Christopher Haave: A-10s over Kosovo (illustrations removed)

30 January

NATO’s primacy focus remains on the peace negotiations in Rambouillet, France; all the while, intelligence reports clearly show a significant buildup of FRY forces in Kosovo. The North Atlantic Council (NAC) gives Secretary General Solana the authority to authorize air strikes against targets on FRY territory.

7 February

The 81st FS is extended for 30 days and directed to stand up combat search and rescue (CSAR).*

1 March

The 81st FS is extended indefinitely and is authorized 15 A-10s.*

19 March

After the Kosovar Albanians sign the proposed agreement, negotiations are suspended, and the Serb delegates leave Paris without signing it. They denounce the Western ultimatum as a violation of international law and the UN charter. The KVM withdraws from Kosovo. Almost onethird of the FRY’s total armed forces, massed in and around Kosovo, commences the systematic expulsion of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians, codenamed Operation Horseshoe. Many were driven out of their homes and villages. Some victims are summarily executed, hundreds of thousands are displaced, and many lose their homes when Serbs set fire to them.

21 March

US Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke is dispatched to Belgrade to deliver a “final warning” to Slobodan Milosevic.

23 March

Ambassador Holbrooke departs Belgrade, having received no concessions of any kind from Milosevic. Subsequently, Secretary General Solana directs Gen Wesley K. Clark, supreme allied commander Europe (SACEUR) to initiate air operations in the FRY.

24 March

Operation Allied Force (OAF) commences with combat operations against Serbian forces.*

25 March

The Yugoslav government breaks off diplomatic relations with the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

27 March

After an F-117 is lost near Belgrade, a successful 81st-led CSAR effort recovers the pilot.*

30 March

Combined Air Interdiction of Fielded Forces (CAIFF) begins operations but is limited to 10 miles penetration of Kosovo.*

1 April

Serbian forces capture three US soldiers in the FRY of Macedonia.

3 April

NATO missiles strike central Belgrade for the first time and destroy the Yugoslav and Serbian interior ministries.

5 April

Maj Devo Gross flies his first combat sortie with Capt Lester Less.*

6 April

The first successful A-10 attack occurs during OAF. Weather finally permits an AFAC to locate and destroy a Serb truck park.*

Lt Col Kimos Haave controls an 18-ship package against military vehicles and petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) targets.*

7 April

CAIFF operations changes its name to Serb army (VJ)–Serb Interior Ministry police (MUP) Engagement Zone (VMEZ); included all of Kosovo.*

Maj Dirt Fluhr transmits on the radio: “Hey, they’re shooting at us!”*

8 April

Capt JD McDonough destroys fuel trucks.*

9 April

Capt Rip Woodard successfully recovers his A-10 after experiencing a dual-engine flameout in the weather at flight level (FL) 300.*

10 April

The NAC approves the concept of operations and the operations plan for Allied Harbor, the NATO humanitarian effort in Albania.

11 April

The 81st FS moves to Gioia del Colle.*

Col Al Thompson stands up the 40th Expeditionary Operations Group (EOG).*

14 April

Bear 31 (an F-16 AFAC) leads an attack on a column of approximately 100 vehicles. Many are destroyed, and 64 noncombatants are killed before Cub 31 (Capt JD McDonough) identifies the convoy as civilian. Bear 31 then terminates the F-16 and French Jaguar attacks.*

15 April

This is the first day that Macedonian airspace can be used to fly attack missions.*

The VMEZ changes to the Kosovo engagement zone (KEZ).*

Five 74th FS aircraft, nine pilots, and 65 support personnel arrive from Pope AFB and are integrated into 81st EFS.*

21 April

All European Union countries agree to stop oil-product deliveries by or through member states to the FRY. NATO missiles hit the Belgrade headquarters of Milosevic’s Serbian Socialist Party and his private residence; the allies believed that both could command and control VJ/MUP forces.

22 April

Alliance nations reaffirm the conditions that will bring an end to the air campaign and announce an intensification of that campaign.

Maj Devo Gross and Capt Boo Bullard destroy a group of 20–30 military trucks near U-Town and six tanks in a river bed.*

1 May

Four 40th EOG Sandys lead the rescue of Hammer 34, an F-16 pilot shot down in northern Serbia.*

Maj Corn Mays, Maj Devo Gross, Capt Meegs Meger, and Lt Scud Curley dodge multiple surface-to-air missiles (SAM) and attack a troop concentration.*

Col Al Thompson, Lt Col Kimos Haave, and others discuss ROE and Apache helicopter options with Lt Gen Mike Short and Lt Gen John Hendrix, USA, at Tirana, Albania.*

Three captured US soldiers are released into the custody of US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.

2 May

Maj Goldie Haun kills a self-propelled artillery piece and strafes two tanks, is hit by an SA-14 missile, and recovers to Skopje, Macedonia.*

4 May

Great Flat Face–Giraffe Hunt begins.*

5 May

The ROEs change. The “within 10 nautical miles (NM) of the border” sanctuary is replaced by three zones: 0–2, 2–5, and 5–10 NM of border, with progressively increasing likelihood of target approval.*

7 May

NATO planes accidentally bomb the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing three and wounding 20. NATO describes the bombing as a “tragic mistake” caused by “faulty information.” The United States and NATO say that the intended target was a Yugoslav building with military use, but US maps used in the planning of the operation were old and had the embassy located at a previous address.

11 May

An A-10 AFAC is hit beneath the cockpit by a shoulder-fired missile. The warhead does not detonate, and the pilot is able to recover the aircraft to Gioia.*

A Predator UAV operator provides Lt Col Coke Koechle’s flight with real-time target coordinates of a Serb army command post and hidden armored vehicles. The Serb command post and armor targets are destroyed.*

Lt Col Surgeon Dahl flies the last flight of his tour (fini-flight) with wingman Lt Hummer Cerone on his first combat sortie; several military vehicles are destroyed with secondary explosions.*

14 May

At least 79 people are killed and 58 wounded when NATO missiles hit Korisa, a village in southern Kosovo.

Capt Hook Shenk flies a mission check-ride; Capt Scrape Johnson evaluates while flying as Hook’s wingman. They attack targets and dodge a SAM.*

19 May

Russia says mediation efforts with the West are deadlocked. A NATO bomb kills 10 inmates in a Pristina jail.

The 104th EOG arrives at Trapani AB, Sicily.

22 May

A UN humanitarian mission visits Kosovo, as NATO admits its mistake in bombing Kosovo Liberation Army positions at Kosare, near the border with Albania. Sources close to the KLA say seven guerillas were killed and 15 injured.

Milosevic and four other Serbian leaders are indicted by the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for crimes against humanity. The indictment is amended and expanded on 29 June 2001.