Battle of Mogadishu, Oct 3, 1993; aka "Black Hawk Down"

Modeling Subjects Helicopters
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Unfortunately today is the 15th anniversary of that tragic day. Keep these brave men and their families in your thoughts and prayers today.

Dave

Battle of Mogadishu

On the afternoon of October 3, 1993, informed that two leaders of Aidid’s clan were at a residence in central Mogadishu, the task force sent 19 aircraft, 12 vehicles, and 160 men to arrest them. During the mission, Private Todd Blackburn missed the rope while fast-roping from an MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and fell 70 feet to the street below, badly injuring himself. The two Somali militia leaders were quickly arrested. The prisoners and the injured Ranger were loaded on a convoy of ground vehicles. However, armed Somalis converged on the target area from all over the city. During the first hours of the battle, the MH-60 Black Hawk, Super Six One, was shot down by a Rocket Propelled Grenade fired from the ground. Although firing an RPG upwards from the ground can be fatal to the shooter, he managed to survive. The pilots did not survive. However, the crew survived the crash landing and held off the advancing Habr Gidr militia until the one and only rescue team was able to recover them.

Later another Black Hawk, Super Six Four, was shot down by RPG fire from the ground. This time no rescue team was immediately available, and the small surviving crew, including one of the pilots, sat tight while a Delta team headed toward the crash site. When the Delta team of two arrived, they attempted to secure the site. One of the Delta operators was shot, leaving only the pilot and one Delta operator. Eventually, after holding off Somalians, the second Delta operator was killed and the pilot remained sitting peacefully, waiting to be killed. The militia, however, were surprised to find the pilot on the other side of the helicopter and took him hostage after beating him violently.

The battle turned out to be the most intensive close combat that US troops had engaged in since the Vietnam War. In the end, two MH-60 Black Hawks were shot down (as well as one seriously damaged) and 19 US soldiers were killed along with 1 Malaysian soldier on the rescue convoy. Estimates of Somali dead are around 1,000 Somali Militiamen killed during the battle. The Delta Force Snipers SFC Randall Shughart and MSG Gary Gordon were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their efforts.

NOTE: 18 Americans died in the actual battle; SFC Matt Rierson died two days later after a mortar attack on the US compound.

CW3 Donovan Briley
SSG Daniel Busch
CPL James Cavaco
SSG William Cleveland
SSG Thomas Field
SFC Earl Fillmore
CW3 Raymond Frank
MSG Gary Gordon
SGT Cornell Houston, died on October 6 after evacuation to Germany.
SGT James Joyce
PFC Richard Kowalewski
PFC James Martin
MSG Timothy Martin
SGT Dominick Pilla
SFC Matthew Rierson, died on October 6 during a mortar attack.
SGT Lorenzo Ruiz
SFC Randy Shughart
CPL James Smith
CW4 Clifton Wolcott

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The movie sent chills down my spine one can only imagine what it was like for real, Don’t forget the two Delta operaters were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions , Shugart and I don’t recall the other mans name for their efforts to rescue Michael Durant the Blackhawk pilot.God bless all these fine young men and the fine men and women out there protecting our freedoms as I type, I try and take a moment every day to say a prayer for all of them.

John

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He didn’t. From above…

A sad day indeed. God rest their souls.

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Don’t know how I missed that opps sorry

john

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John,

It’s ok. We get caught up in our daily lives, and those that haven’t served will never have the"knowing" of those that have served. That you thought about the two brave souls that received their Medals of Honor posthumously is appreciated.

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I don’t have any problem remembering it…I was at the airfield when the proverbial fecal matter hit the rotating ocillator. I was there from Jul 93-Feb 94. and I have no desire whatsoever to go back to that continent…There is nothing I left there that I will ever need to go back for.

Incoming mortar rounds were a nightly fact of life…at least until someone wised up and brought AC-130s back to the Mog. The sad thing is that this was one mess that the United States should have never been involved in.

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The movie was filmed in Morroco, so while the depection of the city was close, it didn’t give the true claustrophobic feel, in Mogadishu, for most of the city, what are called streets are more like alleys anywhere else. Also the scenes in the film showed a much cleaner city. The film also depicted only a short period where little birds (AH-6s) were engaged…in actuallity it went on all night long.

Besides the 160th and Rangers, Delta Force and SF were also involved. I spoke with a couple of the SF guys afterwards and the estimates of Somali dead and/or wounded were close to 3000, Several aircraft besides the ones lost were pretty chewed up. One made it to the port. I was part of the aircraft recovery team (H Co, 159th Avn) that was sent to the port to assess recovery options. Initially, the plan was to load the aircraft on a flatbed and truck it back to the Airfield, but with the streets being so narrow, the risk of ambush was too much. Another option was to sling load the aircraft back utilizing either an Italian CH-47 (they delcined to offer any help) or one of the Russian Mi-26s (These, along with Mi-17s were operated by Russian crews and maintained by Russian mechanics working for Canadian Helicopters, under contract to the UN) at the airfield. Ultimately, the decision was made to fly the MH-60 back to the airfield despite the damage (from the port to the airfield, it’s just a matter of a two or three minute flight, while the ground route would have taken 15-20 minutes, due to the maze-like nature of the streets in that city).

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Just a few notes,

There were several U.S. Compounds. At the Airport the Air Force had one at the terminal, and the 160th and other special ops outfits were nearby, nottoo far from the hospital and bakery operated by the Romanians, the other U.S. Aviation assets were about a 1/2 mile away on the north end of the airfield with additional units set up on the far side of the airfield close to the beach.

The main supply depot and command elements were at the University and Soccer Stadium with an additional compound on the west side of town, so it wasn’t as if there were any single compound in the city.

As mentioned earlier, being mortared was a nightly event, at first at about 22:00 or 23:00, later at around 01:00 or 02:00, usually 60mm, but sometimes 81’s. Normally, it would be only two or three rounds, just enough to make us man the perimeters and keep us awake. A few aircraft were damaged enough to warrant sending them back to the states for repairs that couldn’t be done on site, but we were lucky in that we didn’t lose any people to mortar rounds.

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The movie left me in shambles…I cant imagine ever being in a situation that they were in, may they all rest in peace.

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“To absent friends”

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I served with SFC Shugart’s younger brother who also was in the Army in 1993. He went on to retire. Very fun guy that found humor in bad situations. If you didn’t know would never make the connection. Rangers lead the way!

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Not for SFC Matt Rierson…

Not many people know…but one of the Malaysian Armed Forces personal was killed during the extraction. PFC Mat Aznan Awang from 19 Royal Malay Regiment (Mechanized). While 7 others were wounded.

They might be shooting towards the sky as mentioned briefly in the book Battle of Mogadishu by Matt Eversmann, Dan Schilling and another 3rd fella. But to be there knowing what you’re bound to face needs lotsa courage. Especially more when you’re saving souls from country not of your own.

I salute all of them…! And to anyone else who’s been to combat when they have the chance of opting not to…

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does anyone know the serial numbers of the 2 blackhawks shot down?

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Yes, they were:

91-26324 - Super 61, ‘Thunderstruck’, Walcot’s bird
91-26350 - Super 64, ‘Venom’, Durant’s bird

For all the info you need on Op Gothic Serpent helos, check this thread.

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Thanks for posting that link, Heavy. I remembered seeing that info before, but didn’t remember where. Looking forward to building up my MH-60 that’s in my stash … but might just have to wait for the 20th anny.

Anyways, thanks again for the link.

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One thing that made me mad (beyond the stories we heard at the time of the event) was that my ship was transiting the Indian Ocean on our way to the Gulf when we were told we were to be diverted to Somalia. About a day or so before we were to arrive on station, we were redirected again–back toward the Gulf. I can’t help but wonder if we could have made any difference. I know it wouldn’t have changed the outcome of that particular day, but the air support couldn’t have hurt (not our guys anyway). Years later, I worked with a former crewman from the 160th who told me about that day. He was still bitter about much of it. He knew a couple of the guys from the two helos.

J.H., I see you live in Newnan–so do I. Thanks for your service BTW.

Jim

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I was thinking of building a Blackhawk helicopter from the “Battle of Mogadishu” 1993 .

However I must confess , I dont know which type of Blackhawk was used .

I have an old 1/72 Italeri UH-60 Blackhawk which I’m about to put back together , so I was wondering if it’s possible to make a “mogadishu” version with what I have .

I shortened a pair of ESSS weapons pylons and I have some 50.cal Guns along with some miniguns I think I could use .

I’m not sure which type of Tail plane I should use and are there any other major additions I need to add .

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated .

Kind regards John

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It looks like you have all you need in your pic. If you read the link above, it will give you all the details you need. They were basic MH-60Ls; which have the square stabilator (tail plane), no ESSS wings, no refueling probe, and only miniguns as weapons out the gunners’ windows. The rest of the details can be found at the link in my previous post.