Watch Gulf War Footage of an F-16 Dodging 6 Iraqi Missiles

December 4, 2021 Topic: F-16 Region: Middle East Blog Brand: The Reboot Tags: F-16IraqGulf WarFighter Jet FootageU.S. Air Force

Watch Gulf War Footage of an F-16 Dodging 6 Iraqi Missiles

In ten minutes of hair-raising Gulf War combat footage, a U.S. F-16 pilot doggedly keeps his cool while under enemy fire.

Here's What You Need to Know: The video is dated to January 1991.

In ten minutes of hair-raising Gulf War combat footage, a U.S. F-16 pilot doggedly keeps his cool while under enemy fire.

A recent Reddit upload shows a U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot going toe to toe with a host of Iraqi missile sites during the Gulf War. The black and white video is shot from the pilot’s flight camera, but it’s the gritty and tense audio that ensures viewers don’t forget that they’re watching actual pilots, in real combat.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/2uh4yMAx2UA

The pilot’s callsign is “Stroke 3,” and throughout the 10-minute video, he narrowly escapes danger and possible death numerous times.

At four minutes, a voice calls out that there’s a SAM-lock, meaning a lock from a surface-to-air missile.

“Stroke 3 break right. Break right. SAM lock,” says a fellow pilot.

At six minutes the chirp from the console reaches fever pitch, as the pilot takes a deep breath and gasps and swears.

The video was uploaded to Reddit in March 2016, and the thread exploded with comments on the incredible stress the pilots endure in the video.

The video was originally uploaded to YouTube by Scott Jackson, with the title “F-16 dodging 6 Iraqi SAM launches on Jan. 19, 1991.” According to Jackson’s upload, the video was from a daytime raid on Iraqi military targets.

This article by James Clark originally appeared at Task & Purpose in 2016. Follow Task & Purpose on Twitter.

Image: Flickr/U.S. Air Force