Day 5: 21 Jan 1991

21 January 1991 (Monday): DAY 5

GENERAL:

v Bush declares the Gulf Region a "Combat Zone"

v Iraqi television shows interviews with downed airmen

v Patriots are delivered to Israel and Eagleburger arrives for talks

v US troops top 472,000

v Over 216 Tomahawks fired

v USS Forrestal ordered to Eastern Med from Florida

v USS T.R. Roosevelt Battle Group in the Persian Gulf and operating

v B-52's shifted to bomb Iraqi concentrations in Kuwait and Southern Iraq

v 2nd Marine Division engages Iraqi's across Kuwaiti border

v downed US Navy pilot rescued, 4 CBS newsmen missing on Saudi-Kuwait border

v Saddam makes his claim to use hostages and POW's as human shields

AIR WAR:

v 0ver 1100 missions flown, total exceeds 8,000

v RAF HQ announced that the Tornado's would fly at higher delivery altitudes

v Iraq claims to have downed 12 more aircraft, total actually around 14

F-117 HIGHLIGHTS (21Jan/Day 5):

v Day 5/Wave One: 00:01 hrs, 12 x F-117's from the 415th TFS

- 2 x Air Aborts, resulted in 10 a/c to press the attack

- Scored 10 hits with 14 PGM attempts (71%)

- Taji Biological Warfare Center

- Salmon Pak Troposcatter Station

- Tallil Airfield

- Tall King Radar

- Latifiya Satellite Ground Station

- Bagdad Television Transmitter & Radio Relay Station

- Headquarters of the Ministry of Defense in Bagdad

- Headquarters of the Iraqi Air Force in Bagdad

v Day 5/Wave Two: 14 x F-117's from the 416th TFS

- 1 x Ground Abort, resulted in 13 a/c to press the attack

- Bad Weather, unreliable systems, and target acquisition errors

- Scored 7 hits with 21 PGM attempts (33%)

- ammunition dumps

- SAM missile sites

- SCUD Missile Storage Bunkers

- SCUD & Frog Missile Launch Sites

- Integrated Air Operations Center & GCI Site

- Al Qaim

- Salmon Pak Troposcatter Station

- Ad Diwaniyah, Balad, Habbaniyah, An Nasiriyah, Abu Ghurayb,

and Khan Al Kahawil

v Day 6/Wave One: 14 x F-117's from the 415th TFS

- departed on evening of the Day 5/21st, hit targets on the Day 6/22nd

- 2 x Air Aborts, resulted in 12 a/c to press the attack

- Scored 20 hits with 23 PGM attempts (87%)

- The Main Signals Intelligence Facility in Bagdad

- International Radio Comm Transmitter & Receiver Station

- 2 x Telephone Exchanges in Bagdad

- Bagdad Nuclear Research Facility

- Bagdad Television Transmitter & Radio Relay Station

- The Ad Dujayl Communication Satellite Terminal

- Headquarters of the Iraqi Air Force in Bagdad

- An Early Warning Acquisition Site at Bir Akirshah

- the Salmon Pak Troposcatter Station

- the Al Fallujah Telephone Exchange

- Ubaydah Bin Al Jarrah Airfield

- Abu Ghurayb Command & Control Bunker

KILLS:

v 2 x Kills are reported, but later re-called as double count despite the fact

that McPeak's briefing notes no kills on Days 4 through 7. Perhaps had something to

do with the 2 x MiG-25 claims from the 20th

v 2 x F-1 Mirage losses were reported through the Iraqi News media to Europe

- 1 x F-1 Mirage downed

... (1) air-to-air missile

- 1 x F-1 Mirage downed

... (1) air-to-air missile

v These two kills are credited on the 22nd January due to the time lag

LOSSES:

v 1 x F-14A+, VF-103, CV-60 USS Saratoga, CAG-17

- CVW-3 from the USS Kennedy (CV-67), Call "CLUBLEAF 212"

- BURNO 161430, "AA" side number 212, became 11th US Combat Loss

- on a night EA-6B/HARM Escort Mission

- first time the crew would "cross the beach"

- After HARM shot, crew saw SAM coming through clouds, exploded near tail

- aircraft entered spin, at 13,000 ft they ejected

- became the 10th combat loss for the US, 15th for the coalition

- Lt Devon Jones (pilot), ejected, E&E'ed and was rescued

- Lt Lawrence Randolph "Rat" Slade, of Wayland, Mass., ejected and became a POW after 4 hours

- Lt Jones was recovered, he landed near a riverbed, dug a hole and hid

until the Special Ops helo and rescue team could get to him.

v He was picked up with the help of A-10's that were flown all

the way from Saudi Arabia and back. The RIO, LT Larry Slade, was

not heard from until he was sent home after the war

- Lt Slade was captured after he landed several miles from Jones

- F-14 was downed by a derivative SA-2 SAM system modified by the Iraqi's

with aground-guided optical tracker. No missile launch indications were seen.

- Indications were that the F-14 was flying too high (around 15000 ft)

- Capt Paul T. Johnson (33) was the A-10 pilot who led the 9 hour rescue

mission to find and recover Lt Devon Jones on the 22nd.

v SANDY 57

v used voice and flares to locate the downed aviator

v went back for gas then came back in daylight

v Johnson was awarded the AF Cross for Bravery on 30May91

v Capt Randy Goff was wingman

v required four air refuelings

v 353rd TFS/354th TFW at Myrtle Beach AFB, SC

v Johnson flew 25 combat missions

v AWACS, F-15's, and tankers all supported

v helicopters went in a got the downed pilot

v 1st section of A-10's bingo'ed

v finally located Jones and got the helo's to him

v 2 x MH-53J Pave Low's from the 20th SOS picked him up

v Lt Jones identified his location: "about 8-10 miles north of his

F-14's crash site and 1000 yds due east of a blue tank"

....the Iraqi's were listening also

v A-10's destroyed an approaching Iraqi Army truck and

the Helo's picked up Jones

v 1 x US Army Apache crashed from a mechanical failure, crew status unknown

v 1 x UK GR-1 Tornado from No. 31 Squadron

- Eight aircraft low altitude loft-bombing attack with MK-83

1000 lbs bombs against a radar site at Ar Rutbah (AFM, Dec92, pg46)

- flown during the night of 21-22 January

- no clear indication of why the aircraft was lost, no witnesses

- crew From No 16 SQDN listed as MIA

- GR-1 ZA467/"FF", based out of Tabuk

- became the 4th combat loss, both crew members MIA and never found

- SqdnLdr Gary Lennox, pilot

- SqdnLdr Adrian Paul "Kev" Weeks, Nav

- crew possible KIA because no word about them yet, eventually KIA

- possibly NVG problems, AAA night flashes might have caused distractions

- suspected that they might have impacted with ground on break maneuver

- bodies still not recovered

v RAF Tornado's flew around 300 sorties during the first four days of STORM and

had 4 x downed aircraft in combat with (6) crewmen MIA

- loss rate would be 7.5 losses/1000 sorties

- RAF 4% of coalition air and suffered 26% of losses

- 3 x downed to non combat causes since SHIELD

SCUDS:

v (5) Frog missiles fired across Saudi Border

v (6) SCUD's fired into Saudi Arabia in 3 attacks in 12 hours, one intercepted

by Patriot, one in sea NW of Al Jubayl, and 2 in the desert.

Gulf War 1991 Chronology

Day 5: 21 Jan 1991