深入敌后：营救坠落在伊朗的美国空军人员的大胆行动

Inside the daring mission to rescue a U.S. airman downed in Iran

2026-04-06T11:00:00-0500 / CBS News

The United States scrambled a massive clandestine and fighting force to rescue a weapons systems operator who had to eject from his fighter jet over central Iran last week, eventually sending more than 150 aircraft to beat Iranian forces in the race to find the Air Force colonel, as the search stretched from hours into days, sources familiar with the situation told CBS News.

And more than 200 munitions were used.

The weapons airman survived nearly two days behind enemy lines, sheltering in a rocky mountain crevice, multiple officials familiar with the rescue said.

The recovery of the downed airman unfolded against the backdrop of escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical channel for global oil trade. President Trump halted other planned U.S. military operations against Iran, redirecting attention and resources in a herculean U.S. government effort toward locating and extracting the stranded American service member, sources told CBS News.

In this image provided by Sepahnews, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s official website, black smoke rises into the air at what Iran’s state TV claimed was the site where an American transport plane and two helicopters involved in a rescue operation were shot down, in Isfahan province, Iran, April, 2026.Sepahnews via AP

The search zeroed in on the stranded crew member’s beacon and eventually brought him to safety Sunday morning local time.

Here’s the timeline leading up to the crash and the rescue. The following reporting is based on conversations with multiple officials familiar with the search and rescue mission.

Thursday

President Trump was not seen in public on Thursday, when the nation’s attention had turned largely to the unfolding drama at the Justice Department, as Mr. Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi. The president also celebrated a planning board’s approval of his plans for a new ballroom at the White House.

Behind the scenes though, Mr. Trump and his core national security team huddled at the White House, preparing for additional U.S. military operations against Iran.

On Truth Social, the president said Iran had not yet seen the full might of the U.S. military and threatened further attacks. “Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!” he wrote.

So far, the war had been an air campaign. No known American ground forces had entered Iran.

Just before 10 p.m. ET, the F-15E Strike Eagle, referred to by the call sign Dude 44, was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, inadvertently putting two U.S. airmen on the ground in Iran. The fighter jet had been on a strike mission.

Search and rescue operations, authorized by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, began before midnight. Twenty-one aircraft moved deep into Iranian territory. Navy SEALs, Army and Air Force Special Operations Aviation and combat medic teams in the region mobilized.

Friday

American aircraft scoured rugged, mountainous terrain for the missing service members while taking enemy fire.

Initially, a dozen fighter jets were part of the mission. Four other planes were sent to jam enemy communications and conduct intelligence and reconnaissance. Five rescue aircraft also took to the sky.

The downed fighter jet’s pilot, call sign Dude 44A, was saved within hours. An HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter carrying the pilot to safety sustained damage from small arms fire, injuring crew members on board, but it ultimately landed safely in friendly territory. The pilot of another damaged aircraft, an A-10 Thunderbolt II, or Warthog for short, was forced to eject over the Persian Gulf and was rescued.

That left the Air Force weapons systems officer, separated from his crewmate, somewhere deep inside enemy territory, armed with a handgun, an encrypted communication device and a location beacon. He was injured when he ejected from the jet and began treating his own wounds. At the Pentagon, the colonel was designated “DUSTWUN” — military speak for Duty Status — Whereabouts Unknown.

CIA operatives launched a deception campaign, spreading word inside Iran that U.S. forces had already found the colonel and were moving him on the ground, out of the country.

In Washington, Mr. Trump spent the morning huddled in the Situation Room with Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mr. Trump later received updates in the Oval Office.

The CIA locked on to the downed airman’s exact location in a mountainous area south of Isfahan. At least half of Iran’s nuclear stockpile is believed to be stored at a facility nearby. Other planned operations were halted as U.S. military power — and the president’s attention — pivoted to the combat rescue mission.

When he could, the weapons officer radioed a message: “God is good.”

According to a U.S. official, the wording initially raised concerns that the American had been captured by Iranian forces. Trump administration officials were relieved to learn it wasn’t a hostage rescue situation.

Region of rescue and estimated location of wreckage from rescue mission aircraft

The F-15E was shot down in a mountainous region of southwest Iran, where the airman survived nearly two days behind enemy lines. This map shows the general region of the country where the rescue activity was concentrated as well as the approximate location of photographed wreckage from rescue aircraft.Credit: CBS News research and visual verification

Saturday

A sunny Saturday with highs in the 80s would normally be a golf day for the president. But a Marine sentry was spotted outside the West Wing most of the day Saturday, usually a sign the president is at work. The president’s communications director confirmed “he has been working nonstop in the White House and Oval Office,” an indication of the intense focus on the rescue mission.

Hegseth phoned in regular updates to the president.

Iranian and U.S. forces jockeyed to reach the stranded colonel first. Armed Iranians, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Basij militia and local law enforcement combed the terrain in search of the airman. A cash reward was offered for his capture. The U.S. military rapidly expanded the operation to find him.

By Saturday, the Pentagon had surged more than 150 planes to rescue the weapons system officer. That included 64 fighter jets, four bombers, 48 refuelers, 13 rescue aircraft and 26 intelligence and jamming aircraft, sources said.

Warplanes bombed Iranian convoys to block their advance toward the downed officer.

Navy SEALs recovered the airman from the mountain during daylight hours Sunday local time and flew him to safety.

Two C-130 transport planes tasked with flying out rescue crews got bogged down in loose soil and were unable to take off from a remote base in Iran. Those planes were blown up to keep them from being captured by the enemy, standard practice for the military. They were not attacked by Iranian forces.

Three additional aircraft were sent into theater to fetch the commandos. One official said they used a rudimentary airfield in Iran.

U.S. forces exited enemy airspace with planes touching down in Kuwait in succession. The mission was completed just before midnight Eastern Time.

The rescued airman was injured, Mr. Trump said, but safe and sound.