US F-15E pilot shot down twice during Iran war and lived to tell the tale: report

A US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle pilot was shot down twice in less than a month during the Iran war — but managed to walk away both times, according to a new report.The pilot, who has never publicly been named, had suffered one of the most arduous five-weeks of any Air Force aviator since the Vietnam war, former and current military officials told the High Side Substack, with his bad luck beginning with a friendly-fire incident in Kuwait on March 2.The incident saw Kuwait’s defense forces accidentally fire on three F-15E Strike Eagle jets, with all six crew members forced to eject and land safely within the allied nation.

Despite the incident, the pilots were already back in the cockpit four weeks later to carry out a bombing in Tehran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the time, touting the aviators’ valor.But bad luck struck one of the pilots again just days after the operation when an F-15E fighter jet was hit over Iran, sending two aviators down in enemy territory.

The pilot was quickly rescued on April 3, but the weapons officer had been injured and forced into hiding after Iran placed a bounty on his head.The Air Force colonel was rescued the following day after the military tracked him to a location in the Zagros Mountain, where he had been taking refuge.

Military officials suggested that the pilot, having been hit twice within five weeks, was “almost certainly” the first fixed-wing Air Force aviator to be shot down twice in the same conflict since the Vietnam War, according to High Side.US Central Command declined to The Post’s request for comment....