On 22 March, a US air force F15E fighter jet crashed near Benghazi due to mechanical problems; both pilots ejected safely and were then rescued by US search and rescue teams, and during the rescue of the US pilots, US search and rescue teams shot and wounded six libyan civilians on the ground. On 23 March 2011, British Air Vice-Marshal Greg Bagwell was quoted by the BBC saying that the Libyan People's Air Force "no longer exists as a fighting force" and that Libyan air defenses had been damaged to the extent that NATO forces could now operate over Libyan airspace "with impunity." On 24 March, several media sources reported that a French Dassault Rafale destroyed a G-2 Galeb near Misrata. Initial reports of the French action said the LPAF plane, a G-2/Galeb with a single engine, was in the air when it was hit. French military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard later said the plane had just landed when the attack took place.