F-16CG 90-0776

[Maple1]

F-16CG 90-0776 Lost in Iraq

RIP

[Richard Pawloski]

The F-16 was reported as doing a strafe mission had somekind of problem
causing it to fly erratically and then crash. Enormous speculation but
since no ejection attempt was made it may have been a wounded pilot hit from
the "golden BB" - a sniper with a 50 cal rifle would perhaps have a good
chance or just a swarm of ground fire. What bothers me is that the
possibility exists that the rags on the ground stole the body or what was
left of it - a cultural trademark. What happened to the wing or flight lead
flying cover? How come with all the aircraft flying in Iraq the USAF could
not set up a res-CAP to watch the wreckage area? Did the "CC" Wing deploy
with targeting pods? Other aircraft could "watch" from afar if they were
there? Isn't it sad we do not have manned FAC's anymore and perhaps where
was the famous Predator with its cameras? I do not want to believe that
this section of Falcon's was all that was up for a few hundred miles and
friendly troops did not have the ability to get to the crash site when the
jet was working a CAS mission.... what the hell is going on over there