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F-117 Pilots Receive Distinguished Flying Cross For First Strike Mission
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Lt. Col. David Toomey and Maj. Mark Hoehn, the two F-117A Nighthawk pilots who flew the first strike mission in Operation Iraqi Freedom, were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in late April. On 19 March, the opening day of the air campaign, Toomey and Hoehn flew the mission that targeted a senior Iraqi leadership compound in Baghdad where intelligence sources believed Saddam Hussein and other top regime leaders were staying. The pilots, who were assigned to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing at a forward-deployed desert air base, launched on the strike less than two hours after being notified of the mission, with minimal planning material available. They met up with aerial refueling and electronic warfare aircraft on their way to Baghdad and coordinated the many details of the mission elements they needed in the air to support the attack formation. Despite minor malfunctions, both pilots penetrated the defenses and placed enhanced precision munitions exactly on target within one second of the planned time over target. |
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