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00:003rd of October 1993 afternoon a group of Blackhawk helicopters fly a team of army
00:26rangers into a busy market area in downtown Mogadishu their mission to capture two lieutenants
00:33of the Somali warlord Mohammed Aidid but the mission suddenly goes wrong very wrong we've
00:39got five aircraft down and these are flown by our best pilots we are struggling as a
00:47crew to get that aircraft on its wheels how did I do that I have no idea I caught a glimpse
00:54them just as they were crashing a huge dust ball it looked from a distance that nobody
00:59could survive that type of accident 18 American soldiers are killed 76 are wounded hundreds of
01:06Somalis are dead the events of that day have since become legend you find out that some of
01:12your best friends in fact didn't make it out it was it was pretty devastating using rare archive film
01:19and reenactments battle stations flies with one of the most sophisticated helicopters in the US Army
01:25Vietnam the combat helicopter comes of age it was here that the world-famous American Huey changed the
01:45form of modern warfare thousands of Hueys provided a platform from which massive firepower could be unleashed
01:53Vietnam was the first air mobile at that time the Huey was a remarkable helicopter and the army seized upon it
02:07in Vietnam to provide that air mobility role but the Huey was designed basically as an aeromedical evacuation
02:16machine and it just didn't have all the capabilities that the army found was necessary in Vietnam by 1972 plans for future
02:27conflicts turned away from the jungles of Southeast Asia and look towards Cold War strategies for the plains of Europe
02:33so in January the US Army issued a tender for a new multi-role front-line helicopter
02:40with a crew of four the next generation of helicopters had to be capable of lifting 11 men or equivalent weight of cargo up to
02:494,000 feet with a cruising speed of 200 miles per hour
02:53a long time ago a great man had the idea for something like a helicopter his name was Leonardo da Vinci
03:06Igor Sikorsky had devoted his genius since the first world war to the development of the helicopter in 1939 he
03:16designed the world's first working helicopter and had since produced over 5,000 for military use
03:23but in the 1960s Sikorsky was devastated when his company lost the vital Huey contract to the Bell company
03:31business was getting less and less after the Korean War conflict subsided our deliveries began to shrink dramatically
03:39to the point when in 1977 we did not deliver a single helicopter to the US government
03:46we could not miss out on army business because the army represented the greatest biggest users for helicopters
03:55in August 1972 the Boeing Vertol and Sikorsky companies were selected to produce prototypes for the new army helicopter
04:04it was a matter of life and death for Sikorsky from a business point of view we simply had to be one of the winners
04:11so what the company did is set up two design teams I was fortunate to head one and another wonderful designer headed the other
04:21and then the same day we presented top management with what our concepts would be for the Black Hawk helicopter
04:28the first prototype was flown in October 1974 six weeks ahead of schedule
04:35the army had specified crash worthiness as a key requirement and with this the helicopter was able to carry heavier loads than anticipated
04:45by June 1976 testing was complete with flights logged hot and high from desert to Arctic conditions
04:57but late at night on August the 9th 1976 disaster struck Ray Leone received a call about a crash at Fort Campbell it was a call he would never forget
05:16I remember being awoken about one o'clock in the morning saying that one of our prototypes had crashed
05:22and of course to me it was like receiving a call from a local hospital about your son or daughter involved in an automobile crash
05:29they wouldn't tell you any details just you better get here quickly
05:32we got there for August 10th in the morning
05:35and we got out to the woods where the aircraft was
05:39you couldn't really even see the helicopter until you were practically upon it
05:42that's how dense the woods were
05:44and we learned what had happened was that there was a full crew 14 army young people in our prototype flying at night
05:54the skin of the rotor blade had come loose and caused violent vibration
05:59the pilot had no choice but to crash land immediately
06:03but he did a remarkable piloting job he came straight down chopping trees all the way down
06:07he cut down about 40 trees with the rotor blades big trees
06:11and landed kind of hard but he landed okay
06:15turned out the only injury was when one of the occupants
06:19the squad leader jumped out of the helicopter
06:22he ran smack in with the stump of a tree that the rotor had cut down
06:26and he got a little bruise
06:28well the very next day on August 11th
06:36the army team came in and put on four new main rotor blades
06:40put on a new tear rotor
06:42cranked up the engines and my god it took off like the phoenix
06:46and you couldn't imagine the relief that we had
06:49knowing there were minimal injuries to the army crew
06:52and the aircraft was still flyable
06:55the near disaster was a stroke of luck for the Sikorsky design team
07:00Sikorsky was now able to offer conclusive proof of the new helicopter's ability to survive a crash
07:08finally in December 1976
07:11Sikorsky was declared the winner and awarded the much needed helicopter contract
07:17the American military now had the world's most advanced twin turbine battlefield helicopter
07:23the unique flexible design packed with electronic warfare systems
07:28was intended for air assault work, air cavalry and medevac missions
07:35it will go down in history as the Black Hawk
07:38and become renowned for its role in special operations
07:42as the Night Stalker
07:441978
07:46the Black Hawk frontline helicopter flies in service for the first time
07:50but this cutting-edge technology is still untested in the field of battle
07:57the high-speed Black Hawk has an exhilarating low-level flying capability
08:02the first time you get into an aircraft like that
08:05it's a feeling of I've just grabbed hold of a rocket ship
08:08I mean really because it's such a difference in the complex cockpit
08:13and the capabilities of the aircraft
08:16it's far beyond anything you've experienced before
08:19it's fun to fly
08:20it'll do anything
08:22it'll give you every bit of the performance that it's supposed to
08:25and just a little bit more
08:26it's big
08:27it's roomy
08:28it's versatile
08:29it's got a great sound
08:30the power from the rotor system
08:33the massiveness of the airframe
08:36and just power and strength
08:38it was much more powerful than it
08:45the sophisticated Black Hawk was packed with the latest avionics weapon systems
08:50in addition
08:51the helicopter was fitted with two machine guns operated by the crew chiefs
08:55its outstanding versatility required new skills of flying and crew coordination
09:03there are two sets of controls and for all intents and purposes they're exact duplicates of each other
09:10there is no pilot in command station
09:13you could be pilot in command from either the left seat or the right seat it really doesn't matter
09:17when it comes to aircraft control
09:19it is whoever is on the controls
09:22crew coordination is probably one of the most important aspects
09:25that we in the regiment and as pilots need to develop and maintain
09:31you have to have a lot of trust and confidence and respect for each position
09:37no one position on the aircraft is more important than the other
09:40when I say left or come right or come up fifty feet or come down five feet
09:45they really have to do that
09:47there will never be a landing where the crew chiefs not out the window looking down
09:52saying twenty feet fifteen feet ten feet two feet tails on the ground
09:58they cleared out that's what you would hear during a typical approach
10:05by nineteen eighty-one the army had found a perfect match for the advanced capabilities of the black hawk
10:15the special forces
10:17the hundred and sixtieth special operations aviation regiment became the night stalkers
10:23capable of striking undetected by undertaking covert missions anywhere in the world
10:30specialist crews were trained in night vision navigation and advanced flying techniques
10:35using night vision goggles and forward-looking infrared
10:40we're basically the pioneer behind the night vision systems back in the late seventies and early eighties
10:50very very stressful
10:52it's tenfold trying to navigate
10:55land shoot
10:57all those things compounded at night
10:59you've got shades of green
11:01and those shades of green are telling you
11:04different things about the terrain
11:06the ground
11:07the water
11:08your speed
11:10your height
11:11closure rates
11:13angles
11:14and you have to fly
11:16quite a few hours to be able to read
11:19your screens
11:20or your NVGs
11:21night vision goggles
11:22and get actual feel for
11:25how they work
11:26and what you are looking at
11:27and how that actually relates to what it is in the ground in the daytime
11:31you're using a combination of what you can see through the night vision goggles
11:37and then underneath the night vision goggles to whatever is around you in the cockpit
11:40because you need both pieces of the puzzle if you will
11:44being able to control the aircraft
11:45one of the most dangerous things that a crew chief could do
11:48especially in special operations is the night flying confined space
11:52trying to get into a space that can barely fit a helicopter
11:55it's difficult
11:57but once you develop those skills
12:00it's the only way to fly at night
12:02you have to have them
12:04blackhawks and night vision goggles
12:06hit the army pretty much at the same time
12:09and there's no way that we could
12:12do the missions that we do now
12:14and since then without night vision goggles
12:16in 1983
12:19the Black Hawks faced their baptism of fire
12:22in October
12:25the US invaded the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada
12:28believing that Soviet and Cuban advisers
12:30were intent on building a military base
12:33Operation Urgent Fury had begun
12:36America had vivid memories of being on the brink of nuclear war
12:41in the Cuban Missile Crisis some 20 years earlier
12:45I had just gotten to the unit
12:49I was only there for about a month
12:51and I was brand new to the Black Hawk
12:54I only had about 15 hours total in the aircraft
12:57it was all very new to me
12:59I hardly didn't know anyone in the unit
13:01so I was very very uncomfortable going into this
13:04and we took off at night
13:06I can't remember how many aircraft we had
13:08I want to say about eight
13:09and headed for Grenada
13:12which was about an hour and 20 minutes away
13:14in an aircraft that has two hours and 20 minutes of fuel
13:19and flew over the water at night
13:24no horizon, hazy
13:26we had been up for two days straight
13:28getting there
13:30very nerve wracking
13:33and we got to Grenada just about
13:36maybe a half hour after
13:38probably right around sunrise
13:40and then about 4 o'clock in the afternoon
13:43we flew our first mission
13:45due to delays delivering their night vision equipment
13:48Black Hawk crews had to operate in broad daylight
13:51flying troops into battle
13:53and evacuating civilian hostages from the revolutionary forces
13:56I had one of the few aircraft that had a Vietnam veteran pilot
14:01on board
14:02and I was very happy to be with him
14:04and I remembered at one point
14:06I took my fingers and I put them under my legs
14:09because I didn't want to look down and see if they were shaking
14:11and I thought well that's probably not a good thing to do
14:14because we need to take the controls
14:16if he gets hit
14:18we did that assault
14:20and then three more assaults
14:22bringing the people in
14:24by the end of the operation
14:29the American forces had captured more than 600 Cubans
14:34the overall failure of poor intelligence
14:37had made the operation costly in terms of personnel and equipment
14:42over the three-day campaign
14:44the Black Hawks had not been used to their full potential
14:47flying by day rather than taking advantage of their specialized night flying techniques
14:52had made special operations chaotic
14:57urgent fury had lived up to its name
15:00a lot of the main lessons that we learned in Grenada was
15:03yes we absolutely have to be able to operate these aircraft at night
15:07much more effectively
15:09we have to modify these aircraft the cockpit lighting
15:12and we have to really embrace the whole idea of night vision goggles
15:17the clandestine eyes of the night stalkers
15:20were soon to be tested
15:22halfway around the world on the battlefields of Arabia
15:25desert storm
15:27on August the 2nd 1990
15:30Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein occupies neighboring oil rich Kuwait
15:35to his surprise
15:36the West reacts swiftly
15:38and President Bush forms a coalition
15:40determined to oust the Iraqi forces
15:42half a million American and coalition forces
15:46half a million American and coalition forces assembled in the desert
15:49under the command of General Norman Schwarzkopf
15:52on January the 17th 1991
15:55Operation Desert Storm
15:57the mission to liberate Kuwait
15:59began with a huge aerial bombardment against Iraqi military targets
16:03Navy Seahawks and Blackhawks were on the scene to rescue any pilot shot down during the bombing campaign
16:20most people think about the desert as being a place that's very hot
16:23and it was in the summer but in the winter at night it got very cold
16:28in fact there was one particular mission
16:30where we flew through a sandstorm
16:33then flew through a snowstorm
16:36and then when we returned to the airfield where our forward support base was
16:40it was fogged in to the point where it was about a quarter of a mile visibility
16:44the Blackhawk liked the desert
16:47the desert is a hard environment to learn
16:50first off it's unforgiving
16:52our mission profiles kept us relatively close to the ground
16:55and you will plow into a sand dune that you swear you were 50 foot or 100 foot above
17:01but somehow it jumped out and it bit you
17:03the time it took to learn how to fly over the desert
17:07varied from a few hours to sometimes months
17:13when the Iraqis began to fire missiles against coalition military sites and Israel
17:18several Blackhawks were sent on hunt and destroy missions
17:21to track down the missiles and their mobile launchers
17:28one remarkable mission took place in late February 1991
17:31when Jim Crisafulli's regiment of night stalkers
17:34had infiltrated a team of special forces deep into Iraq
17:41but things went awry
17:43and one of the teams that our regiment had put in had gotten compromised
17:50a young Iraqi girl had discovered one of the teams
17:54and they had come under fire
17:56now they needed to be extracted
17:58every second counted
18:00we're talking about three men
18:02surrounded by 200 miles either way
18:05of an unfriendly country and bad guys
18:07we ran to the aircraft
18:11and we had them spun up
18:13and as we moved the airplane over
18:16to make room for our formation launch
18:19we looked over and the second aircraft was on fire
18:21that's not good
18:23we were obviously concerned
18:25we knew that they were going to scrap the mission
18:27because a daylight mission
18:29single ship
18:31200 miles into Iraq
18:33was zero survivability
18:36or certainly very very low
18:38Randy and I were clamoring
18:40we said we'll just go without them
18:41we'll just go without the authorization
18:43we waited
18:45they said go
18:46and we went
18:47and that airplane took off like a bat out of hell
18:52when we crossed the border
18:54we didn't hear a round fire
18:56you don't hear it with 145 decibels anyway
18:59so we dropped it down to 20 feet
19:01and then 15 feet
19:02and then we moved it down to 10 feet
19:05the F-16 providing air support
19:07relayed an urgent message
19:10the special forces were under heavy fire
19:12and running out of ammunition
19:14if Chris Fooley wasn't there in 10 minutes
19:16there'd be no point showing up
19:18that's bad
19:19you look at the map
19:20there's got to be a shorter way
19:22and like everything else
19:23the shortest distance between two points
19:26is a straight line
19:27and that's what we did
19:28we crossed over
19:31at least a brigade sized Iraqi unit
19:34and all we saw was flashes
19:36and pieces of equipment
19:37and heads turning up
19:39we crossed them at 15 and 20 feet
19:41people's
19:42by the time they turned around to see
19:44what was going on
19:45we were gone
19:46crossed over one dune
19:50and you could smell the dust
19:53and the heat in the air
19:54and the engines were running hot
19:56and everybody was focused
19:58and calling out
20:01perceived bad guys
20:02turn left, turn right
20:03and at about 10 feet
20:05I saw a small dune
20:06we cruised directly over the dune
20:08and literally out of the blue
20:11there was a donkey directly in front of me
20:14and he seemed huge
20:16and I bumped the collective back up
20:19and I went straight over his head
20:21now a donkey
20:22even the tallest donkey
20:23is probably only five
20:24maybe six feet
20:25and we dang near slammed directly into him
20:27so we were pretty low
20:36as we were heading into the target area
20:37we were within five kilometers
20:39we knew that there was a large set of power lines
20:42so I turned around and I said
20:44we're going to go under
20:45we're going to go under
20:46and he repeated
20:47he said we're going under
20:48and everybody goes okay
20:49we're going under
20:50and as we got closer and closer
20:52we wound up seeing
20:53a smaller set of power lines
20:54that was directly under
20:55the major set of power lines
20:56I said Randy
20:57I can't go under
20:58I can't go under
20:59we're going over
21:00miraculously
21:02Chris have fully escaped
21:03hitting the power lines
21:04suddenly
21:05the crew chief spotted the team below
21:08I finally see him
21:09and here's the bravest man in the world
21:11Jeff Sims
21:12is standing on the berm
21:14on the edge of a ditch
21:15and he's waving a VS-17 panel
21:18in the middle of a firefight
21:20surrounded by bad guys
21:22and there were bodies all around him
21:24people that he had engaged
21:26and eliminated
21:27you don't get that courage by accident
21:29radios wanted to know what was going on
21:31and then he's kept producing noise
21:33flying about 4,000 a minute times two
21:36I saw that probably the best way for us to position the airplane
21:40was to slam it back down around about south west
21:44and that would place us in between
21:46most of the Iraqi ground fire and jet
21:49Chris have fully thought he was there to pick up six operators
21:53but there were only three
21:54I'm thinking oh god
21:56we left three on the ground
21:57I said where are they
21:58where are they
21:59I said they're not here
22:00there's only three
22:01let's go
22:02and everybody seemed to scream in unison
22:04let's go
22:05the airplane is still taking hits
22:06flight controls took hits
22:08we took off
22:11under cover of the dust cloud
22:14the special forces made good their escape
22:17for their heroic actions
22:18Jim Chris a fully and co-pilot Randy Stevens
22:21were decorated with the distinguished flying cross
22:24Jeff Sims
22:25leader of the special forces team
22:27was awarded the silver star
22:32for several weeks the allies kept up the aerial bombardment on Iraq
22:36Saddam's war machine was battered but not broken
22:42Schwarzkopf now prepared for a major ground assault to finish the job off
22:48at 4 a.m. on February the 24th 1991 the ground war was launched
22:55it was led by the largest helicopter assault in history
22:59300 helicopters spearheaded by black hawks lifted 5,000 airborne troops 110 miles deep into Iraqi territory
23:09the operation was a stunning success thousands of Iraqi soldiers were taken prisoner
23:16within a hundred hours the ground war in Iraq was over
23:19the black hawk operation with the 101st airborne had proved the value of a rapid heliborne assault
23:25and not a single American had lost his life
23:28for two years the black hawk helicopter and its crews enjoyed the accolades of total success from the Gulf War
23:37but all that was about to change
23:40the night stalkers next mission would become a nightmare that would haunt America to this day
23:47Mogadishu Mogadishu Mogadishu Somalia 1993
23:54it began as a great humanitarian mission
23:58and became the costliest battle for US troops since Vietnam
24:02Somalia had suffered from years of terror by rebel warlords
24:07and now the beleaguered country was in the grip of a major famine
24:10America had joined a UN peacekeeping force of 38,000 troops
24:21in June 1993 local warlord Mohammed Aidid's forces
24:25killed 24 UN peacekeeping troops
24:28whilst they were patrolling the streets of Mogadishu
24:33America responded with a series of snatch and grab raids on Aidid's strongholds
24:37led by black hawk night stalkers with US special forces
24:44October the 3rd 1993
24:47a further mission is planned to capture Aidid's top two lieutenants
24:52the American Joint Operational Command use live TV and radio equipment
24:57from observational helicopters to control the operation
25:00and to produce publicity pictures for the world's press
25:07so it is decided to go for a daylight assault on the target house
25:13Operation Irene is planned to take less than one hour
25:16but the mission is fatally flawed
25:19without a doubt we all prefer to go at night
25:21all the things that we had give us a tactical advantage at night
25:24in the daytime it becomes a fair fight nobody wants a fair fight
25:27in a military operation you want as much advantage as you can possibly put into the mix
25:32and by going at night that gives us that advantage
25:35we wanted to do every single mission that we could at night
25:40if they were available during the day we went after them during the day
25:43but we would prefer to hit every target at night
25:47for the black hawk crews this mission on the target house is filled with danger
25:52this one was as hazardous as any we had flown
25:57the dust conditions were as bad as they had been anywhere else
26:01it was in a place called the Black Sea
26:03which is where most of the enemy was located
26:06there were no landing zones
26:08an alleyway in a city like Mogadishu is not big enough
26:11and we knew that we couldn't land
26:13which doesn't limit us in putting people on the ground
26:17because we're flexible and we can do what's called a fast rope insertion
26:24but it limits us in how we get them out
26:26so we knew that there was additional risk on this mission
26:30and I think everyone sensed that as we walked out to the aircraft
26:33but we still felt that it was an acceptable risk and we took it on
26:36on the afternoon of October the 3rd
26:41eight black hawks lead an air armada of 19 aircraft
26:45twelve vehicles and 160 Delta and Ranger forces into the heart of Mogadishu
26:51the trail helicopter is known as Super 6-2
26:54you want to stack up about 200 feet
26:57the mission of my crew we carried, we were in Super 6-2
27:00we carried Delta operators on board who would actually go into the building
27:03and capture the people they were going after
27:06and secure them and bring them back to the base
27:09once we dropped off our operators
27:11my responsibility on my gun was to take out any type of threat
27:15to the ground forces either to the Rangers or to the Delta operators
27:20with the miniguns
27:22leading four black hawks and carrying a range of blocking force
27:25to prevent Somali reinforcements from arriving
27:28is Mike Durant in Super 6-4
27:31Mike elected to bring us to a hover
27:33thinking it would just be a few seconds
27:36I would tell you it probably was maybe 30 seconds
27:39maybe a little bit longer
27:40it felt like an hour
27:42where we're just hovering in broad daylight over the city
27:45yes we're blowing up a tremendous amount of dust
27:47we're kind of making a smokescreen for ourselves
27:50it was a very, very, very uncomfortable
27:52very, very vulnerable feeling
27:54we were very successful in implementing
28:01putting our operators where they needed to be at the target
28:05so they could perform their mission
28:07and in fact their mission went well
28:09they captured and detained everyone that they needed to
28:12that was in that building
28:14and it wasn't until after that
28:15when they went to get out of the facility
28:17that we started running into problems
28:19we got everybody in where they needed to go
28:22departed the area
28:24went north of the city
28:25and for all intents and purposes
28:26we were done
28:27because we couldn't go back in to do an extraction
28:29we knew we were just a contingency force at that point
28:32when the worst of all contingencies happened
28:36about 40 minutes into the mission
28:45Cliff Walcott and Donovan Briley's aircraft
28:48was shot down by what we think was a rocket pell grenade
28:50the first inclination I had that there was a problem
28:52was when Super 6-1 called
28:54that they had been hit and were going down
28:56I caught a glimpse of them just as they were crashing
28:58a huge dust ball
29:00it looked from a distance
29:01that nobody could survive that type of accident
29:04we got a Black Hawk going down
29:06we're going to have a Black Hawk crash
29:07we're going to have a Black Hawk crash
29:08we're going to have 6-1
29:096-2
29:11when I heard that we have a Black Hawk down
29:15we have a Black Hawk down
29:16and they would start saying
29:17he's crashed
29:18I just remembered tensing up in the aircraft
29:20thinking
29:21well where there's one RPG
29:23there's going to be another one on the way
29:25and I really thought
29:26the jig is up now
29:28they're going to get us
29:29and I just remember thinking
29:31God I wish these guys would hurry up
29:32and get out of the store
29:34Super 6-1 is shot down by small arms fire from the Somalis
29:39killing both pilots
29:41a little bird crew makes an incredible landing at the crash site
29:46and drags out the two survivors
29:48taking them to the US hospital
29:49by now American special forces vehicles on the ground
29:55are being shot up on all sides by the local Somali forces
29:59Paul Shannon witnessed the Black Hawk down
30:04and now his aircraft
30:06under the command of Mike Goffina
30:08comes under fire
30:11when I was hit
30:12I was both hands on the minigun
30:14scanning for targets
30:15and all of a sudden my hand
30:17left hand hit my chest
30:18and I rolled off the seat
30:20into the back of the aircraft
30:22Jeff, which side of the aircraft is he on?
30:24He is sitting right behind you
30:26Gary Gordon
30:27went to his little backpack he had
30:29and whipped out an IV
30:31and I'll never forget it
30:32I told him I was okay
30:33that I didn't need an IV
30:34it was just a
30:35hopefully a minor wound
30:36it wasn't bleeding real bad
30:37I wanted to make sure that he had ample time
30:40to do what he needed to do
30:41to shoot out the back
30:42and not worry about me
30:48Brad Hollings took my spot on the gun
30:49he was one of the operators in the back
30:51and he began to shoot the minigun
30:53he gave me his rifle to shoot out the back
30:56and that's where I took up a position
30:58now I had a little rifle in my hand
31:01and I'm sitting kind of vulnerable in the back
31:03so I had a lot of time to reflect
31:04and saw a lot of things coming at us
31:07and knew it was probably inevitable
31:08that if we stayed
31:09you know in the flight pattern
31:10we were probably bound to
31:11eventually get hit
31:14The Somalis had become experts
31:16with the RPG launchers
31:17and now victim number 2
31:19is in their sights
31:22Mike Durant and his crew
31:23were busy providing fire support
31:25to the rangers trapped below
31:27We joined the orbit with Super 6-2
31:34just a few minutes
31:36maybe 2 or 3
31:37that he was in the area
31:38and all of a sudden he called
31:41and he said
31:42whoa, 6-4's hit
31:446-4's hit
31:45We only made it around the pattern
31:47probably 4 or 5 times
31:49and we were hit
31:50by what we think
31:51was a rocket propelled grenade also
31:53right in the tail
31:54I can't remember exactly
32:00there were a couple of exchanges
32:01back and forth
32:02he said
32:03I'm heading for the airfield
32:04I thought in my head
32:05that this is a flyable machine
32:07everything looks okay inside
32:09it's made to take this kind of punishment
32:11if I land here
32:13I'll have to crash it intentionally
32:15because there are no landing zones
32:17so I'm gonna have to
32:18just crash it in an alleyway
32:20just for the sake of getting it on the ground
32:23we were flying for about 5 seconds
32:26when the tail completely disintegrated
32:30and about 3 feet of the vertical fin
32:32went along with it
32:34all of a sudden
32:36then he called
32:38and 6-4's going down
32:42Mike is not an easily rattled person
32:46the tone of his voice
32:50I felt like I had been electrocuted
32:52I'm hearing that
32:54and I thought
32:55he's in bad shape
32:56he's either got flight controls
32:57and they're not responding now
32:59or he's in free fall
33:01the only thing I could see
33:02was brown earth and blue sky
33:04everything else was a complete blur
33:06once I brought that nose up
33:08because we were pitching forward
33:10we ended up in a flat spin at 70 feet
33:13the only thing going through my mind
33:15at that point is
33:16stay upright
33:17get the aircraft on the wheels
33:20it's designed
33:22to absorb impact
33:24but only on the wheels
33:25if you land on its side
33:26or if you land upside down
33:28all those safety features
33:29are totally worthless
33:30so we are struggling
33:32as a crew
33:33to get that aircraft
33:34on its wheels
33:36how did I do that?
33:37I have no idea
33:38Sunday, October the 3rd, 1993
33:42Special Forces helicopters relay shocking live pictures
33:45from the war-torn streets of Mogadishu
33:49America's worst nightmare is unfolding
33:53160 Delta and Ranger forces are fighting for their lives
33:57pinned down by hundreds of armed Somalis
33:59in the heart of the city
34:01Black Hawk Super 6-1 had been shot down
34:05Super 6-4 had taken a hit
34:07and along with his co-pilot Ray Frank
34:09pilot Mike Durant was struggling to control the aircraft
34:16as soon as the tail came off
34:18I made a radio call
34:20stating that we had lost the tail rotor
34:22and we were going in hard
34:24then I remember looking over at Ray
34:26saying something about
34:28we better pull the engines off
34:30he knew exactly what to do
34:31he was already doing it
34:32but the truth of the matter is
34:34the centrifugal force was so severe
34:35that he could not keep his arms up
34:37to shut those engines off
34:39it actually drove his arms down
34:41so we ended up with one engine
34:43at about half power
34:44and one at about idle power
34:46he called again
34:47he said 6-4 is going in hard
34:49and just before he hit it
34:51he just screamed Ray's name
34:53I really thought they were all down
34:556-4 are you okay?
34:57We're going in hard
34:586-4 down
34:596-4
35:006-4
35:02I don't remember actually hitting the ground
35:06but we hit very hard
35:08hard enough that even with all the safety features
35:10on the Blackhawk
35:11and as rugged as it is
35:12my femur or my thigh bone
35:14still snapped in two on the seat
35:15when we hit the ground
35:16Amidst the wreckage
35:18Mike Durant and Ray Franks
35:20lie unconscious
35:21Crew Chiefs Tommy Field
35:23and Bill Cleveland
35:24are also severely injured
35:26they will not last long without help
35:28Nobody was there to help them
35:30they were basically on their own
35:31fortunately the bad guys weren't there yet
35:33there was very few around that area
35:36Mike Gofino in Super 6-2 flies over the site
35:40to drop in two Delta Force snipers
35:43Our backseaters
35:45Randy Shukart and Gary Gordon
35:48the two Medal of Honor winners
35:50request permission to go in
35:52We initially tried to infill Randy and Gary
35:55as close as we could to Super 6-4 to Mike and Ray's aircraft
35:58but due to the heavy debris
36:01that was littered on the ground there
36:04it flew up in the rotor system
36:06and we picked a little more suitable spot
36:08that was still cluttered with debris
36:10and they held about a four to five foot hover
36:12and I tapped Randy and Gary on the shoulder
36:15and Gary gave me a thumbs up and a little smile
36:17and he jumped out
36:19We collectively defended the crash site
36:21for about 20 or 30 minutes
36:22before everyone else was killed
36:24and we were overrun
36:25At Mike Durant's crash site
36:28both Randy Shukart and Gary Gordon
36:31are killed
36:32in a ferocious firefight with Somali soldiers
36:35To best my knowledge
36:37what happened to Gary and Randy
36:39is they were just overwhelmed with
36:41just an abundant force
36:43that just overtook them
36:45They took out as many as they could
36:47and were down on ammo
36:49Some of the crew members had already been killed
36:51Mike Durant was on one side of the aircraft
36:53with one of the operators
36:56The other operator was on the other side of the aircraft
36:58and he was hit
37:00They heard he was hit
37:02and they redistributed ammunition
37:04and amongst the people that were alive
37:07and they were just overtaken
37:08and everybody was killed except for Mike Durant
37:10Paul Shannon now sat in the back of Super 6-2
37:15his hands shattered by Somali gunfire
37:18is to have a remarkable escape
37:20The RPG-7 came in on the right side of the aircraft
37:24impacted right underneath the crew chief window
37:26The RPG-7 took off Brad's knee
37:31and his right knee basically was gone
37:34He fell back on top of me off his seat
37:37I was knocked unconscious for maybe 5-10 seconds
37:41It's kind of hard to tell
37:43The co-pilot was knocked unconscious
37:45So basically everything relied on Mike Cofina's skills as a pilot
37:56He had tons of horns and sirens going off from his helmet
37:59So he was instinctively trying to find a place to put us down
38:02He thought we were going to crash right there in the city as well
38:04So he picked out a road that he was just going to set us down on
38:08And as we started to descend
38:10He started to pull in and collect it a little bit
38:12a little more power
38:13and realized that we were still able to maintain flight
38:16And what the pilot had seen was the Newport facility
38:19There weren't any boats there
38:21So the unloading area was clear
38:23And we came in and did basically an aircraft landing
38:26They had triple height sealant containers
38:29And we were sliding right for a wall of those
38:32And fortunately we stopped in the nick of time
38:36Before he ran into those
38:37Meanwhile, the remaining Blackhawks can only watch
38:41As Mike Durant, the sole member of the crew to survive the crash
38:45Fights for his life
38:46At this point
38:49We've got five aircraft down
38:55And these are flown by our best pilots
39:00Shortly after this
39:02One of the commanders on the ground called
39:05And said
39:06I've got two wounded guys that are going to die
39:08If I don't get them out of here
39:10Roger
39:11I contacted higher
39:12Preferred to keep the layer
39:13Around 8970
39:14Colonel Harrell
39:15Who was in the command and control aircraft
39:17Called and said
39:18I can't send in any more helicopters
39:21The area is still too hot
39:22Just hang on
39:23We're going to get some tanks
39:25To punch through to you with them
39:27And arm the vehicles
39:28Emotionally
39:30For me
39:31I don't want to overstate it too much
39:33But here I am
39:35Now prepared to do this
39:36And now we've been
39:38Let off the hook
39:39And on the one hand
39:42I was
39:43Relieved
39:45That we were
39:46Now not probably going to get shot down and killed
39:49On the other hand
39:51We desperately wanted to get in and help
39:54Eventually
39:56Bloodied and shocked by the chaotic nightmare
39:59The Rangers and Delta forces are rescued by a UN armoured convoy
40:03The captured and tortured Michael Durant
40:07Was later paraded to the world
40:09On TV
40:10When you're initially captured
40:12You're fearing for your life
40:13The highest priority is survival
40:15Are you going to make it through the next few minutes?
40:17CW3
40:18Mike Durant
40:20U.S. Army
40:22You crave for information about what went on around you
40:30Where is everyone else?
40:32What's their status?
40:33Did they survive?
40:34I didn't know that no one else at our crash site had survived until it was released
40:38Alone
40:39How old?
40:4032
40:41Whether we survived or not they were going to get us all out of there and I knew that
40:53And that provides you some sense of security
40:56You feel like maybe you're almost not alone
40:58Knowing that everybody's out there and they'll do what they can
41:01I'm a Blackhawk pilot
41:03Blackhawk pilot
41:07I can't explain why I wasn't killed
41:12It is a miracle
41:15It's a miracle
41:16It's luck
41:17It's whatever everybody that assesses the situation happens to believe I guess
41:21But I did some things that may have helped facilitate my survival
41:26But a lot of it was certainly out of my hands
41:29All we knew at that point when we came back from the mission that day
41:32About Mike and Ray
41:34Was that they were down and they were missing in action
41:37We didn't find out until the rest of the world found out
41:41And the videotape of Mike when he was in captivity and the videotapes of them dragging the bodies through the streets
41:51We were horrified
41:53We were horrified
41:54We were enraged that that is what had happened to them
42:00We wanted revenge
42:03Probably more than anything else
42:06Those were our friends
42:09These weren't people that we just knew casually
42:11These were guys that we'd known for years
42:14People talk about being a band of brothers
42:17And you're closer to these people than brothers
42:20And it was
42:27Maddening
42:31Eighteen American soldiers had been killed
42:34And seventy-six wounded
42:36Hundreds of Somalis had died
42:39After five days of intense negotiations
42:44Mike Durant was released
42:46There's the joy in being released
42:48And then you find out that some of your best friends
42:51In fact didn't make it out
42:53It was pretty devastating
42:55It took a long time to get over that
42:57Bitter lessons had to be learned
43:03The Night Stalkers had been used in daytime missions
43:06Not by night as intended
43:11But Mogadishu is also remembered for the incredible bravery of the Task Force soldiers
43:16And the exceptional flying skills of the Black Hawk air crews
43:23The Black Hawk has been in service around the world for 25 years
43:27With its advanced technology
43:29This outstanding helicopter will remain in the forefront of battle
43:32In the era of electronic warfare
43:37But for the men who crew it
43:39The Black Hawk is something more
43:41It is a machine of strength
43:43Ensuring success in the face of adversity
43:47I truly believe I owe my life to the design of the Black Hawk
43:50We hit the ground very hard
43:52There's no question that in many other types of helicopters
43:55It would not have been a survival of the crash
43:57If not for the design of that aircraft
43:59I wouldn't be sitting here today
44:01It would not have been a monster
44:03Let's go through that
44:04I will be sitting here
44:05I was so pleased to see you
44:06To see you
44:06That was a great job
44:07That is for the reason
44:08To see you
44:09Which is a great job
44:10So, far
44:15To see you
44:18And you too
44:19And you can hear that
44:20You can hear us
Recommended
43:57
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