really enjoyed this video.

I could listen to stories like this all day, especially with Ward's excellent narration and the use of such cutting edge digital simulation 😄

Great story Mooch. I always enjoy stories like this shipmate

Great story....and great story telling skill. You have a gift Ward. Love the presentation of facts in a professional manner.

Wow! Awesome story! Thank you. Love the channel!

Ward, another epic story. I really look forward to your videos.

Thanks for telling these stories Ward!! You are really good at it and the internet needs more of this kind of content!!

Excellent description-you do have a gift for story telling! I could feel the rising tension as the story unfolded.

Good viddy, Boss. Thank you! 🤙🏼

Love this story, Ward. I appreciate your no nonsense, straight forward approach to all of your stories/videos. Your YT channel is so unique.

Amazing video. Thanks for getting the story out in such an informative, no bullshit way.

Loved the story telling. Fantastic detail and have insight into ops! Keep on!

Excellent story, I was on the edge of my seat, more please!!

Thank you as always, for these details, and for recounting the brave efforts of all involved.

You got a real Talent for this Mr. Carroll love this channel 🍻

Another great episode. Thanks Ward and keep up the good work.

Sweet vid Mooch! Keep it up buddy.

Great job as always!!

Wow ! Thanks Ward !

Thanks for fleshing out the narrative. I saw the intel on this during Desert Storm and read an article on it later but you did a much better job of putting all together.

Awesome story/account...keep it coming👍

This was fascinating and thrilling all at once! Great story and thank you for your service.

Outstanding commentary with integration of graphics.

Ward this hit really close as I was a PC with VF-103 when this happened. I wasn't the one for that flight but I remember hearing the news that they got shot down and both were alive. Thank you for sharing this.

Great story Ward.

Great account, had me on the edge for the full video Tks Ward & Merry Christmas!!

Outstanding report!! Thanks for another well done video

Awesome. Love the way you tell the stories. Makes me feel like I’m back in the military,

Another great story I look forward to the next, I'm halfway through Punks War and it's great, keep doing what you do.⚓💪🇺🇸🍺😎

So I'm watching/listening for the 3rd time. Such great story telling. The first hand technical knowledge and lingo makes it amazing to listen to. Thank you Commander Carroll!

Another great one Ward, so much detail in a short time 👍

Very interesting and informative. The way you told it made it so real and exciting. Loved how the back seater used his radio while in the chute. Awesome job to all the crews trying to save them.

Thanks for another great story Mooch, some have forgot the losses we incurred then... and the crews who hung it out to get our warriors back. The comms & nav issues you contended with back then make this event all the more remarkable... well done Sir!

Excellent story....I hope you make more like this.

Thank you for the great stories and insights. From an e3 aircraft handler on an amphibious assault ship in the '80s.

Great episode Ward…great channel as well…gives this old ATC Marine some memories of back in the day…very cool! Thanks!