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Hello everyone, this is Showtime1 12. In this video we are going to talk about NATO involvement and its aircraft lossesduring the war in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995. Bosnia was the third republic to declareindependence from former Yugoslavia. However due to the most complexethnic structure of them all, the campaign which followed was the bloodiestone. Bosnian Muslims and Croats were in favor of independence, while Serbs opposed it whicheventually contributed significantly to an open war.This is the simplest and the most diplomatic possible introductionand we are not going to go any deeper into that. The nation’s capital Sarajevo sooncame under besiege by the Serbian side. The besieging previous more than three and a half years.UN responded by sending peacekeeping force-out and planning airlift to Sarajevo to supplyits population with the most needed items. While this wasn’t rigorously a NATO operation, most of the assets used for this operation came from NATO members. This included Italywhich contributed its G. 222 transport airplanes. Now I have to say that just like generally, we had toapproximate some assets to make this video. We don’t have a G. 222 in DCS World so we’re utilize Herculesinstead. The G. 222 is an Italian-built transport aircraft primarily designed for a NATOspecification but no other NATO nation operatesit. It is less than the Hercules and it only hastwo locomotives but it is used for the same purpose. On 3rd September 1992, a G. 222 of the ItalianAir Force took off from Split, Croatia and headed for Sarajevo.It had a four personcrew while four more fares were on board. It carried a load of rugs. Whenthe aircraft was about eight hours away from its destination, it washit by a missile and it crashed. The incident was first reported by anothertransport plane following the Italian G. 222 which seen it going down trailing smoke.American helicopters from Iwo Jima escorted by Hornets were the first ones to findthe wreck but when they tried to land, they came here under shoot by small arms, andaccording to some sources another missile.The culprit was never ascertained. To this day itremains unclear which feature propelled the missile. On some websites you will be able tofind that Stinger missile was applied but an S-A7 is a lot more probableoption. There “werent any” survivors. Second NATO aircraft shot down overBosnia was a Royal Navy Sea Harrier. In April 1994, HMS Ark Royal was operating in theAdriatic Sea as a part of operation Deny Flight. This operation’s main objective was to preventthe warring side from exerting their airplanes and helicopters. USA however was an advocate of a moreactive role of NATO aircraft such as providing close air support for UN troops on the ground.In April 1994, armed forces of the Serbian entity in Bosnia launched an attack against a UN SafeArea of Gorade, a town in eastern Bosnia which at the time was a Muslim enclave surroundedby Serbian powers. American F-1 6s and F/ -A1 8s attacked Serbian positions and as a result Serbianmilitary commander Ratko Mladi threatened to start shooting down NATO aircraft.On 15 april 1994 aFrench Super Etendard was damaged by ground fire. On 16 April HMS Ark Royal launched twoSea Harriers from 801 squadron to patrol the Bosnian airspace. The flight chairman was NickRichardson and we are currently flying with him. Two Harriers were orbiting over Sarajevo at tenthousand paws when they were contacted by AWACS. AWACS: Vixen two-three, this is Magic from Chariot. Proceed to Italy and contactFortune zero-five on PAD three. Italy was the code parole for Gorade, locatedsoutheast of Sarajevo. The overcast basi was at about 12 000 paws and this meant that Harriers wouldhave to stay below this altitude which was just outside a range of shoulder launched arrangements. However, Bosnia is full of mountains and slopes which can reduce the length if a shooter is placed onthe top of one. NATO intelligence had a good info on spots of Serbian organizations such as S-A2 andS-A6. MANPADs nonetheless were absurd to accountfor. And this worried Richardson. He checked for codesand frequencies and headed towards Gorade. Fortune zero-five this is Vixen two-three.Vixen two-three, this is Fortunezero five, you’re loud and clear. Richardson then asked for verification codes towhich the team answered preferably nervously but eventually presented the suitable code. Theythen indicated that there were two containers on the crest way above the city andthat they missed the Harriers to make them out. FAC:: We know there’s a tank or two abovethe ridge word to the north of Gorade. That’s what you’re gonna take out, all right? In the first two surpass, Richardson andhis wingman failed to spot Serbian containers. He did notice smoking blowups in the city. But on the third pass, he finally distinguished two T-5 5s, FAC team sanctioned thetarget and Richardson fused the projectiles. Richardson: Tally, two T-5 5s. FAC: That’s your target. But then he discovered his wingman bawl’ flares’over the radio. He hit the counter evaluates button and received a missile pass between twoHarriers. There was no time for anything else. Forward air controller on the anchor was now urgingthe Harriers to criticize the containers with a panic hue in his voice.Richardson flattened in into adive, proposed for a container and tried to get radar range. Nothing happened. He pulleda 5g climb and tried again. Just like the previous duration, he didn’t get theradar stray and couldn’t liberate his bombs. Some roots say that he deliberately determined twopasses without dropping as some kind of a Rules of Engagement requirement, but in his notebook called’No Escape Zone’ Richardson clearly confirms that he was given the clearance to attack on his firsttry but didn’t do it because of technical troubles. Mayday, mayday, mayday! Vixen two-three is hit and is spewing. You’re on fire, you’re on fire! Eject! I had a chute. Climbing. Vixen, say your altitude. I’m descending to ten. – Copy. I had a chute, do you see it? – I think he is under the clouds.Vixen two-three expelled at about 2000 feet. He is north of the most westerly aqueduct. Roger, copy. His wingman then tried but he couldn’t get radarrange either. Richardson decided to give it one more try. No success. Nonetheless, as he was pullingup he was hit by a missile. Rchardson exhausted, moored on the territory controlled by the Muslimsand was eventually expelled back to his carry. Unlike the first case, this time it was clear thatBosnian Serbs were responsible for the shootdown. This was part one of the video. In thesecond part we will discuss two more cases in which NATO aircraft were downed inthe skies of Bosnia during the conflict.Most of you probably noticed that the aircraftused here was not the Sea Harrier but AV-8B Harrier II. this is a last-minute representation built byMcDonnell Douglas but it is the only one available and it’s still Harrier. If you liked thevideo be sure to press the like button. Support the channel on Patreon if you’reable to and keep watching Showtime1 12..
