Wreckage of F-16C Downed in Bosnia War Is Found

American military officials confirmed Friday that wreckage found in northwestern Bosnia is from the F-16C piloted by U.S. Air Force Capt. Scott F. O’Grady when he was shot down June 2, 1995.

Six days after O’Grady was shot down, U.S. Marines, braving Serbian missiles and rebel guns, flew helicopters into hostile territory and rescued the pilot, who had remained in hiding after being shot down.

A statement the Stabilization Force in Bosnia, known as SFOR, said that members of a demining team had recently reported the location of scattered wreckage of a military aircraft. SFOR then dispatched a team to secure the site.

Peacekeeping officials said the wreckage was between the towns of Prijedor and Drvar.

At the time of his rescue, O’Grady, of Spokane, Wash., emerged from a pine-covered forest with a pistol in his hand near the location where his F-16C jet was shot down by a Serbian missile.

According to the statement released by SFOR in Sarajevo, the crash site is densely thicketed and in a mountainous area of known and suspected mine hazards.

SFOR said the survey team conducted a thorough search of the area, discovering the main impact point and many pieces of the aircraft spread over a wide area.

The survey team found several man-size pieces of the wing and airframe, but most of the wreckage consisted of small metal fragments.

The 43-month Bosnian war ended with the signing in December 1995 in Paris of a peace agreement reached in Dayton, Ohio, the town after which the accord was named.