Randy Losey - ARIA Held Hostage

It was supposed to be a typical mission to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. It would take 2 days to reach the island by aircraft. The mission would require a lay over in Paramaribo, Surinam, South America. We would never make it to Ascension Island.

I was a United States Air Force Sergeant attached to the 4950th Test Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio. I worked with the Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft, ARIA, program as a prime mission electronic equipment operator and was affectionately called a PMEE. Our mission was to acquire, track, and record data from airborne vehicles, including weapons, from governments and private corporations. The Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft allowed us to go anywhere in the world to accomplish this mission. My job on the aircraft was to acquire and track these airborne vehicles. I have had my share of missions staged from Ascension Island.

It was late on Sunday, February 24, 1980, that I arrived at Paramaribo, Suriname enroot to Ascension Island on aircraft 60-0374. It was even later when I arrived at the hotel with the rest of the crew. It was just past midnight when Neil Hendricks, the aircraft’s radio operator, and I, headed out to find some excitement. We found it just after 2 am with the sound of small arms fire. This was not a single shot that was heard but the sounds of many rounds being fired. After the initial gunfire, all was well and we continued our quest for excitement. It was about 4:30 am by the time we arrived back at the hotel, we didn’t want to miss the transportation to the airport. As night was turning into day, the sound of machine guns firing filled the air. A few moments later the sound of artillery rounds being fired and then hitting their target drowned out the sounds of the machine guns. I headed across the hall into the room of Gil Siefert, the aircraft’s System Analyst, and through his window was able to view the destruction of a block of buildings. Being up near the top of the hotel made it possible to view the city and the crowds of people running through the streets evading heavily armed military. I ran back into the room when gunfire from the streets passed so ever close to my head. Hours passed and the city became quiet and all signs of life disappeared from the street.

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