Scott F. O'Grady (born October 12, 1965 in Brooklyn
, New York
) is a former
United States Air Force
fighter pilot who gained prominence after the Mrkonjić Grad
incident
, in which he ejected over Bosnia
when his F-16C
was shot down by a Bosnian Serb SA-6 while he
was patrolling the no-fly zone.
He also
participated in the Banja Luka incident
where he fired upon one enemy
aircraft.
The
Mrkonjić Grad
incident occurred near Mrkonjić Grad
in Serb territory.
He
survived for six days by eating leaves, grass and ants, and
avoiding Serb patrols while trying to contact Magic, NATO
's airborne
command center. He evaded capture and was rescued on June 8,
by
U.S. Marines of the
24th Marine Expeditionary
Unit based on the
USS
Kearsarge.
The film
Behind Enemy
Lines is loosely based on his story. Although he gave it a
positive rating on the movie review television show
Hot Or
Not, he sued the movie company in 2002 for making the film
without his permission. O'Grady authored two books along with
Michael French and Jeff Coplon detailing his experiences of being
shot down over Bosnia and his eventual rescue —
Return
with Honor and
Basher Five-Two (O'Grady's call
sign).
The incident was later depicted on the documentary television
program
Situation
Critical in episode #5 "Downed Pilot", and "Escape! -
Escape From Bosnia: The Scott O'Grady Story" on the
History Channel.
Personal
O'Grady
graduated from Lewis and
Clark High School in Spokane, Washington
. He is a former cadet in the Civil Air Patrol and a 1989 Air Force ROTC
graduate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University
. Three years after he was rescued, O'Grady
left active duty in the U.S. Air Force. In May 2007, he completed a
master's degree in
biblical studies at
Dallas Theological
Seminary.
References
Bibliography
- O'Grady, Captain Scott (with Jeff Coplon). Return with
Honor, New York: Doubleday, 1995. (ISBN
0385483309)
- O'Grady, Scott (with Michael French). Basher Five-Two: The
True Story of F-16 Fighter Pilot Captain Scott O'Grady, New
York: Doubleday, 1997. (ISBN 0-385-32300-X)
- Kelly, Mary Pat. "Good to Go": The Rescue of Capt.
Scott O'Grady, USAF, from Bosnia, Naval Institute Press,
1996. (ISBN 1-55750-459-8)
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