I got this from my son today that one of his buddies sent him, it's some background on the movie from one of the pilots that was actually there. Thought you guys would like to see it.
George Here is some follow-up from a classmate of mine from the Academy who roomed
with me during the Plebe Detail one summer. He who flew with HAL-3 (Mad
Dogs) in Vietnam -- a squadron of Navy helo gunships that flew in support of
the Marines in I Corp (Country just south of the DMZ) and in support of the
Brown Water Navy (River Patrol Boats) in the Mekong Delta. He says, and I
quote "... these Army helo pilots and aircrew were cut from the samecloth as
the Mad Dogs and some of the other Army assault aviation units in RVN. It
was almost too real!" His comment was a cover to the below attached email.
Anyway, if you're interested in some of the facts behind the flick, here's
an article by one of the helo pilots in the air that day...
Huagh!
Jeff
NSDQ
.............................................
Capt. Gerry Izzo (Super65 Nightstalker)
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, many of my friends and I 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 principal 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 shot down, 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 crash site 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 crash site #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 (Rocket Propelled
Grenade) 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 of my role in this mission. My job was
the same as the landing boat drivers in "Saving Private Ryan." Get the
troops in the right place in one piece. I am very proud of the fact that my
crew and I were able to do that. After having done this in PREFIX = ST1 />Grenada, Panama and Somalia, I can identify with the
bombardiers of World War Two. You have to ignore all of the chaos that is
going on around and completely concentrate on the tasks at hand. That is,
holding the aircraft as steady as possible so the Rangers can slide down the
ropes as quickly and safely as possible.
Okay, Okay, enough about me. Super 64 was shot down also with an RPG.
They tried to make it back to the airfield, but their tail rotor gave way
about a mile out of the objective area. They went down in the worst part of
bad-guy territory. The dialogue for the movie appears to have been taken
from the mission tapes, as it is exactly as I remember it. (This was the
hardest part of the movie for me to watch). The actions on the ground are
as described by Mike Durant, as he was the only one from the crew to survive
the crash and the gun battle. It was here that Gary and Randy won their
Posthumous Medals of Honor.
Super 66 was called in at about 2000 hours to resupply the Rangers at the
objective area. Some of the Rangers were completely out of ammunition and
were fighting hand to hand with the Somali militia men. (Also not depicted
in the movie). Stan and Gary brought their aircraft in so that they were
hovering over the top of the Olympic Hotel with the cargo doors hanging out
over the front door. In this way they were able to drop the ammo, water and
medical supplies to the men inside. Stan's left gunner fired 1600 rounds of
minigun ammo in 30 seconds. He probably killed between 8 to 12 Somali
militia men. As Stan pulled out of the objective area, he headed to the
airfield because his right gunner had been wounded, as had the two Rangers
in the back who were throwing out the supplies. Once he landed, he
discovered that he'd been hit by about 40-50 rounds and his transmission
leaking oil like a sieve. Super 66 was done for the night.
The final group of aircraft were the 4 MH-6 gunships, and the command and
control Blackhawk and the Search and Rescue 'Hawk'. They were:
* Barber 51-54 MH-6's
* Super 63 C&C
* Super 68 SAR
In the movie, the gunships are shown making only one attack. In fact, they
were constantly engaged all night long. Each aircraft reloaded six times.
It is estimated that they fired between 70,000 and 80,000 rounds of mini-gun
ammo and fired a total 90 to 100 aerial rockets. They were the only thing
that kept the Somalis from overrunning the objective area. All eight
gunship pilots were awarded the Silver Star. Every one of them deserved it!
Next is Super 68. The actions of this crew were very accurately portrayed.
The only difference was that they were actually hit in the rotor blades by
an RPG. This blew a semicircle out of the main rotor spar, but the blade
held together long enough for them to finish putting in the medics and
Rangers at the first crash site. It was then that they headed to the
airfield. What they did not know, was that their main transmission and
engine oil cooler had been destroyed by the blast. As they headed to the
airfield all 7 gallons of oil from the main rotor gearbox, and all 7 quarts
from each engine was pouring out. They got the aircraft on the ground just
as all oil pressures went to zero.
They then shut down, ran to the spare aircraft and took off to rejoin the
battle. They were in the air just in time to affect the MEDEVAC of Super
62, which had landed at the seaport. The pilots of this aircraft were CW3
Dan Jollota, and MAJ Herb Rodriguez. Both men were later awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross. Major Rodriguez is retired from the Army now
and he teaches middle school with my wife in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Finally there is the Command and Controll Blackhawk, Super 63. In the back
of this aircraft was my battalion commander, LTC Matthews, and the overall
ground commander, LTC Harrell.
In the movie, there is a scene where the men on the ground were begging for
MEDEVAC. By this point in the battle we had 5 Blackhawks out of action,
either shot down or shot up so much they couldn't fly anymore. Of the two
assault force and four blocking force 'hawks', only myself and Super 67 were
left. I fully expected LTC Harrell to send us in to try to get those men
out. I jacked a round into the chamber of my pistol and my M16. I knew
that the only way to do was to hover with one wheel balanced on the roof of
the building. Then the Rangers would be able to throw the wounded in. I
knew that we were going to take a lot of fire and I was trying to mentally
prepare myself to do this while the aircraft was getting hit. My friends
had all gone in and taken their licks and now I figured it was our turn.
(Peer pressure is such a powerful tool, if used properly.)
Quite frankly, I really thought that we were at best going to get shot
down, at worst I figured we were going to be killed. The way I saw it we
had already lost 5 aircraft, what was 2 more? I had accepted this because
at least when this was all over General Garrison would be able to tell the
families that we had tried everything to get their sons, fathers or husbands
out. We were even willing to send in our last two helicopters. Fortunately
for me LTC Harrell realized that the time for helicopters had passed. The
decision was made to get the tanks and armored personnel carriers to punch
through to the objective area. Once again, the dialogue in the movie is
verbatim. What you don't hear is me breathing a sigh of relief! I
remembered thinking that maybe I was going to see the sunrise after all.
I guess I got a little carried away. I really didn't mean to write this
much. People ask me if this movie has given me 'flashbacks'. I don't think
you can call them flashbacks; that day has never been out of my mind.
I hope that when you do see the movie it will fill you with pride and awe
for the Rangers that fought their hearts out that day. Believe me, they are
made of the same stuff as those kids at Normandy Beach. When 1LT Tom
DiTomasso, the Ranger platoon leader on my aircraft, told me that we did a
fantastic job, I couldn't imagine ever receiving higher praise than that. I
love my wife and children, but the greatest thing I've ever done is to be a
Nightstalker Pilot with Task Force Ranger on 3-4 Oct 1993.
Thank you for reading this. I look forward to answering any and all
questions anyone may have about the movie or the actual battle. I just
thought that this might fill in some of the blanks. Thank you again.
Capt. Gerry Izzo(Super65)
"NSDQ"
Nightstalkers Don't Quit