BRUSSELS: NATO HQ: US PILOT SHOT DOWN OVER BOSNIA RESCUE DETAILS

(8 Jun 1995) English/Nat U-S Marines covered by NATO warplanes rescued an American F-16 pilot alive and well Thursday, six days after Bosnian Serbs shot down his plane over northwestern Bosnia. U-S Defence Secretary William Perry has praised the rescue operation. The downing of Captain Scott F O'Grady added to tensions last week over the abduction of hundreds of peacekeepers by the Bosnian Serbs in retaliation for NATO air attacks on their ammunition depots. U-S forces had been searching for O'Grady since his plane was shot down last Friday over Serb-controlled territory 20 miles south-east of Bihac. And on Thursday, Marines rescued O'Grady not far from where he was shot down at about 0600. (midnight Wednesday EDT). Defence Secretary William Perry was delighted with the positive news. SOUNDBITE: "As announced earlier by Admiral Leighton Smith, the Air Force south commander, last night at about approximately two o'clock in the morning we were able to establish voice contact with Captain Scott F O'Grady, the pilot of the downed F-16. After positive identification and an establishment of the exact location, Admiral Smith ordered a rescue operation consisting of a CH-53 and Cobra helicopters which had been based on the U-S-S Kearsarge. In addition to that there was a fixed wing fighter and support aircraft used in this rescue operation. Captain O'Grady is now safely on U-S-S Kearsarge. I would like to express my deep thanks to all who participated in this successful rescue operation and my happiness and relief to Captain O'Grady's parents who just a few minutes ago were notified by President Clinton." SUPER CAPTION: William Perry - US Defence Secretary SOUNDBITE: "The United States strongly supports the decision of the nations there, particularly the British, the French and the Dutch, to form a rapid reaction force. We will not be able to provide ground troops to this force but we will support it in almost every other way possible. We have offered to provide continuing close air support to provide strategic airlift to move the equipment and troops to the theatre. We've offered to provide certain equipment which may be particularly useful. For this including Cobra helicopters and including navigation equipment GAPS global position satellite navigation equipment and we've offered to establish something that is called an intelligence coordination cell based on the cell that we used during Desert Storm which was so effective in providing tactical information to the troops." SUPER CAPTION: William Perry - US Defence Secretary British Defence Secretary Malcolm Rifkind offered his congratulations to the Americans for the successful covert rescue operation. SOUNDBITE: "May I say that I'm absolutely delighted the United States pilot I understand has been found safe and well. That is excellent news and we also pay tribute to the United States is offering other countries who have forces in Bosnia. The extra air cover that was indicated by Secretary Perry on Saturday will be very very beneficial indeed and it shows that the older countries of the alliance are working very closely together in what is a very complex and difficult issue. SUPER CAPTION: Malcolm Rifkind - British Defence Secretary O'Grady is assigned to the Fighter Squadron at Aviano Air Base, Italy. A Serb missile blew apart his fighter jet as he flew a mission for a NATO operation that bars flights over Bosnia. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...