The shootdown of the plane was considered shocking, the plane considered one of the most modern piece of equipment in the US military, with the Serbian radar defenses considered obsolete.
However the Serbians have found modifying their 1960s Soviet SAMs allowed it to detect the Nighthawk. The plane was detected when the bomb-bay doors were open, raising its radar signature. Two missiles were launched with only the second hitting the plane.
Lt. Col. Dale Zelko ejected and landed about a mile away from the crash site and was rescued by a combat search and rescue team, minutes away from being captured.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_F-117A_shootdown
PorterTheGirlScout: how dare they treat “liberators” this way!
bcsimms04: Remember this vividly. People were dumbfounded that the invincible plane from the gulf war was actually shot down by some cigarette smoking, track suit wearing, poor Serbians.
israeljeff: Hey, I remember this one. That doesn’t happen to me too often on this sub.
Whaddaya Say?