Black Hawk Down (2001) - Battle of Mogadishu (1993)

"Black Hawk Down" is a film by Ridley Scott based on the book "Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War" by Mark Bowden. It depicts the Battle of Mogadishu, which was part of the US military's 1993 campaign to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.

On 3 October 1993, Task Force Ranger - US Special Operations Forces composed mainly of Bravo Company 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D; better known as “Delta Force”) operators, and aviation support from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) (“The Night Stalkers”), attempted to capture Aidid's foreign minister, Omar Salad Elmi, and his top political advisor, Mohamed Hassan Awale. During the operation, two US MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were shot down by rocket-propelled grenades, and three others were damaged. Some of the soldiers were able to evacuate wounded back to the compound, but others were trapped at the crash sites and cut off. An urban battle ensued throughout the night. Early the next morning, a combined task force was sent to rescue the trapped soldiers. It contained soldiers from Pakistan, Malaysia, and the US 10th Mountain Division.

Dragon released two figures when the film came out - "Matt" played by Josh Harnett (actually Staff Sergeant Matthew Eversmann, leader of Chalk 4 during the battle) and Delta Force operator "Jeff" played by William Fichtner (actually Sergeant First Class Jeff Sanderson, based on Paul Howe). In 2003, Dragon released two commemorative editions, "Danny McKnight" - Commander 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment and "Master Sergeant Gary Gordon" - Delta Force Sniper Team Leader, who was killed defending the crew of Super Six-Four (Michael Durant's Black Hawk that was the second one to be shot down)

Delta Force operators MSG Gary Gordon and "Jeff"

Kitbashed Rangers - M249 gunner and M203 grenadier

Bravo Company 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment

Task Force Ranger

The battle was over by 4 October 1993 at 6:30 am. In all, 19 US soldiers died of wounds from the battle and another 79 were injured. Among UN forces, 1 Malaysian soldier died and 7 were wounded, along with 2 Pakistanis.

Check out 21st Century's 1/6 scale AH-6 Little Bird

Updated October 3, 2009: FULL review of Dragon 1/6 12" commemorative figure Gary Gordon, Sniper Team Leader Delta Force - Task Force Ranger HERE

There's also more pictures of Dragon 10th Anniversary Commemorative Edition 1/6 scale 12-inch "Danny McKnight" military figure HERE