It's June the 10th, 1988.
Shrouded in darkness two massive 4-engine C-5 Galaxy transport aircraft
from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Group
otherwise known as the “Night Stalkers”
roar towards an airfield in southern Chad.
Inside their cavernous fuselages,
two stripped down MH-47 Chinook transport helicopters
and more than 70 special forces soldiers from Fort Campbell, Kentucky
are ready for action.
The commandos are well-trained and heavily armed,
but few know their true identity,
though it’s rumored they’re Delta Force.
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This is the way.
Moments later as the planes descend towards the airstrip
the fragile quiet is shattered by screeching tires
slamming into the hot tarmac.
Then with a deafening rush the C-5’s powerful thrust reversers
send clouds of sand roiling into the desert air
as the planes lurch to a stop.
Taxiing to nearby staging areas,
the crews unload the MH-47s,
top off their tanks and prepare them for the next leg of the journey.
Checking their gear and climbing into the Chinooks
as the sun peeks over the horizon, the twin turbines spool up
and the hefty 3-bladed rotors chop through the dry air
lifting the huge birds skywards.
At full throttle they climb and head towards the abandoned Libyan airbase
at Ouadi Doum in northeast Chad.
If everything goes as planned,
by this time tomorrow they’d have pulled off one of the most brazen heists in military history.
Meanwhile more than 600 miles away at Ouadi Doum,
French and American servicemen scramble to make last minute preparations.
The prize is a Soviet Mi-25 Hind D –
the export version of the vaunted Mil Mi-24
which was so feared in Afghanistan it was nicknamed "The Devil's Chariot".
The Soviet pilots refer to it simply as “The Flying Tank”.
A colossal 18,000 pound beast,
it's equal parts gunship and troop transport,
it’s the Soviet’s most advanced helicopter.
Exceptionally fast, well armed and well armored.
The Americans don’t have anything like it,
and top military brass and the CIA have been dying to get their hands on one.
Now as the Chinooks touch down
the teams dismount and make contact with the advance forces.
At nearly 130 degrees in the shade it’s brutally hot,
but with its rotor and stubby wings removed
the Hind is ready to make its unceremonious exit.
Recon teams scouting the area have just radioed in an updated report.
The Libyan forces are patrolling within a few miles of the airbase,
and chances are they wouldn’t take kindly to having their prized Russian wonder weapon
snatched from right under their noses,
Just months before, opting to destroy the Hind rather than letting it fall into enemy hands,
General Gadaffi ordered his ragtag air force to destroy it
and the other military equipment left behind by his retreating army
after they’d been routed by the Chadian forces.
But in another stroke of good luck for the Americans,
the Libyan pilots must’ve had an off day,
because the enigmatic attack helicopter survived without a scratch.
Designated Chalk 1 and Chalk 2,
the first helicopter lands while the second hovers just above the Hind
in preparation for loading.
Too bulky to fit inside its cargo bay,
the heavy and unwieldy Hind will have to be slung underneath the MH-47 –
a precarious operation even under optimum conditions.
Factor in desert winds,
overly taxed engines and the potential for enemy fire,
and things could go wrong in a heartbeat.
Nearly 8,000 horsepower surges through the driveshaft to the twin rotors,
and after a brief shudder the stalwart Chinook
lifts the Soviet hardware into the sky.
Nearby, finished loading miscellaneous equipment and the remaining troops,
Chalk 2 also ascends
and the pair begins the long slow trek back to N'djamena Airfield and the waiting C-5s,
while the Libyans within a stone’s throw of the colossal caper remain totally clueless.
Once at a French Foreign Legion airfield,
it’s meant to be relatively smooth sailing
that is until just an hour from the safety of N’djamena
they run into an imposing sandstorm blocking their path at 3,000 feet.
In seconds visibility plummets to zero,
and buffeted by turbulence and tethered to the cumbersome and clandestine cargo
swinging like a giant pendulum beneath them,
the pilots reduce speed to less than 50 miles an hour
and fly within sight of one another to avoid a collision.
With the sandstorm still raging around them,
they miraculously land with their priceless payload intact,
but it’s another 30 minutes until the storm abates
and the ground crews are able to load the Soviet warbird into the C-5
that’ll haul it back to the states where it’ll undergo exhaustive testing and analysis.
In less than 70 hours starting from Fort Campbell, Kentucky,
the team flew halfway around the world, stole a prized piece of military hardware
and returned safely without firing a shot or losing a single serviceman.
A tactical coup that’s still celebrated as one of the most daring raids of all time.
Though ironically, just a few years later with the fall of the Soviet Union,
Hinds of various models became available in relatively large numbers,
in many cases for just pennies on the dollar.
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