26 YEARS AGO SERBIA SHOT DOWN THE “INVISIBLE”: In Buđanovci, a kolo was danced on the wings of a downed American plane! (PHOTO)

On this day exactly 26 years ago, the 250th Air Defense Brigade shot down the “invisible” F-117A aircraft, the pride of American combat aviation. The residents of the quiet Srem village of Buđanovci were then dazzled by a burning ball that crashed to the ground like a comet and left them all in shock. The downing of this plane represents the first and only confirmed loss of a NATO alliance aircraft made with stealth technology during the bombing of FRY.

On March 27, 1999, at around 8:40 PM, a target was spotted in the sky on a modified radar of the Russian S-125 missile system, and after only 60 seconds, the plane was hit by “neva” type missiles above the Vojvodina village of Buđanovci near Ruma. The unit that shot down the plane was commanded by Colonel Zoltan Dani.

As if a comet is falling

The symbol of the power and indestructibility of the USA ended ingloriously in the Srem plain, thanks to the ability of our Air Defense. The residents of this small village witnessed everything, and it seemed to them as if an apocalypse was happening.

Shortly after the fall of the famous F-117, residents began to arrive at the crater where the plane was still burning, rejoicing that the miracle of technology, which until then was considered invisible to radars, had been shot down.

-It was like we were at “Marakana”. It was shining like that. It was a red-hot ball in the sky. Everyone who watched later said that it looked like it was going to fall on them directly. It looked like that to me at that moment too – Slavoljub Jovanović said earlier, adding that the residents of Buđanovci will never forget that moment.

-It looked like a comet rushing at us. No one at that moment knew what was flying and what was falling – adds another neighbor, who was mobilized at the time.

Everyone wanted to take pictures, jump on parts of the plane and dance the kolo, or tear off a piece to take as a souvenir.

Apology from the American pilot

American pilot Dale Zelko was piloting the pride of American aviation, and years after the NATO bombing, Zoltan Dani said that he later became friends with Zelko.

As Zoltan said earlier, the American pilot confided in him and offered an apology for participating in the bombing. He says that if he had known the real truth about the situation in Serbia, he would not have participated in the bombing.

-He believed that the situation was different and all the pilots were convinced that they were bringing freedom and democracy to Serbia. He realized that the background of everything was something else and that Serbia was bombed for political reasons. He says he is sorry that he participated in the bombing of Serbia and that they were deceived. They were convinced that they came for humanitarian reasons to improve the situation. If he had known the real truth, he would not have participated in it. He regrets that he dropped bombs on Serbian children – says Dani.

Zoltan, now a retired colonel, said at the 20th anniversary of the downing of the plane that it seems to him as if the bombing was yesterday: “Everything is fresh. The wounds are great, both among the population and among our comrades, they are fresh and deep”.

Two films were made

Two films were made about him and the American pilot – “21 seconds”, and then “Second Meeting”, directed by Željko Mirković.

13 years ago, speaking about the idea for the film “Second Meeting”, Dani told Blic:

-There is also a scene in which my older son Atila invites me to watch together the statement of pilot Zelko. The son downloaded it from the Internet – Zelko talks about how it was when he was shot down over Yugoslavia. At that moment, my son spontaneously asks me what I would say to Dale if we met one day? I replied that I would have nothing against it because we were both professionals and carried out the tasks assigned to us by our superiors and that I would tell him: let’s go for a drink! At that moment, Željko Mirković had the idea to make it happen and we started working on the film “Second Meeting” – he says.

Contact was established via the Internet, Dani and Dale exchanged letters, mostly about family and everyday topics and problems. He says that their first meeting was in Buđanovci, and the second, peaceful one, took place, at the suggestion of film director Mirković, in a bakery in Skorenovac, where our colonel was working at the time.

-The feeling was extraordinary, very unusual, and at the same time as if it was just an ordinary meeting with a neighbor. During our correspondence and preparation for that meeting, the feeling gradually developed that it was, after all, something special, both for Dale and for me. Our relationship is now apolitical and completely human. At no point did I have a dilemma whether to meet Dale Zelko. I am completely convinced that it is always better to socialize and talk about the basic values of family and society than to 1 wage war – he told “Blic”.

The only American military aircraft located abroad

The remains of the plane known as the “Nighthawk”, which gained a reputation for combat flights over Iraq in the Gulf War in 1991, when it flew unnoticed over Iraqi radars 1,270 times, are today exhibits of the Military and Aviation Museum, and the clearing in Buđanovci has become a place that many visit on the anniversary of the fall, March 27.

It is also the only American-made military aircraft whose parts are located on non-American soil.