So there I was....

I flew a strike mission out of Brnik (Block 50/22nd FS) to hit the gas plant northeast of Zagreb. Loaded four slammers, two 9x and two -84s. Ingress was uneventful and I really shacked the target in a 30 degree CCIP drop. Pickled the pair with 444 feet interval. Destroyed every structure at the facility in this pass. Took some AAA coming off target, which missed. With the rails still full of missiles I headed south toward Bihac and Udbina. Picked up a pair of Fulcrum-A's and turned to intercept.

At about 20 miles they must have picked me up and they turned toward. At 14 miles I fired at the lead ship. I transitioned to TWS and at 9 miles I fired at the wingman who had offset to the northeast (left), while I lost sight of the leader. I watched number two explode in a fireball and I initiated a turn to find the leader. I swung the nose about 30 degrees while frantically scanning outside when wham!. I instinctively reached for the Oh Sh!t handle and wham! Dead.

The camera showed the MiG, smoking, but alive. I had hit him but didn't knock him down. He had then flown past at the merge while I was tracking his wingman. He got around behind me and fired two Archers, both of which hit and killed me. I've been shot down a number of times since getting in to BMS, but this was my first death. Had to happen sooner or later. The ironic thing is I was shot down and killed by a MiG-29A, the same airframe I had dismissed as little threat a few posts back.