Flying to within 1,200 feet of the aircraft, the Buzzard pilots identified two Serbian Super Galebs, which did not appear to be carrying weapons

"Basically we made sure these aircraft didn't interfere with the evacuation operation on the ground. They were intercepted over international waters, but we were concerned about possible interference with this operation. We don't know why they would have been in this particular airspace," said Col. Marc Rogers, 31st Operations Group commander.

At 9:57 a.m. the same day, another two-ship of Super Galebs was spotted and escorted away from the area.

"There was some maneuvering during these intercepts, but our guys were able to achieve a position of advantage, rejoin beside them, and direct them away," said Rogers. "I'm pretty proud of our guys ... it was a sensitive situation." Four Serbian Galebs were shot down by Aviano F-16s in February 1994.

Almost three hours later at 12:45 p.m., the flight lead of a separate 510th sortie came into contact with another foreign aircraft.

"We picked up a contact while patrolling off the coast and requested permission to investigate. We received permission to go feet dry (over land) and get a visual identification, so we proceeded to within 1.5 nautical miles of the aircraft and identified an Albanian MIG 17. We shadowed him for about three minutes - he probably didn't even know we were watching," said the lead pilot of the MIG interception. The pilot believed the MIG was returning to its original airfield to land.

Aviano aircraft, including Marine F/A18Ds from Fighter/Attack (All-Weather) Squadron 224, Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort, S.C., and EA-613s from the Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 3, MCAS Cherry Point, N.C., began providing counter-air capabilities for the Albanian evacuation March 14.