User:Flight 117/sandbox

Flight 117 is a group of 47 United States Air Force men and women who graduated flight training at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota on November 12, 1998. Many of the members of this flight served in wars around the world, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Germany, Kosovo, and Pakistan.

One of their most notable missions was a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. During this war, the United States Air force deployed several units to Kosovo. This was one of the most successful missions the Air Force has accomplished, losing only 2 aircraft. The first plane that was lost was a F-117. The American battery commander, whose missiles downed an F-117, and, most unfortunately, an American F-16, in 1999, has retired, as a colonel, and revealed many of the techniques he used to achieve all this. The F-16 was piloted by a member of Flight 117, Matt Fiorta. Other members of the flight, including Christopher Baralan, Peter Larise, Bruce Wood, Timothy Reubic and Zachary Howell, were flying in the squadron with Fiorta when his aircraft was shot down by friendly fire. After much investigation, it was discovered that the missile that brought down the F-16 was fired due to a miscommunication. No charges were filed.

Of the other 7 wars and battles that flight 117 was involved in, there were no other casualties. One pilot, Timothy Reubic, is now a commanding officer at Ellsworth Air Force base in South Dakota, and is the last enlisted pilot from Flight 117. Zachary Howell, Bruce Wood, and Monica Gurnay now live in Roswell, New Mexico. Christopher Baralan now resides in New York City. The locations of the other pilots of Flight 117 is currently unknown.