Opinion

High-risk effort to save 'Dude 44' crew is most incredible combat rescue in US history

Fleet of aircraft created seven deception areas to fool IRGC while rescuers extracted two downed F-15E crew members

By Rebecca Grant Fox News

Published April 7, 2026 12:38pm EDT

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American airman rescue: Inside the daring mission in Iran that saved 'Dude 44 Bravo'

Former Navy SEAL Andy Stumpf details the harrowing rescue of an American airman, 'Dude 44 Bravo,' from Iran. The mission, involving 155 aircraft, highlights survival skills and military evolution since the failed 1980 Operation Eagle Claw.

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You have just seen the most audacious air combat search-and-rescue mission in American history. No other mission compares to the operation to bring home the F-15E crew known as ‘Dude 44.’ 

U.S. military helicopters have been picking up downed pilots under fire since the Korean War. In Vietnam, pilots were plucked from the tall grass and karst ridges and jungles under enemy fire. U.S. Air Force rescuers saved 1,201 aircrew from the Air Force alone, and a total of 2,780 U.S. service members in combat situations. 

Over Iran, the sheer number of planes and people involved and exposed to danger dwarfs any other single rescue in the annals of air warfare. For nearly 48 hours, beginning at 4:40 a.m. local time on April 2, over 155 aircraft and hundreds of military personnel put their lives on the line for a mission 200 miles inside Iran. And everyone came back alive. That’s air dominance. 

DR MARC SIEGEL: BLEEDING, ALONE AND HUNTED -- A DOWNED COLONEL’S MIRACLE SURVIVAL

"This rescue captured the world’s imagination," President Donald Trump said at the Pentagon on Monday. The astonishing technology of a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle is remote, and almost superhuman in its sophistication. But from the moment Americans........

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