Osprey from New River Air Station rescues downed pilot in Libya

JACKSONVILLE — Two aircraft from a squadron based at New River Air Station were deployed to the rescue of crew members from a downed Air Force F-15 in Libya, officials with the air station said Tuesday.

Two MV-22 Ospreys, assisted by CH-53 Super Stallion Helicopters, all from New River’s VMM-266 (reinforced) squadron and deployed with Lejeune’s 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit off the coast of Libya, responded to distress calls from an F-15 pilot who parachuted to safety in the crash. The fighter went down near the village of Bu Mariem, east of Benghazi in Libya.

The F-15, which had caught fire prior to the crash, was destroyed on the scene. The pilot was quickly recovered by Osprey crew members and pronounced well by a 26th MEU physician, Navy Lt. Lauren Weber. The other crew member, a weapons officer, was rescued by Libyan forces opposing the Moammar Gadhafi regime, according to 26th MEU officials.

The pilot was taken aboard the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Libya, according to Marine officials.

A spokesman for headquarters Marine Corps, Capt. Brian Block, said the crash took place around 11:30 p.m. Monday, and the rescue was complete by 3 a.m. Block said two Harrier jets provided close air support to the V-22 Osprey that picked up the stranded pilot and dropped two laser-guided bombs near the site.

Though some British media reports said Libyan civilians had been shot in the course of the rescue mission, Block said he didn’t know of any civilian casualties due to actions by Marine personnel.

“As far as I know, we did not conduct any strafing runs,” he said, “We were not aware of any (civilian casualties) in our operations to recover the pilots.”

In a news briefing released late Tuesday afternoon, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa, Adm. Samuel Locklear, said defense officials were investigating, though he would not comment on the reports.

The rescue was part of a tactical recovery of aircraft personnel (TRAP) mission, one of a number of specialized operations that are a part of every MEU pre-deployment workup, II MEF spokesman Capt. Timothy Patrick said.

The success and the speed of the mission, he said, demonstrated the diverse amphibious capabilities inherent in a MEU.

Maj. Kurt Schiller, a pilot with VMM-365, an Osprey squadron based at New River, said the greatest challenge with the TRAP mission scenario is the speed with which the mission is executed.

“Probably the biggest factor is not knowing where they’re going to land the airplanes,” he said. “(The V-22 pilots) probably got very little intelligence or imagery on where they were landing. It’s very quick, very hasty.”

Officials said Tuesday’s rescue was similar to the 1995 mission in Bosnia involving the 24th MEU and its rescue of U.S. Air Force Capt. Scott O’Grady, on which the movie “Behind Enemy Lines” was loosely based.

Hope Hodge can be contacted at 910-219-8453 or hhodge@freedomenc.com.