60 Minutes Returns With World Exclusive Account of Airman Who Ejected Behind Enemy Lines in Iran

(Screengrab via CBS News)

A U.S. Air Force officer who spent two days injured and alone behind enemy lines after ejecting from a fighter jet over Iran will retell his story for the first time as 60 Minutes returns this Sunday.

The weapons systems officer, identified by his mission call sign Dude 44 Bravo, sat down with correspondent Norah O’Donnell for the season premiere of the long-running newsmagazine.

The airman was one of two crew members aboard an F-15E Strike Eagle shot down roughly 100 miles inside southern Iran in April, during the war with Iran. Both men ejected, but while the pilot was recovered within hours, his co-pilot disappeared into the Iranian mountains.

In promotional materials, CBS News described the recovery effort as “one of the largest and most complex rescue operations in U.S. military history.”

Bravo, a colonel, survived for approximately 48 hours using SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) training while Iranian forces hunted for him. According to reports at the time, he hid in a mountain crevice with little more than a pistol for protection and severely restricted use of his locator beacon for fear Iranian forces could detect it.

The CIA also reportedly mounted a deception operation intended to convince Tehran that the missing officer had already been recovered and was being transported out of Iran by ground convoy.

U.S. Special Operations forces eventually constructed a makeshift landing strip inside Iran as part of the sprawling mission to retrieve him. The operation took another dramatic turn when two C-130 aircraft became stuck at the remote site, forcing three additional aircraft to be dispatched to extract Bravo and the personnel involved in his rescue.

“WE GOT HIM!” President Donald Trump famously declared after the operation succeeded, hailing the rescue as an “Easter Miracle.”

Bravo will provide his own account of those 48 hours, including his violent ejection, the injuries he suffered, how he avoided Iranian forces and what he told the Americans who finally reached him.

O’Donnell also interviewed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, and U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper about the operation and the Iran war.

The 60 Minutes season premiere airs Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and Paramount+.

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