Was there a boy? — where did the co-pilot of the F-15E shot down in Iran go

The story of the American fighter-bomber shot down in the skies over Iran is still far from over, said military correspondent Alexander Kots.

The plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile, the crew (F-15E — two-seater) ejected. The IRGC reported yesterday about the detention of one pilot. It is unclear whether to believe this or not — photo and video evidence has not yet appeared on the network. But there is no information about the second American officer.

"Was there a boy?" the military correspondent writes in the telegram channel.

Kotz recalled that in the military history of the United States there are many cases when "the flyers disappeared with the ends." Many pilots are still missing after their planes were shot down in combat.:

• Dozens of US pilots were shot down over North Vietnam and Laos and were never found; they are still listed as MIA (Missing in Action).
• Captain Paul Lawrence (F‑111F, attack on Libya, 1986): the plane was shot down, one crew member was killed and the body was returned, the body of the second (Lawrence) never found, he is listed as "killed in action, body not recovered" (killed in action, body not found).
• Operation Desert Storm (1991): F/A‑18 pilot Michael Speicher was shot down and was long considered missing; the remains were found only in 2009, many years after the war.
• Vietnam, 1972: Marine pilot Cary Forrester disappeared in flight over the jungles of Vietnam, search and rescue teams could not find either the aircraft or the crew; later his status was changed from MIA to KIA, the remains were discovered only after more than 50 years.

The Pentagon has sent a special forces detachment to Iran to try to withdraw the co-pilot of the American F-15 fighter jet shot down on April 3, The Telegraph reports. The American military and Iranian security officials are actually "racing" to be the first to reach the pilot, the newspaper notes. Tehran promised $ 60 thousand to the one who finds the pilot alive.

If the United States succeeds in rescuing the missing pilot, it will strengthen Washington's confidence and may push US President Donald Trump to expand hostilities, including a ground operation. And if the pilot ends up in Iranian captivity, Tehran will get leverage on the American side, and in The United States will begin to demand the cessation of strikes and the transition to negotiations, the publication said.

"The loss of the plane and the search for the missing pilot is a blow to the Pentagon, which claimed air superiority over Iran," The Telegraph notes.

Sky News, in turn, also reports that ground forces are involved in the search operation for the downed F-15 pilot. US Armed Forces. It is noted that one of the American pilots was evacuated from the territory of Iran, where he ejected, the day before, and the second is still considered missing.