TomPoo
02-20-2002, 09:57 AM
Ok guys, well if you have seen this movie this may be a very interesting read for you.
The author of the below E-mail, Gerry Izzo, is currently a Captain at Comair.
He flew one of the UH-60s on the mission that is depicted in the movie
"Blackhawk Down."
It is a great read if you have interest in this Blackhawkdown story, or if you just find information like this fasinating (like me)
----------------------------------
During the last few days many pilots have come up to me and asked me
if I had seen the movie "Blackhawk Down." I don't mind talking about the
movie, and I welcome the opportunity to talk about the heroism and valor
of my friends. I just wanted to post some comments here about the
movie and my impressions. Also I wanted to try to answer some
frequently asked questions.
First of all, I and many of my friends that also flew on the mission
thought that the movie was excellent! It is technically accurate and it
is
dramatically correct. In other words, the equipment, lingo and dialogue
are all right on. By dramatically correct, I mean that it very
effectively
captured the emotions and tension that we all felt during the mission.
It did this without being a cartoon, (like TOP GUN) or being over the top,
(like FIREBIRDS). It's true that the screenwriters had to consolidate
two or three people into one, but this was necessary because otherwise
there would have been too many principle characters to keep track of.
Also in the actual mission we had nearly 20 aircraft in the air that
day.
In the movie they had 4 Blackhawks and 4 "Little Birds". The unit could
not afford to commit the actual number to the filming of the movie.
However,
through the magic of the cinema, they were able to give the impression
of the real number. Our force mixture was as follows:
Super 61 - Lead Blackhawk
Star 41-44 Little Bird Assault
Super 62 - Trail Blackhawk
These aircraft made up the assault force. Their mission was to go into
the buildings and capture the individuals who were the target of the
day.
Super 61 was shotdown, killing both pilots. (They were CW4 Cliff Wolcott
and CW3 Donovan Briley. The three of us shared a room at the airfield.)
Star 41 landed at the crashsite and the pilot CW4 Keith Jones ran over
and dragged two survivors to his aircraft and took off for the hospital.
Keith re-enacted his actions in the movie. Super 62 was the Blackhawk
that put in the two Delta snipers, Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart
and Master Sergeant Gary Gordon. They were inserted at crashsite #2.
Shortly after Gary and Randy were put in Super 62 was struck in the
fuselage by an antitank rocket. The whole right side of the aircraft was
opened up and the sniper manning the right door gun had his leg blown
off. The aircraft was able to make it out of the battle area to the port
area where they made a controlled crash landing. (This is not depicted
in
the movie.)
Next was the Ranger Blocking Force. This consisted of 4 Blackhawks:
Super 64 (CW3 Mike Durant, CW4 Ray Frank)
Super 65 (Me, Cpt Richard Williams)
Super 66 (CW3 Stan Wood, CW4 Gary Fuller)
Super 67 (CW3 Jeff Niklaus, CW2 Sam Shamp)
The mission of the blocking force was to be inserted at the four corners
of the objective building and to prevent any Somali reinforcements from
getting through. In the movie there is a brief overhead shot of the
assault. My aircraft is depicted in the lower left hand corner of the
screen. This is the only part of the film where I come close to being
mentioned. As the assault is completed, you hear the Blackhawks calling
out of the objective area. When you hear, "...Super 65 is out, going to
holding..." that's my big movie moment. There is also a quick shot of an
RPG being shot at a hovering Blackhawk. I did have one maybe two fired
at me, but I did not see them or the gunner. I only heard the
explosions.
We were not able to return fire, although some of the other aircraft
did.
Make no mistake. I am fully aware o
The author of the below E-mail, Gerry Izzo, is currently a Captain at Comair.
He flew one of the UH-60s on the mission that is depicted in the movie
"Blackhawk Down."
It is a great read if you have interest in this Blackhawkdown story, or if you just find information like this fasinating (like me)
----------------------------------
During the last few days many pilots have come up to me and asked me
if I had seen the movie "Blackhawk Down." I don't mind talking about the
movie, and I welcome the opportunity to talk about the heroism and valor
of my friends. I just wanted to post some comments here about the
movie and my impressions. Also I wanted to try to answer some
frequently asked questions.
First of all, I and many of my friends that also flew on the mission
thought that the movie was excellent! It is technically accurate and it
is
dramatically correct. In other words, the equipment, lingo and dialogue
are all right on. By dramatically correct, I mean that it very
effectively
captured the emotions and tension that we all felt during the mission.
It did this without being a cartoon, (like TOP GUN) or being over the top,
(like FIREBIRDS). It's true that the screenwriters had to consolidate
two or three people into one, but this was necessary because otherwise
there would have been too many principle characters to keep track of.
Also in the actual mission we had nearly 20 aircraft in the air that
day.
In the movie they had 4 Blackhawks and 4 "Little Birds". The unit could
not afford to commit the actual number to the filming of the movie.
However,
through the magic of the cinema, they were able to give the impression
of the real number. Our force mixture was as follows:
Super 61 - Lead Blackhawk
Star 41-44 Little Bird Assault
Super 62 - Trail Blackhawk
These aircraft made up the assault force. Their mission was to go into
the buildings and capture the individuals who were the target of the
day.
Super 61 was shotdown, killing both pilots. (They were CW4 Cliff Wolcott
and CW3 Donovan Briley. The three of us shared a room at the airfield.)
Star 41 landed at the crashsite and the pilot CW4 Keith Jones ran over
and dragged two survivors to his aircraft and took off for the hospital.
Keith re-enacted his actions in the movie. Super 62 was the Blackhawk
that put in the two Delta snipers, Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart
and Master Sergeant Gary Gordon. They were inserted at crashsite #2.
Shortly after Gary and Randy were put in Super 62 was struck in the
fuselage by an antitank rocket. The whole right side of the aircraft was
opened up and the sniper manning the right door gun had his leg blown
off. The aircraft was able to make it out of the battle area to the port
area where they made a controlled crash landing. (This is not depicted
in
the movie.)
Next was the Ranger Blocking Force. This consisted of 4 Blackhawks:
Super 64 (CW3 Mike Durant, CW4 Ray Frank)
Super 65 (Me, Cpt Richard Williams)
Super 66 (CW3 Stan Wood, CW4 Gary Fuller)
Super 67 (CW3 Jeff Niklaus, CW2 Sam Shamp)
The mission of the blocking force was to be inserted at the four corners
of the objective building and to prevent any Somali reinforcements from
getting through. In the movie there is a brief overhead shot of the
assault. My aircraft is depicted in the lower left hand corner of the
screen. This is the only part of the film where I come close to being
mentioned. As the assault is completed, you hear the Blackhawks calling
out of the objective area. When you hear, "...Super 65 is out, going to
holding..." that's my big movie moment. There is also a quick shot of an
RPG being shot at a hovering Blackhawk. I did have one maybe two fired
at me, but I did not see them or the gunner. I only heard the
explosions.
We were not able to return fire, although some of the other aircraft
did.
Make no mistake. I am fully aware o