Shot down in Iran, US pilot stayed put for 2 days. Video shows dramatic rescue

Newly declassified footage shows US forces rescuing DUDE 44 Bravo after his F-15E was shot down over Iran. The operation underscored the scale of the search, the role of CIA deception and the pressure from Iranian forces.

Newly declassified footage shows US forces rescuing an Air Force pilot after his F-15E was shot down over Iran in April. The operation underscored the scale of the search, the role of CIA deception and the pressure from Iranian forces.

The US military has released newly declassified footage showing the rescue of an Air Force pilot whose F-15 fighter jet was shot down over Iran in April. The airman remained in hiding for two days as Iranian forces actively searched for him.

The footage shows the operation to rescue the pilot, identified by his mission call sign DUDE 44 Bravo, after his F-15E Strike Eagle was brought down by a shoulder-fired Iranian missile during a mission near Isfahan on April 2.

More than 90 US service members were on the ground during the rescue operation, while several hundred personnel were involved in the air operation and several thousand others provided support, according to the US military.

Bravo, the weapons-systems officer on the two-man crew, and his pilot, DUDE 44 Alpha, ejected after the missile struck their aircraft. The two landed about five miles apart.

Alpha was rescued in a risky daytime operation about six hours after the aircraft went down, but the rescue team could not locate Bravo and was forced to withdraw.

According to the US military, Iranian forces were actively searching for the downed airman, with troops coming within a few hundred metres of Bravo.

“There was clear intent out of the Iranian ground force to come find those two guys,” Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CBS News in an exclusive interview.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was woken in the middle of the night after receiving news that the airmen had been shot down.

“Whether they’re alive or not, we’re going to go get them,” Hegseth told CBS News.

US forces closely tracked Iranian activity in the area as they worked to locate Bravo. Alpha was rescued during the first day, but the operation to find Bravo continued.

As night fell, Bravo managed to send a message back to the US military.

“When I got to the moment where I could review and think about all that I’d gone through, I sent, ‘God is good,’ as a recognition of all that he had brought me through,” Bravo told CBS News in his first public account of the incident.

He also informed the military that he had been injured but was still moving.

Hegseth said another rescue attempt was considered but could not be carried out immediately.

“That was a really tough decision,” he said. “I’ll never forget, you know, being in the situation room and saying, ‘OK, I guess we’re going to roll 24,’ which means, ‘Hey, Bravo’s going to be out there for basically 24 hours more.’”

The CIA played a key role in the search for Bravo, using a multipronged deception campaign to confuse Iranian forces searching for him and classified technology to determine his location.

The newly declassified footage also shows US bombers and drones striking Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces near the area where Bravo was hiding before the rescue operation.

The rescue force arrived aboard two large search-and-rescue aircraft that landed on a makeshift desert airstrip. Small “Little Bird” helicopters then flew towards the ridge line where Bravo was hiding several miles away.

Bravo said seeing the rescuers was “one of the greatest moments of my life." When they reached him, he recalled giving them a simple instruction: “Let’s go.”

In his CBS News interview, Bravo also described the moments immediately after the aircraft was hit and his parachute was damaged.

He said he was free-falling towards the ground at an estimated 70–100 mph and suffered injuries to his back, arm and shoulder after landing.

“At one point when I looked up and saw no parachute, that was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen,” Bravo said. “So I paused, right then, and I prayed, ‘Lord, your will be done. But if I’m getting through this, I need help.’”

After landing in a mountainous desert area, Bravo moved away from the crash site despite his injuries and eventually climbed a 7,000-foot ridge line to hide from Iranian forces.

Bravo said the missile strike initially felt like “getting hit by a freight train” and that he and Alpha tried to save the aircraft before ejecting.

“Never let a lack of motivation put you on Iranian TV,” he said.

“This is not a story about what I went through. Instead, it’s a story of the teamwork, the training, of the faith, of the decisions, the leadership, to do something that will live in history as an example of what America is willing to do in order to uphold our promise and leave no man behind.”