SIGHTINGS


 
Serbs Say NATO Hiding
Major Casualties And
Aircraft Losses Over Yugoslavia
Ekspres politika
www.serbia-info.com
4-28-99
 
The world press more often and more openly writes about enormous NATO losses in their complete failure called "air strikes campaign". As the day when the aggressor will have to give an accounting and inform the families of their killed soldiers and pilots is inevitably approaching, the strategy experts of this alliance are trying to resort to some cheap tricks. However, the facts which reveals not only the world media, but the Russian intelligence too, are more than painful and tormenting.
 
The Greek daily "Atinaiki", whose writing NATO never impugned, wrote ten days ago about at least 88 killed alliance soldiers and 32 downed aircraft. Other European newspapers also wrote about these and similar losses of the aggressor. The clandestine role of the 424th American hospital in Thesalonika is secret no more, and neither is the fact that metallic coffins are coming every day into the British base in Cyprus.
 
These and similar "unpleasant" information, the alliance has been trying to conceal these days in a very awkward way. In the morning news, Radio Toronto recently reported the crash of a NATO aircraft 'in Israel' (!?), when the pilot and '22 parachuters' were killed. Allegedly, those were amateur parachuters who had come from America to train for some sort of a championship. The news would have been swallowed if only 72 hours earlier the news had not leaked on the crash of a helicopter 'in Japan' (three killed), then another crash of F-15 over 'Puerto Rico' (one killed), then new helicopter accidents 'in Kentucky' (eleven killed) and Arizona (12 killed).
 
The only connection to Kosovo was made by an American TV reporter when she was talking about the 'Kentucky' accident, but it was only said that they had been 'training' for their September schedule in this Serbian province.
 
However, even the laymen know that these fabricated reports are only the attempts for creating such a situation, suitable for sending messages to the hundreds of families about "tragic losses during military drills". Even the tragic-comic comments have been heard that CNN and other spokesmen of the alliance could launch the news that "three newly-trained pilots" have died.
 
NATO knows very well that four F-4 aircraft of the German Airforce did not come back from this monstrous mission over Yugoslavia. According to the information of the Russian Ministry of Defence, one two-men crew died when the aircraft exploded in the air, while other three crews were found and captured by the Yugoslav Army.
 
In the air combat on March 26, seven kilometers to the South of Pancevo, a Yugoslav MIG-29 downed an American F-16C, whereas another four bombers of the same type were downed by the Yugoslav anti-aircraft defence. Two Canadian F/A-18C were shot down and destroyed together with their pilots 11 kilometers to the South of Ruma, and because of that the American northern neighbour sent additional aircraft to Italy on March 30.
 
Yugoslav MIG-21 managed to blow up an American two-seater F-15E on March 27, which the BBC reported the same day. At least one "Tornado IDS" was downed between March 24 and 26. This two-seater was completely blown up in the sky on the South of Pancevo. Another German "Tornado" was downed on March 29, but the pilot managed to eject himself.
 
According to Yugoslav and Russian sources, one British "Harrier" was down on March 30, and another one on April 17. A large group of multi-purpose fighter aircraft found themselves in the cross fire of the light anti-aircraft artillery and had to leave the Yugoslav sky with lots of damage. On April 15, agencies reported about the sad end of so-called "Warthog", American specialized fighter aircraft for anti-tank fighting A-10A.
 
The greatest success of the Yugoslav Army is definitely, demystification of the carefully kept secret of the "Stealth" technology.
 
The invisible fighter F-117A was shot down into the plough-lands of the village of Budjanovci, hit by the earth-to-air missile. Soon after that, Radio Zagreb reported the forced landing of another Stealth aircraft at the Zagreb airport. According to Reuters, and some other media houses, there is a real possibility that even a third "invisible" aircraft faced a similar sad destiny. On April 6, an aircraft which bombarded the oil refinery in Novi Sad that night, was shot down above Fruska Gora mountain early in the morning.
 
NATO did not have better luck in its helicopter missions, in which a large number of commandos lost their lives. One HH60-G helicopter with two pilots and 12 commandos came down between Bijeljina and Tuzla on March 28, and only a day later, the same destiny hit another two helicopters of similar type. According to Russian sources, a NATO aircraft and two CH-53/53E helicopters were shot down at about 200 kilometers to the South-West from Belgrade, on April 2, with 58 CREW members, who are all believed to have died in the accident.
 
The Yugoslav air defence shot down a considerable number of aircraft, not identified yet, so that the list of the dead aggressor's soldiers is not final yet. In any case, it is becoming bigger and bigger every day in this aggression on Yugoslavia.
 
Therefore, it no wonder there is a panicky fear of NATO from facing the families of the dead soldiers and ridiculous attempts to hide the truth.





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