US forces undertook a daring military operation to rescue an airman flying an aircraft with the call sign ‘Dude 44’ as the service member hid in the crevice of a mountain.
The unidentified airman was one of two crew members flying inside an F-15E Strike Eagle when it was struck down over a remote area of Iran.
A pilot and a weapons system officer were both flying in the F-15E with the call sign of ‘Dude 44’ when the aircraft was struck and they abandoned in parachutes.
The pilot was rescued by two military helicopters that same day, but the airman remained missing for nearly 48 hours.
The weapons system officer only had a handgun to protect himself and was left seriously injured after being thrown out of the F-15.
But he managed to evade Iranians for nearly two days by climbing 7,000 feet atop a mountain and hiding in a remote crevice.
Meanwhile, some 100 special-operations forces, dozens of US warplanes and helicopters scoured the area for him and shot missiles at any Iranian forces that got too close, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The US military even decided to buy itself more time to find the airman by using the CIA to spread a false message that US forces already located the airman.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefed President Donald Trump after an F-15E Strike Eagle with the call sign ‘Dude 44’ was struck down over a remote region of Iran
![Iranian state media released images of the search and rescue plane, which it claimed it shot down, though the US military says it 'blew [them] up' themselves](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2026/04/06/03/107666215-15708691-Iranian_state_media_released_images_of_the_search_and_rescue_pla-a-3_1775444028177.jpg)
Iranian state media released images of the search and rescue plane, which it claimed it shot down, though the US military says it ‘blew [them] up’ themselves
The quick-thinking pilots then pulled their ejection handle, blasting the seats out of the cockpit and deploying their parachutes as the damaged plane crashed inside Iranian territory
When they finally whisked the airman to safety, American soldiers blew up the aircraft stranded on the ground rather than let the military equipment fall into Iranian hands.
US forces were ultimately able to escape, and a plane flew the injured airman to Kuwait for medical treatment. There were no US casualties in the rescue operation.
The weapons-system officer was flying in the back seat when the F-15E came under fire by Iranian fire.
The quick-thinking pilots then pulled their ejection handle, blasting the seats out of the cockpit and deploying their parachutes as the damaged plane crashed.
Iranian state media was the first to report that the F-15E had crashed. One news anchor said the Iranian military put a $60,000 bounty on the head of any survivor.
‘If you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police, you will receive a precious prize’ the anchor said.
Meanwhile in Washington, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, briefed President Donald Trump on the situation.
They told him the Pentagon had planned for such a scenario and could rescue the airman, a plan Trump immediately agreed to.
Following the crash, Iranian military forces put a $60,000 bounty on the airman’s head, prompting Iranian militants to hunt for him in the mountains. (Pictured: Bakhtiari tribes in Khuzestan headed into the mountains, rifles in hand, searching for the missing American F-15 jet pilot)
‘We have to get him,’ the president reportedly said, worried that video footage of a captured US airman in enemy hands would hand Tehran a major propaganda tool as Trump continued to push for the Iranian regime to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
It marked the first time a piloted US aircraft had been lost over enemy territory in more than 20 years.
As the operation then got underway, four B-1 bombers – part of a larger armada – dropped nearly 100 2,000 pound satellite guided bombs and MQ-9 Reaper drones struck suspected fighters as they approached the aviator’s hiding spot.
The two pilots had landed a great distance apart because of the speed at which the jet was traveling when the airmen evacuated.
Ultimately, US military officials had received ‘beeping information’ about the airman’s location, but a radio message threw them off, making them think Iranians were ‘sending false signals’ and trying to draw American forces into a trap, Trump told Axios.
According to the president, after he was ejected from the plane, the airman said: ‘Power be to God,’ but it was later confirmed by a US defense official that the exact phrase was: ‘God is good.’
‘What he said on the radio sounded like something a Muslim would say,’ Trump continued, adding that those who know the officer said he is a religious person.
But as the airman went deeper into hiding in the mountain, his communication went in and out as US officials sought to track his location.
An F-15E Strike Eagle like the one that was struck down on Friday is pictured
To do so, the US military redirected aircraft in the region to help with the mission, causing some planned targets – including missile launcher sites – to go unharmed, allowing Iranian forces to fire more weapons than usual.
‘They were out there looking for him, the soldiers were all over the place looking for him because they knew he was somewhere,’ Trump told the Journal.
At first, the US forces faced some difficulty in trying to rescue the airman, aborting their first effort when two H-6 took fire from the ground, wounding the crew in both aircraft and requiring them to land safely in Kuwait.
Two MC-130Js, a special operations aircraft, also faced problems when their nose wheels sank into the ground and couldn’t take off, leaving more military personnel stranded behind enemy lines as Basij fighters closed in on their botched rescue site using helicopters and drones to find him.
As a contingency plan, three smaller planes carrying special teams made their way to a remote staging area.
The US also decided to deploy MQ-9 Reaper drones and other aircraft to strike the Iranian trackers, as the CIA used its capabilities to pinpoint the aviator’s location to a mountain crevice – which one administration official described as finding a needle in a haystack.
The agency then continued to feed US forces with real time information – and even carried out a deception operation, spreading false word that the US military had already located the airman and were preparing to rescue him.
The airman was referred to as a ‘valuable package’ that they were trying to move ‘out of the country through a maritime exfil,’ a senior US official told Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.
‘This was meant to draw Iranians away from the area where the US crew member was located. The deception campaign worked,’ the official added.
Media in Iran posted images of items where a US C-130 transport planes were seen completely destroyed on the remote airfield inside Iran after daring raid to rescue downed US airman
Some of the supplies reportedly left in the US C-130 transport planes
US forces then coordinated with their Israeli counterparts to share the intelligence they had received from the CIA to pause attacks in the area.
Israel also conducted its own strikes in the area in coordination with US forces, striking any assets that could pose a threat to the evacuation efforts.
Once the airman was then safe, US forces decided were forced to ‘blow up’ their two stuck MC-130Js, which cost more than $100 million each, as well as two MH-6 Little Bird helicopters, which can cost up to $7.5 million.
It was a move likely to have cost millions of dollars to the US military and showed the urgency of the US forces to evacuate under extreme pressure.
On Saturday evening, Trump confirmed the airman was rescued safely, posting to Truth Social: ‘WE GOT HIM! My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History, for one of our incredible Crew Member Officers, who also happens to be a highly respected Colonel, and who I am thrilled to let you know is now SAFE and SOUND!
‘This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour, but was never truly alone because his Commander in Chief, Secretary of War, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and fellow Warfighters were monitoring his location 24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue.’
Trump touted the operation further, calling it ‘one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History’.
The president posted about the airman again on Sunday, praising the successful mission and announcing he will be holding a news conference about the rescue on Monday at 1pm alongside members of the US military in the Oval Office.
He added: ‘Bless our great MILITARY WARRIORS!’
