Battle of the Black Sea (BlackHawk Down, Somalia)

[Gman]

CBS has gotten a hold of the actual footage of the first insertion of Delta operators onto the rooftops, as well as the first UH 60 getting hit and going down.  The crash is pretty brutal, even with 20 year old video technology.  The Delta guy they interview is "Hoot" from the book if you've read it, the blonde haired "surfer guy" who skipped over the Rangers and went straight to SFOD-D selection and passed, and was always trying to find new ways to torture himself with exercises.  He also went back into the Bakara Market undercover as a reporter right after the main battle was over, trying to locate the captured Durant.  Pretty brave, to go back into that hornets nest after that fight, unarmed with a camera.  He returned after 3 days and had located all of the bodies of the US soldiers who had been dragged through the streets. 

http://theaviationist.com/2013/10/05/black-hawk-down-video/#.UlL2ixDiGPs


Also, Sgt Jeff Strueker, who became a Major and a Chaplain in the army after the fighting in Mogadishu, has returned to the scene of the battle on this the 20th anniversary of that day.  It's a pretty short documentary, but worth watching in memory of those who didn't make it back.

http://returntomogadishu.com/

[Bodhi]

Wow, never saw that before. 

[Nefarious]

I saw that on 60 Minutes Sunday... It left me with one question about the footage.

Who or what shot the video? The video is stable as if secured by Gyro, it almost gave the appearance it was filmed by drone, but I'm guessing it was filmed by another helicopter, just distanced some ways from the insertion.

Any ideas on how they filmed it?

[DaveBB]

They had C&C (Command and Control) aircraft in the area. If I recall correctly, it was a P-3 Orion.  One of the major problems with the battle is that the C&C aircraft couldn't talk directly to the convoy, so when it saw the convoy coming up to a turn, it had to relay that message back to base camp, and from base camp to the convoy.  Many wrong turns were taken because of that.

[Nefarious]

They had C&C (Command and Control) aircraft in the area. If I recall correctly, it was a P-3 Orion.  One of the major problems with the battle is that the C&C aircraft couldn't talk directly to the convoy, so when it saw the convoy coming up to a turn, it had to relay that message back to base camp, and from base camp to the convoy.  Many wrong turns were taken because of that.

Thanks, that would explain why the footage seemed far from the insertion but relatively good detail and stability.

[Bodhi]

I saw that on 60 Minutes Sunday... It left me with one question about the footage.

Who or what shot the video? The video is stable as if secured by Gyro, it almost gave the appearance it was filmed by drone, but I'm guessing it was filmed by another helicopter, just distanced some ways from the insertion.

Any ideas on how they filmed it?

I believe they also had 2 Blackhawks acting as control birds flying over the area as there were no MPADS at that time, just RPG's.  That might explain some of the visual issues.  Not for sure though.

[USRanger]

I joined the Rangers the year after it went down.  After that battle, I knew what I wanted to do with my life.

[ozrocker]

Taken from context.
 It features the moment of shooting down of Super 61.
It was shot from the surveillance Little Bird that coordinated the operation.


                                                                                                                                                Oz

[Plawranc]

I remember watching Black Hawk down as a kid and thinking just how impossible that situation was.

[Reaper90]

I remember watching Black Hawk down as a kid and thinking just how impossible that situation was.

You have no idea.... after talking to my brother and a few of his buddies, and reading the first hand accounts they put down on paper immediately after coming back.... I was amazed, and eternally thankful, that I still had a little brother. The movie just reinforced what I already knew, and to the producers' and director's credit, he said they couldn't have made it more realistic without actually killing people for real. It had been a few years, and it was still very difficult for him to watch it.

David and my dad just got back from the 20 year reunion up at Ft. Bragg... I have a bunch of pics I helped my dad take off his camera. Give me a couple of days and I'll share a few, with David's permission.