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BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents shot down a U.S. military helicopter south of Baghdad, and the two pilots were rescued with minor injuries, the military said Tuesday. The OH-58D Kiowa Attack helicopter was brougt down by ground fire on Monday. After an Apache helicopter rescued the two pilots, a U.S. warplane dropped two 500-pound, laser-guided bombs on the downed craft to destroy it, the military said in a statement. It gave no further details on the location of the crash and said the incident was under investigation.

Soviets Ordered Korean Airliner Shot Down in 1978 A KAL 707 airliner heading to Seoul from Paris was forced down on a frozen lake 200 miles south of Murmansk after it strayed off course into Soviet airspace on April 21, 1978. During the forced landing, fire from a Soviet jetfighter killed two and wounded 13./Chosun Ilbo DB MOSCOW -- A Korean Airlines (KAL) Boeing 707 carrying 110 passengers and crew from Paris to Seoul that was forced to land in Murmansk after it went off course in 1978 came under missile fire from a Soviet jetfighter, it was revealed Tuesday....

Sloniker Sends: Got the following from an Army Guard pilot from Missouri currently serving in Balad Iraq: Jim, I will do my best to recount what happened on November 12, 2004. I will only try to relay the facts. It is Standing Operating Procure for us to fly in pairs. Nov 12 was no exception. After what seemed like a routine flying mission over Baghdad. Dan Milberg was leading his flight of two UH-60 Blackhawk's back to our base at Balad. They were about 20 miles from Balad flying over a large date palm grove. The area North of Baghdad...

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) - Harding E. Smith's son had to wait almost 40 years to give the former Air Force lieutenant colonel a proper burial. The former Los Gatos resident had been missing and presumed killed in action after his AC-47 gunship was shot down over Laos in 1966. The crew's remains were discovered a decade ago, but his were positively identified only recently. He was buried Friday at Arlington National Cemetery. "I'm older than my father was when he was shot down," said Smith's son, Gene, a physics professor at the University of California, San Diego. He said he...

CINCINNATI - A federal appeals court Saturday reversed a lower court's ruling that Ohio voters could cast provisional ballots on Election Day anywhere in the county in which they are registered. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled that a provisional ballot cast outside a voter's home precinct isn't valid, agreeing with Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell. Federal law allows people to obtain provisional ballots if they are in the right jurisdiction. Blackwell, a Republican, defines that as a precinct, while Democrats say it's the voter's county. Ohio Democrats on Saturday night decided not to...

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) repeatedly authorized U.S. fighters to shoot down hijacked airliners as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks unfolded but his orders did not reach military pilots until the last of the four planes had already crashed, the commission investigating the terrorist attacks said Thursday. Cheney at one point believed incorrectly that his orders had resulted in the shoot-down of a couple aircraft. The commission's report documented a day of confusion and miscommunication at the White House, Pentagon (news - web sites), the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) and the North...

<p>CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar  — A coalition A-10 "Warthog" warplane was shot down near Baghdad early Tuesday in what was believed to be the first downing of a coalition aircraft by an Iraqi surface-to-air missile.</p> <p>The pilot ejected safely and was recovered by coalition ground forces near the airport, U.S. Central Command said. The pilot was reported to be in good condition.</p>

Britain has lost 14 men in two helicopter aircrashes since Thursday.

KARACHI: An unmanned US surveillance plane crashed in southern Pakistan on Wednesday just after it took off from a military air base, a police official said. "The plane took off from Jacobabad air base at around midday on Wednesday, but crashed soon afterwards," Rana Fathe Shar Joya, a senior police official, said from Jacobabad in the southern Sindh province. He cited technical problems as the cause of the incident and dismissed speculation it may have been shot down. "It fell some seven km from the city near the airport. There were no casualties," he said. Police reported a similar accident...