As the Iranians closed in, an elite unit of American rescue troops – under heavy fire – swooped to grab the stranded pilot: IAN GALLAGHER

It’s early Friday morning and the F-15E Strike Eagle’s two-man crew is doing final checks before takeoff.

First the navigation screen, then the weapon systems. The pilot pushes the throttle to full power and accelerates down the runway, leaving the giant Muwaffaq Salti air base in northwestern Jordan behind.

Thus begins their fateful journey through Iraq to southwestern Iran, more than 800 miles away.

American airmen who deployed to the Middle East from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk last month had plenty of time to reflect on their mission as Donald Trump launched Operation Epic Fury.

Who knows what comes to mind as they think about the days ahead?

Perhaps they remembered the low-altitude flight exercises they carried out in South Wales or the grueling ‘post-capture behavior’ training in the Arizona desert.

Of course, they were buoyed by the fact that not a single US plane had been lost to enemy fire since the start of the war and by President Trump’s claim to have complete command of the skies over Iran.

Once airborne, however, they had little time to think beyond the task at hand.

Engine performance, fuel status and avionics will be constantly monitored by the pilot, who is in regular communication with the command.

Behind him, in the rear seat of the cockpit, the weapons systems officer operated the complex radar, sensor and defense systems.

The F-15E Strike Eagle is designed for both air-to-air combat and long-range ground attack missions.

Known as the ‘bomb truck’, it can carry up to 20,000lb of mixed air-to-surface and air-to-air weapons, including laser-guided bombs, missiles and even nuclear weapons.

Exact details are sketchy, but the fighter jet, traveling at more than 1,800 mph, likely took about 20 minutes to reach Iranian airspace.

Considering what happened later, it is worth noting that the Strike Eagle did not have the stealth capabilities of newer generation fighter jets.

Officials stated that it was heading towards the Strait of Hormuz when its worst fears came true.

The jet was hit by a surface-to-air missile approximately 160 kilometers inside Iran. Tehran would later boast that a new air defense system was used to oust it.

It is unclear how much damage he sustained, but the pilot and weapons systems decided to save the officer.

Pulling the ejection levers on their seats, they launched upwards with explosives, clearing the F-15 in a split second.

No amount of training could alleviate the stress they endured when their parachutes opened after a brief free fall and they found themselves swimming into enemy territory; the mountainous province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, much of which is covered with oak forest and is home to wolves, bears and leopards.

Ejection seats are typically equipped with survival kits and communication devices.

Of course, the airmen, each armed with a gun and a knife, must have made contact with a command center many miles away when they hit the ground.

The pilot is known to have activated his personal locator beacon.

Immediately after the initial distress call, US military command launched a race-against-time search and rescue operation as President Trump was briefed at the White House.

The dangerous mission involved Black Hawk helicopters from Basra in Iraq, accompanied by Special Forces on the ground and C-130J Super Hercules operating as a mobile command and control center.

It’s unclear how much damage he sustained, but the pilot and weapons systems officer decided to save him and pulled the ejection levers on their seats. Image: Ejection seat of the crashed fighter jet

Immediately after the initial distress call, the US military command launched a race-against-time search and rescue operation. Image: A US plane and two helicopters fly over Iran this week

It appears that indigenous groups in the area may have previously been contacted by US forces to create contingency plans that could be activated to assist in any rescue.

Iranians filmed the plane in neighboring Khuzestan province and posted the footage on social media, along with images of the wreckage of the crashed jet.

Pictures of the debris published by Iran’s state broadcaster purport to show the F-15’s wing tip and the upper part of the vertical stabilizer.

Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow on air power and technology at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said the markings were consistent with those of the 494th Fighter Squadron based at RAF Lakenheath, but they were believed to have shifted to Jordan for combat.

On Saturday, two Black Hawks and a C130 Hercules allegedly fled the area during a rescue attempt after Bakhtiari tribesmen opened fire with rifles, according to Fettah Mohammadi, deputy governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province.

Video clips on Iranian social media show civilians in traditional dress opening fire on low-flying aircraft in mountain valleys.

In one of the clips, a young girl could be heard pointing her rifle into the air and shouting “Shoot, daddy, shoot” at her father.

Underlining the risk of the mission, Black Hawk was hit by ground fire but escaped to safety. A second US military jet, the A-10 Thunderbolt II, known as the Warthog, was shot down near the Strait of Hormuz, but the pilot was rescued.

US forces located one of the F-15 crew members, who appeared to be the pilot, in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province.

But they had to act quickly. The Iranians were also closing in on him.

In a tense sequence of events that lasted only minutes, the US helicopters came under fire, but the “para-rescue jumpers” (members of the brave US air force unit whose motto is ‘We Do These Things That Others Live For’) managed to reach the pilot first and take him to safety.

Iranians filmed the plane in neighboring Khuzestan province and posted the footage on social media. Image: Iranian police appear to be shooting at two US helicopters as they search for downed crew

A former commander of the para-rescue squadron said of the mission: ‘Sad and extremely dangerous is an understatement.

‘They are trained to do this all over the world. They are known as the air force’s Swiss Army knives.’

The unit’s website reads: ‘When an injured airman must be rescued from a hostile or otherwise inaccessible area, it is our duty to bring him home…

‘[Our] ‘Highly trained experts are involved in every aspect of the mission and include skilled parachutists, scuba divers and rock climbers, and are even Arctic trained so they can access any environment to save a life when called upon.’

Pararescuers are trained to be both warriors and medics and go through one of the toughest selection processes in the U.S. military.

They also take specialized courses in battlefield medicine, complex rescue operations and weapons.

On the ground, these teams are led by specialized combat rescue officers who are responsible for planning, coordinating and executing rescue missions.

Pararescue teams were deployed extensively throughout the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, performing thousands of missions to rescue U.S. and allied troops who were injured or required extraction.

In 2005, pararescue teams participated in the rescue of a Navy Seal who was wounded and sought refuge in an Afghan village after his team was ambushed and three other members were killed. The incident was transferred to the movie Lone Survivor.

The F-15 pilot is thought to be in the Zagros mountains, which has the world’s largest nomadic population.

Determined not to let their other valuable propaganda prize, a weapons systems officer, slip away, the Iranians offered a reward of £50,000 (average monthly income in the region is £200) for anyone who captured the airman alive.

They have sealed off an area in the state and are conducting a diligent search.

It’s not clear why it took U.S. forces longer to rescue the second airman, and the odds of reaching him before the Iranians weakened with each passing hour.