IRIAF WAR STORIES

[AShkan]

Some of the stories told by the IRIAF pilots during the Iran-Iraq war.

THE GREAT ESCAPE
AND
THE RESCUE BY THE IRANIAN ARMY HELICOPTERS

Thursday, Dec 4, 1980
Azar 13, 1359

It’s around 1600, and I, as the 32nd Tactical Fighter Squadron Commander, along with, Lt. Colonel Faraj Baratpour ” The Deputy Command. for Operation”, and Col. Ghasem Golchin, “ The Air Base Commander”, are in the Command Post. A Jet Falcon which is a nine seat passenger plane arrives. Minutes later, a Master Sergeant from the Air Force Deputy Command for Operation enters the Command Post, and hands over a sealed envelope to the Base Commander. He opens up the envelope and after a quick look into its content, hands it over to Faraj and declares; “It’s an armed road reconnaissance which has to be done tomorrow.”

Faraj, grabs a blank Frag Order sheet, transfers the high lights of the mission to that format, signs, turns towards me, and says, “It’s yours”, placing the paper in front of me, next to numerous phones and hot lines on the desk.

I grab the Frag Order, and carefully word-by-word read the entire Mission. It reads; “On Friday – The next day - a flight of two Phantoms, each equipped with six MK 82 high drag bombs to attack a train transporting ammunition from Tuz Khormatio; (A town north of Baghdad), to Al Taji army base, which is located only 10 kilometers north of Baghdad”.

Surprisingly, I find no Time on Target (T.O.T) printed in the space provided for that purpose!

I then hold the Frag Order in front of Faraj’s face who was sitting next to me, and ask,
“What’s my T.O.T?”

In my surprise, he answers, “I have no idea!”

“What do you mean, you have no idea? When the train leaves its station?” I wonder.

He shakes his head and answers, “I don’t know!”

“When shall I take off, when I neither have a T.O.T, or Know, when the train leaves the station? If you find out, the train’s departure time, then I can figure out where to expect it along its route to Baghdad, and adjust my take off time accordingly.” I press on.

He turns to Air Base Commander and inquires, “Colonel, there is neither a T.O.T, nor a train departure time on this Order.”

The Colonel responds, “Well you can call the Air Force Command Post, and find out.”

After listening to Faraj’s conversation on a secured line with the Air Force Command Post, I discover, the Air Force has no idea about the details of this mission, and it was transmitted to them by the Joint Armed Forces Head quarter.

Faraj, then calls and speaks to another colonel in the Joint Chief of Staff’s Command Post and finds out, they too, know nothing about the details of the mission, and it was assigned by the Ministry of Defense!”

I think, “Ministry of Defense has no authority over assigning missions like this to Air Force. Their job is to provide arm forces with necessary man power and the equipment to fight!”

I have the sense, “something should be wrong, or may be misinformation.” “Later on, I find out, Major Mahmood Eskandari, “A coursemate of mine had an identical mission towards southern part of Iraq!”

Faraj says, “The mission has to be done any way. You tell me when you want me to schedule your take off time!”

“No body is able to cancel the mission. It would be interpreted by the Regime, as not having the will to fight, and the least, it might cost any one of us to
lose our job!”

Next day, is a Friday, and my Wife was going to prepare one of my most favorite dishes for lunch, “Vegetable rice with pan fried white fish”, and at 1430 the only TV channel, was going to show the Final game of two very popular football teams – Taaj, and Persepolis.

It took me only a few seconds to figure out, “Mid-day is a good time to do the mission. The Iraqi’s air defenses are about to replace each other for lunch breaks, and the Noon time prayer, - One of the five times a day mandatory prayer in Islam - We will take off at 1200. It’s going to take us almost half an hour to get to target area. We are going to spend roughly five minutes for the armed road reconnaissance, and another half an hour to return. It’s going to take another half an hour to park the plane in a shelter, go to the Maintenance Squadron to fill up the forms, go to command post and fill out the after flight report. By the time I get home, it’s going to be around 1400. Vegetable rice with fried white fish and football game right after!” It can’t be better!

“Is that OK if we plan to take off at 1200 tomorrow?” I asked Faraj.

Both, Faraj and the Base Commander say, “Not a problem!”

I pick First Lieutenant Bahman Solaymani for my back seat as a Weapon System Officer “WSO”, and Capt. Firoozi and First Lieutenant Parviz Dehghan as my number two – Bahman and the other WSO, were actually fighter pilots – Unlike American WSOs who weren’t pilots at all.

Because of the Hostage crisis, and the Arms Embargo imposed upon the Iranian Regime by the Americans, our Air Force is not receiving parts and other necessary equipment for the planes. That’s why the food stored in our survival kits was expired. And we had come up with an alternative; a bag of raisin, walnut and pistachio that we used to pick up on our way to the flight line!

Friday, December 5, 1980
Azar 14, 1359

At 0600 I kiss my Wife good bye. Our two kids are in their sweet dreams. I kiss them on the cheeks, and drive my jeep to the Command Post, and plan for the flight. After preparing the map and selecting the route to enter and exit Iraq, I show the map to our Intelligent Officer and inquire; “Do you have anything on our way going in and getting out?” Meaning, “Are there any Iraqi’s anti aircraft guns or missiles in the vicinity of our flight path.” Him after checking my map, in English responds; “No Sir, it’s clear!”

At 10:00 o’clock I spread the map on a desk in our War Room, and brief my crews.
I tell them about the lack of information regarding the train’s departure time, and add,
“In case we don’t see the train, as an alternate mission, we are going to make a 90 degrees turn towards our border”, and by pointing to a road on the map, I continue,
“We are going to follow this road inside Iraq, which is running along the border.
If we find any Iraqi’s troops we are going to bomb them”.
And by putting my finger on a bridge on the map, I add, “If there were no other targets, we are going to get rid of all of our bombs over this bridge!”
“We don’t want to land, with live ordinance any way!” – It’s extremely dangerous if something goes wrong during landing.

At 1100 o’clock we get on board of a crew van, and leave the command post.
I see Bahman has already started munching on his bag of supposedly, “Survival Food”. It makes me laugh.
I say, “Bahman, leave some in case you need it later!”
Everybody laughs.
Bahman offers me some.
I say, “No thanks I have my own.”

Minutes later we are in the parachute shop. We put on our anti-G suit, and the harnesses which will be fastened to the parachute already installed on our ejection seats later on. “The chute itself in incorporated in the ejection seat”. We then grab our helmets, and get back again on the van and leave for the airplane shelters.

For this Mission, our Phantoms are equipped with six MK82 high drag bombs – They weigh 500 pounds each - Electronic Counter Measure Pods, and 635 rounds of 20 mm nose gun ammo.

I pre-flight my plane, get in the cockpit, attach the air hose that is hanging from my anti-G suit to another hose which is installed between the seat and the left hand consol, fasten the leg restraints to my knees and ankles, lock the lap belt over my laps, lock the survival kit into the lower part of my side harnesses. The crew chief helps me with the parachutes main harnesses, which have to be locked into the upper part of my shoulder harnesses. At last, I put on my helmet, grab the plane’s oxygen hose and the radio cord and attach both of them to the oxygen hose and the radio cord which are hanging from my helmet. I put on my oxygen mask, turn on the intercom, and check,
“Bahman, how do you read?”
“Loud and clear”. He responds.

In a complete radio silence, we start, taxi and take off. We fly over our western mountains. Right before crossing the mountains, to avoid being picked up by the enemy radars, we descend to around one hundred feet over the ground, and my number two moves further out to a tactical formation. The sky is clear, and the visibility is unlimited.

We head straight towards Tuz khormato, and make one circle over the town and look for the train station. Except for a couple of wagons here and there, there is no train around. I ask, “Bahman, do you see any train down there!”
“Nothing Major” He answers.

I level off over the railroad on which we are suppose to find a train. We zigzag over the railroad towards Al Taji Army base which is located almost ten kilometers north of Baghdad, and continue in search of a train. We can now see Baghdad and its high rise buildings from the distance. There is no train of any kind whatsoever !

As I had briefed, I make a 90 degrees left turn, and head east towards our common border. At this time, we are almost 60 nautical miles inside Iraq.
A couple of minutes later, I see a number of three tanks on a cross road.
I wonder, “What the hell these tanks are doing here?!”
“May be, they are guarding their own road ways!” I guess.
I push the mic button, “Three tanks, 10 O’clock, and two miles. Number one rolling in.” Number two clicks his mic button, meaning he heard me.

I select “Pairs” on my bombs selector knob, put my sight on the middle of the tanks, and drop two bombs. A couple of seconds later, I pass over the tanks, dip my wings and look behind to see the score.
“My bombs hit almost one hundred feet short of the tanks”. I guess.

I ask Bahman, “Did you see where the bombs hit?”
He gives me a better score, “Fifty feet short Major.”

“The recherché got them”. I say.

“Definitely”. He assures.

I don’t see number two’s, and I don’t ask.
“We are going to see the pictures taken by our forward and tail camera after we land.”

As we are flying north over this road, I see a couple of hanger type buildings, with tin roofing.

I say, “Bahman, I see a couple of hangers dead ahead. May be it’s a military installation?”

“There is nothing on my map Major” He answers.

I become hesitant as to drop bombs; and I don’t.
As I am passing overhead those hangers, I look down and see hundreds of cows down there. “It was a dairy farm!”
I am so glad I did not declare those animals as enemy combatants!

A few miles further, I see the small bridge I had picked as an alternate target before.

As I scan around the bridge, “I see, a couple of cars entering the bridge; a white and reddish passenger sedans.”
In a flash, I think, “These are poor civilians who have nothing to do with this God damn war!”

We are still some thirty nautical miles inside Iraq.
On the bomb selector switch, I select “Ripple”; meaning, all the remaining bombs will release upon pushing on the Bomb Button.

By this time, I am at my release point, and the cars are way clear of the bridge.
I drop my remaining four bombs on the bridge.
I dip my wing and look behind to see my scores this time.
Not bad; “The first bomb fell short. The second one landed on the middle of the bridge, and the third hit the railing on the other side. And the fourth bomb, missed the bridge, and made a big splash in the river!”
“I knew the bombs would do little damage to the bridge. They were 500 lbs bombs with impact fuse.” – Not suitable to disable a bridge.

For a second, I don’t have the sight of my number two.
I ask, “Bahman, where is number two?”
“They dropped their bombs, and are at our 4 O’clock, one mile Major” He confirms.

At this time, we are almost 25 nautical miles inside Iraq, heading north.

All of a sudden, I receive a warning tone along with series of blinking dashes on my Radar Homing and Warning indicator (RHAW). Meaning, a Surface to Air Missile, “SAM” has locked on my plane, and is being launched, or about to be fired.

I wonder; “The Intelligent officer had said, there is no threat on our way in, and out!” “Obviously, his information was out dated.” I think.

“And the old version of American made Electronic Counter Measures ”ECM” pod, which was supposed to automatically detect and jam the enemy radars, was either not functioning properly, or Iraqi’s with the help of Russians had the means to override its abilities!”

“Break, Break, Break” I call the flight, and at the same time I push both throttles into afterburners, roll the plane into a steep right turn, and pull just short of black out.
A few seconds later, the plane rocks and I hear an explosion under the belly of the plane. And a second later, I feel another shake and a second explosion.

“The big Fire and Overheat warning light of both engines start flashing”

My first reaction is, “Bahman, ajab ma ro zadand”, meaning, “What a shot” and next I roll out and head approximately towards our Base, and examine the plane.
“Except for the RPM of both engines which are hung up at 75 percent - Not enough to sustain level flight - the reading on other engine instruments were within limits. The flight controls are functioning properly, but my speed is winding down.”

I hope the flashing fire warning light is the result of a short circuit, and ask, “Bahman, what do you see from behind the plane?”
He quickly answers, “There is a lot of smoke trailing behind Major.”

“The plane is actually on fire!” I conclude.
I shut down one engine, but the fire warning light stays on. I leave the other engine running to have hydraulic pressure and electricity.

In an attempt to lighten the weight, and get rid of the three empty fuel tanks, and the bomb racks, I push the “panic” button.
Nothing happens. I think; “The electrical system is also damaged by the missiles.”

At this time I was so much occupied to assessing the situation and control the plane, I totally forget to tell to my NO. 2 as to we were in a serious trouble!

“I know we have to eject. But I am also aware of, the enemies are close by, and ejecting right there meant; becoming a POW minutes later.”

“Bahman, we are going to take the risk, and fly the plane towards our border, until right before the stalling speed. Then we are going to eject.” I clarify the situation for him.

He says, “Yes Major.”
“Bahman, is one of the politest and one of the best pilot among his course mates.”

From almost 500 knots, the airspeed eventually winds down to 200 knots. I have climbed slightly, and flying roughly two to three hundred feet above ground level (AGL) in a valley surrounded by mountains now.

In an attempt to climb over these high grounds, I gently pull back on the flight control. A few second later, my left rudder pedal shaker, along with stall warning signals activate; signaling an imminent stall.

I tell Bahman, “We are going to eject”, and at the same time I pull the ejection handle.

I hear a couple of bangs and lose my consciousness for a few seconds. “The rocket motors under the seat fires and ejects the pilot upward with tremendous G force resulting in the blood from the eyes and brain to be pulled down.

As soon as I regain my consciousness, I look above my head and see my parachute is wide open.
I look down. “I am almost 50 feet above ground!”
Generally, fighter pilots aren’t sky divers. All they are trained for are a bunch of academic lessons.
I remember from my academic training long time ago; “To absorb the shock of the impact, upon landing I should roll on the ground!”

But, there are huge boulders and oak trees right underneath.
There was no time to maneuver whatsoever.
I land hard on my feet. Gladly, there was no wind at all. I did not even fall on my back. My parachute lands only a few feet from where I was.
I stand up on my feet and feel a lot of pain in my appendix which was operated a month ago.
I release my chute and look around.
There is an Iraqi village only about half a mile away on the crest of the mountain across.
I look for Bahman.
I find him a few hundred yards away, hanging from a tree!
I ran towards him, and help him to untangle his chute.
We hug each other, and I say, “We must escape fast, otherwise Iraqis are going to find us.”
The very polite Bahman asks me, whether from now on, he can call me by my first name, “Jalil”!
I laugh, and say “Why not?”

“I had read the novel, “Papillion” several times and I always admired the desire of the prisoner whom after several unsuccessful attempts, eventually escapes to freedom.
Under the influence of the character of the book, I wasn’t even thinking of becoming a POW!”

We are almost 20 nautical miles inside Iraq, but in a rural area, surrounded by high hills.
Our plane has crashed on the tip of the mountain, on which I was trying to climb over.
A huge mushroom of fire and smoke is rising way high in to the sky. Because of the tremendous heat, the nose gun ammunitions are being fired in random. I am afraid one might hit one of us! As we are hiding our gears under the bushes, we duck our head with each sound of the explosion.
Upon the sound of another huge explosion, Bahman wonders, “Who is dropping bombs around us?”
“I guess it was our oxygen, or hydraulic tank exploded!” I assure him.

Bahman suggests, “Let’s carry our chute and helmets with us. They will come handy later on.”
“Yes, they might come handy all right, but the helmets are white, and the chutes are orange. They are highly visible and can be spotted easily by enemies.” I say.
He agrees, and we both put our survival kit on our shoulders, and descend down towards a river which we had to cross.

This is a shallow, fast moving river with rocks all over at jumping distance from each other.
I feel extremely thirsty. I lie down on my stomach, put my hands on two rocks, and drink almost a bucket of water!
We rest for a few minutes on a rock and examine the content of our survival kits, and soon find our radio.
It transmits and receives only on an emergency Ultra High Frequency “UHF”.
I put mine in my jacket.

“Bahman, we are almost twenty nautical miles inside enemy’s territory. I don’t think our helicopters will take the risk and fly this far into Iraq to rescue us”
I spread my map, and find the closest Iranian village on the other side of the border. Its name is “Nosood”, which is located in the Kordish Province.”
I add, “If we head northeast, and walk for twenty nautical miles, we eventually get there.”
I further explain, “The distance that you see on the map, is a straight line. Taking into consideration, that the terrain is mountainous, the actual distance is twice as much!”

“It takes weeks to get there Jalil” He says, and as I watch him, he attempts to cross the river.
He carefully examines the rocks on the bed and slowly steps forward.
“You are doing fine, Bahman”, I encourage him.
As I am scanning around for the enemy, or the villagers, with the corner of my eyes I see, Bahman, lost his balance and landed face down on the water.
I watch him struggling to stand on his feet.
“He was safe. The river is shallow, but forceful.”
He eventually gets to other side of the river. All soaked up in water.

It’s going to get cold at night, and I know I shouldn’t get wet. I walk up the river a little bit, and find several rocks across the river, spaced at jumping distances!

I jump from rock number one to number two and from two to three alright. As I try to jump on the fourth one, I slip and land on my feet, knee high in the water. Quickly, I try to grab the same rock, but the pressure of water pulls me along. I am not in no better shape than Bahman when I join him on other side!

I reach for my radio in my jacket. That has gone too!
“Bahman, I lost my radio, where is yours.” I ask
“Don’t worry, it’s in my bag Major.” The polite Bahman cannot stop calling me Major.

It’s 1400 now, and we start climbing a mountain. I hear the noise of sheep or goats grazing at distance. As we gain some height, we can now clearly see the crash site, and the place we had landed.

The plane is still on fire. And we see several villagers at our landing site in search of souvenirs! We spot two of them with our orange life raft on their head, running towards their village. The villagers have no idea about our where about! Or they might think, we were killed in the plane.

We keep on climbing, and I am very exhausted. I guess because of the surgery I had a month ago.

At around 1500, we reach the pea
k of the mountain, and find a valley on other side, with a dirt road underneath.

“I think the villagers use this road for their transportation. So we need to stay off of this road.” I say.
“How about we rest here and travel at night. It serves two purposes. Number one; nobody will see us. And number two; we stay warm. During the day, we hide somewhere and rest.” I suggest.
“Anything you say, it’s fine with me Major!” Bahman agrees.

We sit on the ground, lean on to rocks, and look into our survival kits. “There are fishing line, hooks, and net. Different medicines; like, pain killers, anti diahirea. Mirrors, matches, water sweetener, shark repellent, insect killer, a compass, a couple of flares, and a can of water.”

Bahman says, “I am hungry.” We look around; there are sort of pecans shape nuts under the trees. We try a couple of them; “They are bitter and don’t taste good!”
I give him a hand full of wet raisins, and nuts; “They got wet when I fell in the river!”, and say, “I don’t think, these are poisonous. We are going to save some of these, and eat later on!”

“It’s a good idea.” Bahman agrees.

Back in our Air Base, “Bahram Firoozi”, “My Wing Man” lands unscratched from Iraqi’s Air Defense. “Obviously, the Iraqis SAM radar had locked on my plane, which was flying ahead of Number Two!”

He reports to Operation as; “Major Pourrezaee was shot down, and he did not eject, because I neither heard him saying he is going to eject, nor I heard his Personal Locater Beacon, “PLB”.” “Everybody in the Command Post think we are dead, and sadden.”

“PLB is a device incorporated in the ejection seat, which upon ejection, will activate and transmits an audio signal similar to Emergency vehicles siren.”

Everybody in the Command Post, including my Wing Man forgets the type of frequency on which the PLBs operate! The system is such, the transmitter and receiver must see each other. “As we broke in different directions, there were mountains in between, which prevented his radio to receive my ejection signal!”

Meanwhile our intelligent system in our Command Post receives transmission from Iraqis congratulating each other as they have shot down an Iranian plane, and ask their command post to send a helicopter and give the approximate location of the crash site.

An Iraqi helicopter takes off and heads towards our plane. She circles over the burning plane and transmits as, “We are over the Iranian plane. It’s still on fire. We don’t see her pilots around. The train is such we cannot land here. May be they are dead in the plane. Send some horse back riders to recover their bodies!”
The other side responded, “It’s going to take a week before horseback riders get there!”

Major Mahmood Eskanderi does his mission, lands, parks his plane in a shelter, and in place of going to Command Post to do the after flight report, goes home, eats his lunch, takes a nap, and at around 1500 goes to Command Post.
He finds everybody sad.
“What happened?” He asks Faraj.
“Jalil was shot down.” Faraj with a grim face responds.
“Did he eject?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because his Wing man did not receive his PLB.”
“I heard, and after finding out my wing Man is fine, then I thought may be one of our PLB is malfunctioning.” He gets excited.

We just got lucky, “Mahmood was on a similar mission on southern part of Baghdad also flying low, but when we ejected he was at the exact proper angle to receive our PLB.”

From now on, they decide to ask the Army Air Command to send search and rescue helicopters.

“Faraj, send a couple of Phantoms to search the crash site first.” Air Base Commander Orders.

“Yes Sir, if they are alive they will get in touch with our planes.” Faraj agrees.

At the same time, we are still in our hide out place between two huge rocks.

Referring to our Air Base, Bahman complains, “Aren’t they going to send a plane to find out whether we are dead or alive and rescue us?”

“We are almost 20 nautical miles inside enemy lines. It’s a very dangerous situation. I don’t think they are going to risk a plane and a couple of helicopters.” I make a statement.

“Do you have your hand gun with you?” I inquire.
“No, I forgot mine at home!” He feels sorry.
“Don’t worry. I have mine with fifty spare rounds.” I comfort him.

At around 1545, we hear a sound of a Jet in distance.

“It might be ours. Let’s talk to him!” Bahman hurried.
“No, it might be Iraqi’s. Let’s wait until we visually spot the plane.” I disagree – I am older than him!

We look around.
Minute later, we spot a Phantom at around five nautical miles away, in a right turn, appeared from behind the mountains.

I grab the radio from Bahman, pull it’s antenna out and transmit.
“The Phantom who is making a right turn, continue your turn.”
I had no idea about the name of the pilot, and neither his call sign!

“Jalil, is that you? I love your voice!” I recognize Faraj’s voice, and a drop of tear sheds over my eyes.
“Yes. Thank you Faraj. Continue your turn. Level off. Keep coming straight. Keep coming. Keep coming. You are passing over head now.”
I did not give him our exact location, because Iraqis could’ve listened too. I knew Faraj’s Weapon system Officer is going to make a note of our location from his Inertial Navigation system (INS).

“Sit tight, I am going to send rescue helicopters very soon.” Faraj assures us.

As he leaves, another Phantom appears low, overhead.
He is my course mate, Mahmood – “Maj. Mahmood Eskandari”.
“Jalil, sit tight; I am going to shoot down any Iraqi helicopter who attempt to approach you guys.” Mahmood transmits.“Thank you Mahmood. Be careful of mountains. You are flying very low.” I am concerned for his safety!
“You want to teach safety, no matter where you are!” He laughs. “Don’t worry.”
He is 31st. Tactical Fighter squadron Commander.

Faraj returns in a few minutes and says, “There are three helicopters on their way; one
214 and two Cobras for the escort.”

We have two top covers overhead now; Faraj, and Mahmood.

Iraqi’s radar can not detect our planes, but by picking up our communication, they suspect activities around the crash site and scramble a couple of Mig 23s.
As detected by our radars, the Migs are flying at 20, 000 feet high and can not visually see our planes that are flying very low.

It’s 1600 now. We hear bells on the neck of sheep and goats and their baa baa is getting closer. Minutes later we spot the whole herd on the trail underneath.
We need to avoid being seen by the Sheppard, or his herd dog.

Surprisingly, all of a sudden, a couple of goats appear ten feet away, staring at us!

“The herd dog might come after them. He is going to bark, letting the Sheppard to find where we are. He in turn is going to run to village and let the troopers to our hide out.” I fear our lives, and explain to Bahman.

We both throw a few rocks at them. One flees and the other follows him.
I am relieved!
“The helicopters are almost five miles away.” Faraj announces.

“I will talk to helicopters and guide them to our position. You lit a flare.” I assign who is going to do what.

The flares are made of an almost eight inches long cylindrical phosphorous tube with a ring on each side; “Day side” and the “Night side”. By pulling the day side ring, it gives a highly visible thick orange smoke; where as the night side will produce an orange flame with little smoke.

Minutes later, at a couple of miles away, we spot three helicopters appear from the East, heading exactly toward us; Two gunships “Cobra”, and one 214, rescue helicopters.

“We are at your dead ahead, two miles, next to two huge rocks, with a tree next to them.” I try to direct them to our location.

“No respond from the helicopters!” I wonder.

I repeat, “We are at your dead ahead, two miles, next to two huge rocks, with a tree next to them.”

“No response from the helicopters again!” I panic.

The helicopters were approaching fast.
I look at Bahman. He lit the flare alright; but no smoke.

“You pulled the night side. Pull the day side.” I yell.

I drop my radio and grab another flare and lit it up.

But by now, the helicopters crossed over our head and disappeared among the valleys.

I yell in radio, “You just passed us overhead!” But no response again!

Faraj, tell them to reverse their course and follow the exact course they are flying now. They are not receiving my radio.” I am nervous.

The whole valley is covered by orange smoke now. I hear Iraqis from far are running towards our direction.

The helicopters return; and we lit another two flares.
They easily spot us this time.
The Cobras circle in a tactical formation, and the 214 tries to find a close by site to land.
After a few unsuccessful attempts, the pilot points to the same trail in the valley below, and directs us to run to that location.

The Iraqis are still out of the gun range. I have my hand gun ready.

The valley is too steep for the helicopter to land.
She hovers. “In our surprise, this Army rescue helicopter has no hoist to drop down!”
“You go in first. I’ll cover you.” I say loud – I was armed, and he wasn’t!
Bahman jumps and grabs the skid. He is pulled in by a rescue man – Seargent Esmaeil Eilbaigi (Source: Iranian Air Industry Magazine).
I followed him, seconds later.

We shake hand with the rescue technician. I tap the pilots on their shoulder and thank them for their bravery – Lt. Esfehani, and Shahdadi (Source: Iranian Air Industry Magazine). They turn back and I shake their hands too. They offer us apples and pistachio which tasted so good.

As they were flying very low, I put my hands on the pilot’s back seat to make sure we are on the right course to Sare pole Zohab. At which time Lt. Esfehani said, “Don’t worry Major. We know these mountains like palm of our hands!”

We finally arrive in Sare pole Zohab. Hundreds of Army combatants greet us. They give us hot tea, and warm jacket.

I shake hands with the Cobra pilots in a sign of appreciation – one of them I remember the name for being from Bandare Anzali, Pishgah Hadian from a very popular family.

From there at dark, they fly us to Kermanshah, where we are served with Kentucky Fried Chicken!
Then, Kermanshah army Commander gave us his Chevy Blazer along with a driver, and a MP – These two were neatly dressed up. The driver carried a hand gun, and the MP, besides a hand gun was also equipped with a machine gun.

We eventually arrive in Shahrokhi. At the Gate, hundreds of people were waiting to greet us. They were so happy.

After an hour of physical examination, I go home. My Wife had prepared a big meal, and several fellow fighter pilots were waiting for me to arrive

Source: rahrovan artesh website - Story posted by Phoenix

 

[haman10]

Some of the stories told by the IRIAF pilots during the Iran-Iraq war

welcome

please introduce yourself in the iranian chill thread

 

[AShkan]

AN AIR COMBAT STORY BY IRAN'S AIR FORCE F-14 PILOT COL. PEYROVAN (Retired);


About six years into the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hussein’s desire to occupy Iran proved to be just a desire. Due to his miscalculations, the Iraqi Baathist regime had resorted to inhumane tactics such as the use of chemical weapons or bombing of cities violating the laws of war.



The F-14 was a very modern interceptor, which made it a strong deterrent against the Iraqi air force fighters; however, due to the arms embargo by The USA after the hostage crisis, our Tomcats had begun to deteriorate. And the maintenance crews were working day in and day out to keep these fabulous birds flying.

It wasn’t easy to fully utilize this modern fighter’s capabilities, but the air force technical personnel had managed to maximize its usage with the minimum available equipment and facilities.



In the late December of 1986, the attack against the cities and civilian population by the Iraqis was on the rise. The enemy fighters would fly low using the mountainous terrains and radar blind spots to penetrate far inside our territory and bomb civilians in cities of Hamedan, Arak and Qom.



During these vicious air strikes many of the civilians were killed in their homes, streets and work place. As the air force was fully engaged in various missions; especially, the air defense of vital and strategic areas such as The Persian Gulf, it could not provide adequate defenses for dozens of of large and small cities.

We had been at war for six years. Our fighters and equipment had worn out, we had lost several fighters and their pilots, we had used up a great deal of our missiles and depleted the stockpiles, and with the all-out military sanctions against us, we had no way to replace them. Although the logistics, maintenance and other air force personnel tried keeping the planes operational, but the sanctions began showing their effects slowly. During the early years of the war, the F-14s and their deadly Phoenix missiles delivered a heavy blow to the Iraqi air force; especially, during Operations Beit-Al Moghaddas and Valfajr 8 with the shooting of Iraqi fighters, we had struck terror and fear in their pilots. But in 1986 noting the limitations we faced, we could not use the Phoenix missiles extensively and to prevent the F-14s from wearing out, especially the engines and other scarce vital parts, we had to come up with a solution.



The Air Force’s Deputy to Operations, Col. Abbas Babaei, issued an order to the effect of changing the F-14s flight time, reduction of the round the clock patrol of the F-14s and initiating scramble flights instead. He believed, since it was not clear when the war would end and until the personnel of The Air Force’s Office of Self-Sufficiency Movement came up with a suitable replacement for the Phoenix missile, only in exceptional cases and emergencies the Phoenix missile was to be used. In other circumstances, the pilots should use the medium range radar guided Sparrow missile or the short range heat seeking Sidewinder missiles against enemy fighters.



[NOTE: The F-14s delivered to Iran before the 1979 revolution were armed only with the long range Phoenix missiles. Before the deployment of the short range Sidewinder missiles model “L” or "P", and the medium range Sparrow missile model “F”, which were adapted for the F-14s, The Iranian Revolution broke out in early 1979. As a result, all military contracts were nullified by the new Islamic Government, leaving the F-14s armed with only the Phoenix missile and the 20mm M61 Vulcan Cannon. When the war between Iran and Iraq broke out, the F-14As were armed with Sparrow E-4 or E-2, and Sidewinder 'J' air to air missiles, but the missiles used for the F-4Es were not 100% compatible on the F-14A’s radar, the AWG-9, and offered a degraded rate of accuracy.]



Meanwhile the enemy had an unlimited supply of surface to air missiles and air to air missiles which they used against us. Of course, we were fortunate enough that our innovative personnel’s efforts paid off and during the last two years of the war, the Hawk missile was loaded on to the F-14 and tested as a replacement for the Phoenix. During the last years of the war this missile (Sedjil), was an encouragement for our pilots and a suitable backup to use the Phoenix less.



In January 1987, during Operation Karbala 5, we inflicted heavy loss to the bulk of the Iraqi forces in the Shalamcheh region. As retaliation, the enemy fighters began bombing the cities and civilian population using the mountainous terrain in the west and radar blind spots. During one of these attacks on the city of Qom, several defenseless civilians perished. Because of this incident, the air force commanders decided to provide special air cover for a while utilizing the F-14s so that if the Iraqi fighters managed to elude the radars and air defenses, the F-14s would greet them and teach an unforgettable lesson to the pilots. The CAP area was code named Quebec; Q being the first letter of Qom, and the commanders had briefed and informed all the pilots of the operation and the sensitive nature of the subject.



Usually before any mission, pilots analyze, evaluate and contemplate different scenarios they might encounter during the mission, devising various tactics in a quiet and calm place. Protecting the skies of a large city is quite different than defending a military zone, industrial center, refinery or other vital oil facilities. These areas are usually protected by their own air defenses, the workforces have been trained to keep safe and families don’t live inside these complexes. Also, being prepared for aerial attacks goes with the territory for these occupations but the civilian population especially the women and children are vulnerable to these attacks. Naturally, the air force had planned the majority of its defense role alongside the border trying to prevent enemy fighters from penetrating into our territory. But there is no such thing as an absolute effective aerial defense anywhere and at times enemy fighters can penetrate the defenses. Perceiving the mentioned facts, the night before my first mission, I preferred to have two F-14s providing the CAP mission so that the city could have a better coverage by us; however, I knew with the shortages we faced and the number of additional missions, it would not be possible to have 2 F-14s patrolling. The thought of one of these aggressors being able to get to the city and attack the people had occupied my mind and felt the weight of the responsibility. February 2nd, 1987, I rested some more to remedy my last night’s sleeplessness. The pilots that had the afternoon flights and were engaged late into the night would come a few hours late to the squadron building the following morning to be vigilant and stressed-free.



It was around 14:00hrs when I and my WSO, Captain Kazerouni, after receiving our flight detail, mission papers and weather forecast for the CAP area, we went to collect our flight gears. After checking our gears, we left for the shelter and after performing the walk around, got into our F-14 and started the engines. As I checked the systems, I noticed one of them had a problem which could not be repaired within a short time; therefore, we had to use the reserve plane for our mission. We immediately got ourselves to the reserved plane as my colleagues patrolling Quebec area had been flying for several hours and after a few refueling were waiting for us to replace them. Once I saw the reserve F-14, I was shocked to see that it was only equipped with two heat seeking missiles. These missiles were short range and used for close aerial combat while the plane should at least be equipped with a few medium range radar guided Sparrow missiles plus the two Sidewinders. I thought to myself that maybe due to the high number of missions, the overworked ordnance personnel didn’t have enough time to load the reserve plane properly. I placed my trust in God and performed the walk around as I thought again: “almighty God, you are witness to our limited resources with which we have to stop an enemy that has unlimited supplies.”

I got into the plane and started the engines one after another and began checking the systems and flight controls. Capt. Kazerouni also began checking the radar, preparing the navigation systems and other required systems for the mission so if there was a slight problem, the technical crew around the plane could resolve the matter. After making sure that all systems were functioning properly and coordinating with the tower, we made our way towards the runway as I quietly began praying. Before taxing onto the runway, the final checks were done and the missiles were armed by the ground personnel. We got approval from the tower control and rolled onto the runway. After checking the engines and the flight controls once again, I powered up to 100% and released the brakes. It was February and the cold weather offered the turbofan jet engines a better performance as the plane took off at a shorter distance into the sky within several seconds. We left Isfahan 8th Tactical Air Base towards our CAP area, northeast of the city of Qom, with clear and sunny skies.



We reached 18,000ft and radioed in our presence to Karaj and Subashi Radar via coded message. As we reached the CAP zone, the other F-14 which had been there for several hours left the protection of the area to us. It was around 15:15 and the refueling tank was circling the area so that if we required any fuel we would be able to receive it. The fuel tanker advised its position by coded message. 45 minutes had passed and we were carefully observing different directions with our radar. Sometime had passed and a deadly silence was present. I looked at the fuel gauges, we could still fly. One of the problems with single flight CAP is that when refueling, the plane has to move away from the patrol area a bit and we were worried that during this time the enemy fighters may appear.



We were patrolling in our assigned area and were flying exactly towards northwest when Subashi Radar Officer in Hamedan came on the radio and said out loud anxiously: “Shahed 54, Shahed 54, Rahnavard 53 2.” I replied him immediately and the officer asked us to change course towards southwest. He then advised the position of four bogies in that day’s assigned code. We were flying at 14,000ft and according to ground radar the enemy fighters were flying at a lower altitude than us. I asked Kazerouni to search and track them on our radar. Seconds later Kazerouni had identified the targets on radar. Without delay I told the radar that we have the targets and will head towards them for engagement. According to our calculations, the enemy fighters were around north of Arak heading towards Qom at low altitude.



Our distance to them was around 100KM. After coordinating with Capt. Kazerouni, we obtained the target’s information via our radar in TWS mode so that the Iraqi pilots wouldn’t be aware of our presence. If we did a radar lock on the enemy fighters, their warning system would alert them of the F-14’s presence and there was a possibility that they would turn back towards Iraq, dropping their ordnance on one the cities on their return path. In that case, they would flee from our planned trap and noting the distance they had from us, it wasn’t possible to chase and engage them, knowing that we didn’t have much fuel either. I turned all the switches on needed for the engagement and as we approached the targets, I gradually reduced my altitude and acquired the suitable speed for the tactic I had in mind. I had to fire my missile at the closest distance possible.



I had the targets in my radar and Captain Kazerouni kept on updating me of their speed, altitude and heading. If we were armed with Phoenix or Sparrow missiles, I would’ve engaged them head on, but since we were only equipped with heat seeking missiles, I had to keep the targets at an angle either to the left or right of the plane so that I could end up behind them with a swift turn and fire my missile towards their engine exhaust. But one thing kept on bothering me and made we worry; the fact that since they were heading northeast it was possible that even if we shot one of them down, the rest of the flight group would reach the city. Therefore, engaging them head on to disrupt their formation seemed a good idea. So I decided to increase my speed and engage them at a farther distance from the city. The distance between us was reducing and instead of looking at my radar, I was looking in front me for a visual. Captain Kazerouni kept on advising the distance. Our heading was 240 degrees meaning flying southwest and since it was in the afternoon, the sun was setting and it made it difficult to visually identify the fighters. Obviously one of the reasons for choosing this time to attack was due to this fact and our own pilots followed the same strategy when bombing targets in enemy territory during the morning. The intense morning sunray made it difficult for the Iraqi interceptors and air defense to see us easily before reaching the target.



I reduced my altitude to 1,000ft while the enemy planes were flying at about 200ft above ground. Captain Kazerouni declared the distance at 5 miles and since with the use of the radar we were flying towards them, we should have seen them by now. A few seconds later four shadowy dots appeared ahead of us at a lower altitude. Their speed was lower than ours and I had them under observation. Kazerouni came to my assistance to visually track them, forgetting about the radar. The enemy fighters were Mirage F1s. I was flying at 1,000ft and it seemed the enemy hadn’t seen us yet, since they didn’t show any reaction whatsoever. I saw my window of opportunity and reduced the altitude as I pushed onto the throttle, diving towards the fighters.

At about 2 miles they noticed our presence and clearly felt the danger.



Their formation broke as expected and three banked right while a single one turned left. With an appropriate maneuver I ended up behind the group of three and began chasing them. I told Kazerouni with a raised voice to lookout for the 4th plane so it wouldn’t go towards the city or end up behind us. My speed was very high and I was passing one of the fighters when I performed a Hi Yo Yo maneuver to reduce my speed. This is a type of maneuver in which by pulling on the control stick, the plane’s speed changes into increased altitude in a short period of time. I got behind the Mirages again and Kazerouni said that the 4th fighter is turning towards west. I looked behind to see the enemy fighter’s position and saw Kazerouni has turned about 150 degrees and is exactly looking behind us; I was relieved. The Mirages had two 30mm cannons and during ground strikes they were armed with two heat seeking missiles on the tip of their wings so that if they encountered any interceptors they could defend themselves. Hence having an F-1 ending up behind us would have been very dangerous.



With a quick maneuver I got myself behind one of them in a firing position when all three fighters broke to the left and jettisoned their ordnance in the desert. I was waiting for this moment and my concerns were now lessened. Although all three were banking left but they were at different ranges, altitudes and distance apart as well as keep switching places. With the jettison of their payload, their maneuverability had increased, in a way that I was unable to position my plane so that it would fulfill the required firing parameters. Meaning that while they were continuing to turn left towards west (about 270 degrees) I put the pressure on them to perhaps shoot one or one would hit the ground, but failed to do so. The Iraqi pilots seemed to have high flying skills. The turns continued until they ended up towards west and began fleeing by increasing their speed and lowering their altitude. This is a routine practice when fighters want to get away from chasing interceptors because it makes it tough and dangerous for the interceptor to keep on trailing the intruders and may break pursuit. The pilot’s worse enemy in this case will be the ground terrain which many of the pilots worldwide during training or combat sense a false vision due to high speed and low altitude. Slight negligence, deviation by the pilot, lack of experience or skills will cause the plane to hit the natural obstacles or the ground and kill the pilot, but I wasn’t about to let go. However, the conditions inside the cabin were different. At low altitude and high speed and due to performing extensive maneuvers the temperature in the cabin had increased.



At low altitude, the molecules in the air are more compressed and at high speeds and maneuvering, the friction between the molecules and the body of the plane produces heat inside the cabin which the cooling system cannot compensate. Besides the heat, the created excess sound and noise was also unnerving and all of these conditions were causing me to sweat a lot. Underneath my helmet, oxygen mask and face was soaking wet and in that tense flying condition, I could not even wipe the sweat drops off my eyes. One of the planes which seemed to be the leader was flying in the middle and slightly ahead of the other two as I chased them back towards Iraq. We had offered the aggressors a pleasant reception and now it was time to see them off in a well-deserved manner.



All the parameters for firing the heat seeking missile was set on the middle Mirage, except the altitude. I was a bit higher and began reducing my altitude when all of a sudden my craft got caught in the Mirage’s jet wash and at an altitude of 100ft the plane began vibrating. We dropped dangerously close to the ground and Captain Kazerouni became intensely worried. I managed to control the plane and increase the altitude, as well as my speed to avoid getting caught in its jet wash again. We were several miles away from our initial engagement point and I had no intention in returning to my base empty handed. I was still attempting to acquire my last parameter to fire the missile as we only had two missiles and any carelessness would possibly change the outcome of the mission. I didn’t want excitement and haste to be the cause of wasting the missiles. The interesting fact was that all this time none of the fighters were releasing any flares as countermeasure for the heat seeking missile that was about to be fired into their exhaust and this made things easier for me. Because I had increased my speed, I got closer to them again but this time, noting the previous experience I shifted slightly to the left to keep away from its jet wash cone. I then reduced altitude and got behind the enemy fighter.



Our F-14 was vibrating somewhat but I didn’t pay any attention to it and immediately aimed the targeting symbol on my HUD (Heads Up Display) on the Mirage’s engine exhaust. The loud missile tone was buzzing in my ears and as I yelled out, I squeezed the trigger. The missile separated from underneath the plane and travelled the short distance within seconds, striking the engine before the pilot’s reaction could save him. The explosion caused a large section of its tail to separate from the plane and since we were flying at a very low altitude, the Iraqi pilot had no time to eject. The plane immediately hit the ground as the two pilots that were flying on each side of him were a witness to the incident.



As the plane exploded the debris spread in the air and because I was flying fast and right behind him, the threat of being struck by the debris was imminent. I pulled up the plane to avoid the debris and inverted it as I reduced the speed to minimum, observing the Mirage as it crashed into the ground. Captain Kazerouni was excited and advised Subashi Radar anxiously that we had splashed one enemy fighter and the rest were escaping. The radar control officers were thrilled and kept on thanking us. As we passed over the downed fighter, I rolled back the plane. We were at 2,000ft and because I had reduced my speed, the enemy fighters had created a distance between us. My mouth was dry and I was soaking wet from perspiring. For a second I decided to follow them but because of our low fuel and increased distance from Qom, I decided not to. It was possible that a second group of fighters could attack the city. I gave the coordinates to the downed aircraft and flew towards the fuel tanker. I contacted the 707 pilot and refueling technician and it seemed that the outcome of our mission had reinvigorated them from their long tiring flight.



Due to a bit of turbulence and possibly being fatigued from the intense engagement, when refueling the metal part of the basket hit the front corner of the canopy and caused a slight damage. After refueling we returned Quebec, our CAP zone, and continued the patrol. It was getting dark and everything was peacefully quiet. Our mission was ending after about 3hrs of flight time, so we said goodbye to both Karaj and Subashi Radar and left the area. We circled around the city of Qom and thanked God for helping us to defend the city and teach the enemy a painful lesson. It was here that I realized that if it’s God’s will, even limited provisions are enough to defeat the enemy and my concern regarding being a single patrol with missile constraints seemed unnecessary.



We flew towards Isfahan Air Base and 15 minutes later we touched down on the runway. I taxied the plane to the shelter and we were greeted by the cheerful ground crew. We also thanked them and advised them of the canopy problem which was repaired by the next day. Esfahan’s air base commander, Col. Attaii, was waiting in the deputy to operations’ office to greet us and I summarized our mission and engagement.

Later on Brig General Sattari, IRIAF Commander, sent a gift to me and Captain Kazerouni.



The next day we were informed by our listening posts that one of the Mirage’s didn’t make it back to its base due to lack of fuel and the pilot was forced to eject. Following this incident, the low altitude raids on the cities and civilian population by the Mirages ceased and the Iraqi pilots didn’t seem to dare and show themselves in this area

 

[New]

Some of the stories told by the IRIAF pilots during the Iran-Iraq war

Vow, dude that's too much of a story, it should be printed on papers.

 

[AShkan]

A DREAM THAT ALMOST CAME TRUE

ONE HELL OF AN AIR COMBAT STORY BY F-14 DOUBLE ACE COLONEL. 'FERRY' MAZANDARANI;

It was mid March 1985, when Operation Badr had almost been completed, and the combat pilots were rotated back to their original assigned duty. It was close to the Persian New Year (March 20th) and I thought it was a great time to spend it with my family for the first time after the war had broken out. It was 5-6 days before the New Year’s day that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein began bombing the cities again. Immediately a message from The Air Force Operations Command was dispatched to all F-14 pilots who worked at Air Force HQ in Tehran, or as we called ourselves by then ‘the old and puny’, to report to the 7th and 8th tactical fighter bases as soon as possible. I had only returned from the 6th tactical air base in Bushehr two days earlier, but per instructions I took the first flight to Shiraz (7th air base). As soon as I landed I called Maj. A. Ma’soumi, The Base Operations Officer, and advised him of my arrival. He was ‘kind enough’ to put me on flight schedule on that same day flying CAP duty in south of the country.
I was quartered in one of Shiraz air base’s VIP Complexes along air refueling tanker pilots which flew routinely between Shiraz and Tehran and supplied fuel to our fighter bombers patrolling in the area. Of course all of this fuel was free and without the customary rationing and coupon use which was common in those days for our civilian cars. I stayed in a private villa nearby that belonged to my friend, colleague and a bachelor, Maj. Gholam-Hosein Hashempour (brother of a famous Iranian movie actor) or as we called him “Shagholam”.

Two or three days had gone by from my stay in Shiraz when they advised me that Col. Babaei, Deputy Commander of Air Force Operations, is looking for me. I asked for his whereabouts from command post dispatcher; however, he was not aware and mentioned that Col. Babaei was in Omidiyeh 5th air base in the morning. I was in midst of trying to locate him when the phone rang and it was for me. As I always stayed at Shagholam’s place during my visits as well as all the other pilots who were on the ground or off duty, Col. Babaei managed to find me there. I picked up the phone and after the usual greetings, I said:
-Abbas, what have you conjured up for me on New Year’s Day? Do you want to give me a gift or something?
He replied with his usual pleasant accent:

-It seems you are having just too much fun along with Shagholam, Ata, Kamal, Khalil, Iradj and the rest on New Year’s Day, huh? Okay then, take plane number . . . . . and fly to Isfahan tonight alone, without a WSO, as we are short of people there.

-How come without a WSO? You worried I’d do something to him? I asked jokingly.

-No dude, one of Esfahan’s planes is there and because they are short of RIOs in Shiraz, fly alone and take over the missions as the replacement. By the way, you won’t be alone because all your friends are there to keep you busy.

Well after this verbal command and my confirmation we continued joking around and I asked:
-You’re not looking for any gas coupons or anything are you?

He laughed and replied:

-No Dude, bite your tongue!

After saying goodbye, I called up the squadron and informed them of the verbal command, to prepare the aircraft for a flight to Isfahan that very night. After a short rest I said my goodbyes to the gang and left for Isfahan air base.

Once arrived, I went directly to the barracks and saw that Col. Babaei had been right. Everyone from everywhere was there. Col. Afghantolouii, Col. Pirasteh, Maj. Mehnati,. . . as well as the older F-5 fighter boys like Lt Col. Afshar, Maj. Ashjezadeh and others. So I reported for duty to the Squadron Operations Officer and spend the night with my old friends.

I remember it was a Tuesday early morning flight and my patrol flight plan was between Hamadan and Dezful. Our job was to provide CAP for this western sector. It was an uneventful day and besides a few instructions from Hamedan SOC radar nothing serious happened.

The next day, Wednesday, I was scheduled by to take off before noon and return back by Sunset. That day, Iraqi fighters were attacking Ahwaz area by the dozens, but every time our fighters were able to scare them off back to Iraq. We returned to base empty handed but pleased that we were able to hinder Iraqi air strikes on our cities.

I went to the VIP area and after having dinner, began watching the news and talking to friends when the phone rang. Lt Col. Afghantoluoei picked up the phone and said:

-Ferry, it’s for you. It’s The Command Post.

I got on the phone and heard one of the dispatch guys:

-They tried calling you from Shiraz but were unable to, so they relayed a message that under no circumstances you should fly tomorrow, Thursday.

It was totally weird and I asked who sent the message but the dispatch officer only kept saying that he got the message from Shiraz air base’s dispatch and that the message was probably from either Maj. Hashempour or Maj. Masoumi. I asked if there was a reason for me not to fly. But the poor dispatcher did not know much. However, he emphasized that I should definitely confirm receiving the message.
I hung up and called Maj. Javidnia who was the 82nd squadron’s mission planner on that day at the time and asked:
-Javid, are you aware of anyone commenting about my flight or my possible grounding for tomorrow?
He replied with a surprise as well saying that he hadn’t heard any thing. I told him about the message from Shiraz and he said that unfortunately the FX phone lines had been down since morning and the message through dispatches given was probably incomplete. But most likely the guys in Shiraz wanted to play a prank on you. Anyway, I hung up and told the guys the story. Everyone gave an opinion and we laughed about it a little. Shortly after we all went to sleep for a good night’s rest in order to be prepared for tomorrow’s flight.

The flight plan for Thursday March 21st, 1985, was to take off at 0930 hours along with Lt. Abbas Sanaatkar as my RIO (Radar Intercept Officer). This was the first time I was flying with him and our CAP area was from west of Qazvin (west of Tehran) to SW of Hamedan in central Iran. Having completed the usual briefing, we then headed towards the aircraft and took off on schedule.

That day we were armed with 4 AIM-54A Phoenix missiles, 2 AIM-7E2 Sparrow, and 2 AIM-9J Sidewinder missiles which was a great combination. Of course I must say that during the war, we seldom used the Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles as they were fitted for the F-4s and offered a degraded rate of accuracy when installed on the F-14s. AIM-7F and AIM-9P deliveries were halted due to the hostage crisis. The F-14 pilots had agreed to use the Phoenix missiles at maximum range of 40-50NM for higher rate of success and if too close, to use the guns instead of wasting the medium and short-range missiles available at the time. After takeoff and saying goodbye to Isfahan ATC, we contacted both Karaj and Hamadan Radar stations and advised them of our combat presence. As usual we were in constant contact with our own ground radars to cover the area for Iraqi fighters who might intrude into our air space. During this time with the radar’s instructions we intercepted Iraqi fighter jets on several occasions that were flying close to the boarder and in one or two instances our mere radar lock on their aircraft sent them back to their borders.
Due to arms embargos, we were very careful not to expend our precious Phoenix missiles unless absolutely necessary. Our main goal had become the prevention of enemy aircrafts from intrusion into our air space.
It was close to 1600 hours and we had just finished our latest refueling when radar advised us of two contacts approaching the border and requested to keep an eye on them. I was exhausted a bit after flying for such a long time and was tired of a slow day of work. So this time I reduced altitude quickly and opened the throttles to maximum asking my back seater to turn off the IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) system. My plan was to catch the fighters off guard by attacking them from below without locking the radar on their aircrafts using our powerful TWS capabilities. The radar controller that had now lost me on his scope kept on calling me requesting my position. As I was flying between the mountains and close to the ground I told the radar controller not to worry about me and just report the Iraqi fighter’s position. Here I must say that during normal flights it’s the RIO’s duty to communicate with the ground radar controller. Since it was his first flight with me, he requested to do the communications himself with a hint of hurtful tone as if his ego was bruised. However, since I was flying very close to the mountains and the ground to mask my attack I snapped back at him by saying:

“I will tell you when you can talk, mister.”

That was it. He became quiet all of a sudden. I continued flying towards the target and the radar controller kept updating me on the Iraqi fighter’s position and course. We were at a range of 30NM from target when I pulled up the nose bearing 280 degrees, as the Iraqi’s heading was 60 degrees. This way if I had to reengage them, I was in a good position to turn right and engage them in a dogfight within our territory. I had the radar in TWS (Track While Scan) mode, which would not alert the enemy aircraft of our presence. My distance to the boarder was less than 10NM when the fighters banked hard to the left and went back towards their base. It was obvious that their ground radar had alerted them of our presence and Hamedan Radar, which now had me on his screen, advised us to return back to our patrol area immediately.
We had flown for about 6-7 hours and were heading back towards base, empty handed. I was tired and disappointed and with the obvious tension with my back-seater this was almost going to be a bad day.

We didn’t require refueling as we were returning to base and although we had set our bingo fuel at 8500lbs, we stayed until we reached 6000lbs. The replacement fighter, an F-4 Phantom II, had arrived in the area and after checking with Hamedan Radar for any possible threats, we headed towards Isfahan and said goodbye to Hamedan Radar and our replacement fighter buddy. It was around 1630 hours when we lowered our gears and flaps, and did all the pre landing checks ready to land when I saw a vehicle at the end of the runway. I realized it’s the commander’s vehicle possibly waiting for us to land. That’s when I heard the base commander, Col. Reza Attaei, calling me on the radio. I replied that I am on short final and will touch down momentarily when he quickly asked about the aircraft’s condition.
I replied that all is well. He went on:

-Ferry, the CAP in the south has faced problems and things are not looking good there. Tehran AF HQ has requested us to cover Kharg Island area for a little while until a replacement is ready.

-“I’ve been up here for about 7 hrs now and am tired, not to mention being low.” I replied.

Col. Attaei said that it will help a great deal if I can do what he’s asked me to do, and began telling me in coded words of the large number of fully loaded oil tankers close to Kharg oil terminal docks awaiting departure. I pulled up the gears and retracted the flaps, banking left and headed towards the south. I also requested Col. Attaei to advise an airborne KC-707 to fly towards me in order to save time and fuel. He confirmed and thanked me as I flew towards the tanker.

I climbed to 24,000ft and due to the short bickering I had with Lt. Sanaatkar and his vow of silence I took over all communications with the tanker and radar. I just told him once on the intercom to lock on the tanker as we were extremely low on fuel and I had to decide whether to continue on route or land in Shiraz for refueling. I was pondering what to do when I heard the tanker on our frequency responding to my calls. After the exchange of usual greetings, the tanker pilot asked with a grim tone:
-What are you doing up here Ferry?

I didn’t recognize his voice but, after a bit more of exchange I recognized him:

-Why, wasn’t I supposed to be up here Mehdi?

The pilot was Maj. Mehdi Hemmati, one of the best KC-707 air refueling tanker pilots whom I had met during my stay in Shiraz. He asked again:

-Didn’t you receive the message from the command post dispatch last night not to fly today, Thursday?
-I don’t know which crazy person had said not to fly today but didn’t say why either. And with the war conditions these days, I can’t just avoid flying. Can I? And, I continued:

-I don’t have any gas left Mehdi. We’re bingo. Turn towards me immediately and open the restaurant/bar.
-I don’t have any gas left either as I have been up here for 6-7 hours and have to land in Shiraz. I can give you 1,000lbs of my own fuel for now. Captain Mehdi Hemmati replied.

-Whatever you can give me is a blessing. But hurry.

As I was approaching the tanker I asked Mehdi if he can tell me what the story was about.

He said:

-Yesterday when “Mamish” returned from his flight (he meant Major Reza Moharrami one of the KC-707 top pilots) he had his lunch and fell asleep on the couch from exhaustion. Later he woke up crying calling your name and as we calmed him down he said that he’d dreamed it was Thursday afternoon and he dreamed Fereydoun Mazandarani patrolling in another area when he would eventually end up in the south. Where during the flight he engaged several Iraqi fighters and after downing one or two of the enemy fighters, the rest would counter attack him and shot him down. This was the whole story and because we all believe in Mamish’s weird vivid dreams and we all know that they often come true, we thought to stop you from flying. But when they told us you had gone to Isfahan and could not contact you there, we decided to ask Majors Masoumi and Hashempour to send a message via base dispatch.

The vague dispatch message had now become evident and clear. I laughed:

-Mamish has been eating a lot again. Hasn’t he? Don’t worry about it and check and see when the next tanker will come. I need to get down to Kharg ASAP, as the situation is critical. Somebody gotta get there fast.

Meanwhile I reached the tanker ready for refueling and received the promised 1000lbs of fuel. As the refueling finished Mehdi came online and said:

-Oh man do you know who is replacing me?

-No. Who’s it? I asked.

-It’s “Mamish”.

I replied:

-Even better. Now he can see that a lady’s dream is reverse.

I stayed in the area for several minutes until the replacement tanker arrived. I heard Mamish’s voice on the radio and once he heard mine in disbelief, he requested a frequency change and afterwards a hail of swearing, hollering and cursing he continued:

-You SOB maniac don’t you know all my dreams come true? Why did you fly today? Can’t you see half this dream/story of mine has come true so far?

Anyway, after much diplomatic talks with my dear friend ‘Maj. Mamish’ and promising not to do anything crazy, I accompanied him to his patrolling area near Kazeroun near Shiraz. I left for Kharg Island area after filling my tank and contacted Bushehr SOC Radar advising them of our presence. I started descending to 100ft over the sea in a hazy weather due to local sand dust. It was close to sunset by then, and I entered the area flying westward. After the radio call with Bushehr SOC Radar, I heard one of the F-14 guys on the radio by the name of Mohsen Hosseini letting everyone know he is leaving due to low fuel followed by an F-4E east of Bushehr saying that he will be landing in Bushehr due to radar problem as well. I looked around Kharg Island and saw over two dozen oil laden tankers waiting to depart. They were anchored around the famous T jetty. It was then that I realized why Col. Attaei was so persistent on sending us on CAP duty around the Kharg Island today. I guess it was our fate to patrol a short time in the south after a long CAP mission in the west, taking care of these vessels until they left safely.

About 50 minutes had passed and everything was quiet and calm. I checked my fuel and calculated my egress from the area to be after my last turn. I was deep in my thoughts when I heard Bushehr’s Radar saying: “The neighbor’s on Red” which meant there is a possibility of attack on Kharg Island and all AAA and SAM missile sites are in fire at will mode. I stayed on my course when I heard Bushehr Radar again saying: “We are Red as well. Turn bearing 180 and continue due south.” This meant that one of the friendly SIGINT/ELINT posts must have heard that there is a possibility of air attacks. I might as well add that when Bushehr’s radar says we are on Red alert, it means that the air attack is actually definite. Both Kharg and Bushehr air defense systems will be going to be absolutely, positively in ‘fire at will’ mode. Which meant they’d fire on anything flying near-by. The warning was for our aircraft to be aware of friendly fire incidents. I looked at the fuel gauge showing below 8,000lbs. This was very bad. I thought to myself if I say that I’m low on fuel and then leave the area, everyone will think that the F-14 driver was scared. But if I wanted to go and refuel, the enemy fighters, which I didn’t know where in The Persian Gulf they could be, may attack and destroy the super tankers and loading docks any moment. “God, what was I supposed to do? What shall I decide? I was in a pickle.”

I had started turning left towards 180 and heading south away from the island. I had 7,000lbs of fuel left and decided to stay. I told my WSO that our fuel for any engagement is too low but we have no other choice. We have to stay in the area until the last moment; therefore, you should actually not to eject until I give the order to eject.

The F-14 has two modes of ejection, MCO and Pilot mode. The MCO mode is such that when the RIO ejects, it will activate the pilot’s ejection mechanism as well and eject both crewmembers. In the pilot mode, if the RIO ejects the pilot would still remain in the aircraft. When I flew with more experienced RIOs, I would always have the mode on MCO but since it was my first flight with Lt. Sanaatkar, I told him to place the ejection handle on Pilot and not to touch it till I say so. In this case, if for any reason the RIO ejects I would still be able to control the plane.

With the decision made, I contacted radar and asked him whether had any targets for us and I asked him why he is sending me to the south? “First tell me what is going on.” I asked. The radar controller replied:

-According to Bandar Emam’s Radar (mobile radar moved from Behbahan radar station to Bandar Emam accompanied by the C-130 listening post call sign ‘The Bat’ or Khofash RC-130E) we have about 10 bogeys that are closing; however, we haven’t been able to make radar contact with them yet. But we think they are ‘bandits’ to be frank.

-“Then direct me to 300 degrees to see what we got.” I told him.

Following this, we made a hard right turn heading towards 300 degrees and I told Sanaatkar to tilt the radar antenna fully down to check what’s above the water. As soon as the aircraft leveled our targets began to appear on the scope. After a complete search of the targets, we worked to make sure that these are now the only enemy (bandit) aircraft we had to deal with. These bandits/targets viewed in our radar scope were a group of two in the front followed by three groups of three and a group of two at the end, a total of 13 aircrafts at 500ft heading 120 degrees at about 75NM going towards Bushehr. We gave the tactical information to Bushehr SOC Radar. The situation was now becoming serious since our fuel was getting lower and we also had to engage the enemy aircraft closing on us. Meanwhile, as Mamish (The tanker pilot) had tuned in to Bushehr Radar’s frequency, he had also heard our communication and kept repeating on his other radio channel:

-Damn you Ferry. You’re Bingo. Why are you still there?

He was well aware of our fuel situation because of the time that had elapsed since our last refueling. As I was preoccupied with the targets and the low fuel issue, I didn’t have time to begin diplomatic talks with him again, so I just said once: “Please don’t interrupt the channel!” and immediately told our SOC radar that they should watch for 180-200 degrees since I now believed they would attack from the south. I told them that if the southern attack happened, make sure he watched them closely and made sure none would separate from the main attacking formation. I did not want to be surprised as I was going to attack their formation. Also, if they turned I would turn right with them to attack them head on.

The situation was absolutely chaotic. There was a lot of chatter around the radar controller indicating intense anxiety amongst the ground radar personnel and at the same time, different stations and AAA sites were communicating with one another. The radar controller advised me that bandits have turned right heading 170 degrees, and are 55NM away. The low fuel light for both left and right on the caution panel lit up followed by other warning lights. Before turning right I set my radar altimeter to 35ft ASL to warn me during upcoming hard turns. I asked my RIO if the ALR/ALQ systems, flares and chaffs were on which he replied firmly and in English: “Yes Sir”.

Okay, everything was set for our ensuing dogfight, and the only problem was our low fuel, which we couldn’t do anything about. Now all we could do was to go as far ahead as possible and if any air-to-air missiles didn’t hit us, we’d eject in time!!

The fuel gauge was showing 2,500lbs and we had several warning lights on or blinking like a Christmas tree. The radar controller came on and said that targets are turning left to 20 degrees at a range of 35NM and we began turning right and reducing our altitude to 50ft over the water. As we finalized our turn, I told my RIO to keep looking out for me and not to use the radar lock. I also thought that if radar lock is going to be required, I could use the PLM Lock myself.

I looked at the gauges again and fuel was around 2,000lbs. I began to look outside as well to see if there were any incoming missiles. As we reached 20NM from the targets, all ECM systems began to work and Lt. Sanaatkar frantically began locking on the first target when I yelled out: “Break the lock, break the lock. Can’t you see we have several incoming missiles?”

Having all 13 Iraqi fighters and us on his scope as well as listening to the conversation between my RIO and me, Bushehr’s SOC Radar Controller could no longer speak as if his heart had stopped beating... There were some 20 “Red Head” missiles coming towards us. These were The Super Matra 530 French made air-to-air missiles that due to their red cones were dubbed Red Heads by our pilot community. Different alarms and warning sounds were going off in the cockpit, warning lights lit up one at a time; chaff and flares were being dispensed from our F-14.

Our only way out was to perform heavy maneuvers and make hard right and left turns which we called “Jinking.” The radio was dead silent as I used maximum throttle and a few bursts of after burner. I employed all my experience and lessons learnt during my fighter training to defeat the missiles one at a time. As I continued heading towards the enemy fighters, eight Iraqi Mig-27s, which were used for bombing, jettisoned their payloads and turned tails fleeing back to Iraqi air space. Their air cover fighters, which were 5 French made Mirage F1EQs carrying 4 Super Matra 530 each, had fired all of their missiles idiotically like robots at us filling the sky with burning missiles. They frantically broke formation, each flying to a direction in that low altitude, not knowing that we may have to eject without even getting hit by their stray missiles. The Iraqis followed the Russian/Soviet war doctrine in which ground control would advise their fighters when to engage or launch their weapons. Perhaps for this reason, all the Mirage F-1EQs had fired at once, or it could have been due to their immense fear of the mighty F-14 Tomcat.

By now the weather was getting hazy, yet I could see the last three F-1EQ Mirage jets to my right. And now many of their stray missiles were hitting the water or exploding mid air. I made a high G turn to the right to engage them when I saw their after burner lit up indicating their run towards their border while zigzagging at low altitude over the water. I checked the fuel gauge reading 600lbs and decided not to pursue them further. First thing I did was pulling out of military power, throttling at 90% and then looked around. There were no other aircraft. Some time had gone by without hearing any chatter on the radio. I asked my RIO if he had felt any unusual impacts or hits, and he responded by saying that there were none. I was relieved and began locating our position when I realized with a glance outside that we are between the Fasri and Arabi Islands, about 50NM south of Kharg Island. I began calling the radar controller but didn’t hear any thing back. I called them for a second time and then a third when I heard the radar controller reply in disbelief:

-Are you still in the airplane?

-“Where did you expect me to be, bro?” I replied with a teasing tone.

The controller that had now believed we were still alive replied excitedly:

-Every one in the vicinity had heard a series of explosions and fireballs over the sea and we thought you’ve been hit. We’ve actually advised your mother base of your possible crash.

-No brother, as you can see we are alive and well, but you have to advise Bushehr air base that we will be making an emergency landing, that is if we get there!

The radar controller who now had collected himself said:

-But sir, our neighbors and we are still in status ‘Red.’

-“Forget about Red, green or white and tell them all to go white NOW! I’m coming to land.” I replied jokingly when I heard Maj. Moharrami (tanker pilot) on the radio advising Bushehr Radar Controller:
-Disregard his landing advisory; we will shake hands in a few moments. (meaning we’ll refuel them).
I was confused. Had Mamish gone crazy?! I immediately asked RIO to work the radar and see if we had anything in front of us. According to refueling tanker regulations, the aircraft must patrol deep inside friendly air space at an altitude of 22,000ft to 28,000ft doing their air refueling tracks. How was it possible for him to be saying “we will be shaking hands soon” then? I was deep in these thoughts when my backseat put the tanker at a range of 30NM reducing its altitude below 5,000ft. I was astounded as how to this wizard and marvel of a pilot had ended up there! What he had done though was to communicate on Bushehr SOC Radar’s frequency faking the approach of two armed F-4s and one armed F-14, by giving bearings, altitudes, range and telling me to leave the pursuit to them for the Iraqi listening posts to pick up.
We checked the tanker’s position with Bushehr Radar and it was positively ID’d. As we were flying towards the tanker with a sense of disbelief, I heard Maj. Javidnia on the radio advising Bushehr Radar that Col. Attaee, Isfahan 8th air base commander, and Maj. Mehreganfar, one of the F-14’s top pilots and F-33C Bonanza pilot, had left Isfahan air base in a Bonanza (F-33) for Bushehr. They were told I was shot down. And now he was requesting update on our status and whether the search and rescue SAR team had arrived on the crash scene. They wanted to know if the boys had ejected or not.
I immediately called Maj. Javidnia on the radio and asked:
-Who are you looking for Javid?

For a moment he didn’t recognize my voice and replied with his distinctive Isfahani Persian accent:
-It seems they’ve shot down Ferry. I don’t know if he has actually ejected or not.

I replied mimicking his accent, teasing:

-Are you sure he has ejected?

He recognized my voice and asked:

-Where are you Ferry?

I replied: “In my plane and my own flight suit. Where else?”

I kept telling him to recall the Bonanza recovery flight before it gets dark and I will follow if I can get gas. If not, I will have seafood in Bushehr!

Having been relieved a bit, we continued towards the KC-707 tanker and hooked up with the refueling basket at an altitude of roughly 2000ft. But since Mamish didn’t believe that I would stop pursuing the Iraqi fighters, he instructed the refueling operator to fill us 100lbs at a time until we cleared Bushehr air space completely and climbed to 22,000ft still connected. At the same time we heard another fighter taking off from Shiraz and fly towards the area to take over the night’s CAP mission from us immediately.
After saying goodbye to Bushehr SOC Radar and our brave and courageous tanker pilot who saved our lives and an F-14 against all rules and regulations, we ended our
unforgettable day.
Of course, on the way back to Isfahan air base, we heard from Bushehr Radar that
according to The Iranian Air Force and Navy’s listening posts as well as RC-130 ‘Bat’ spy plane, out of the 13 Iraqi strike aircraft, 2 F-1EQ Mirage escort fighters and one Mig-27 bomber never made it back to their base. This news just made us rejoice, making this flight and all its risks worthwhile. Oh, this whole thing made my quiet RIO very talkative until we landed back in Isfahan.

Source: rahrovan artesh story by Phoenix










AIR COMBAT STORY; 'OPERATION KARBALA 5' BY F-4 Pilot Brig Gen. JAFAR EMADI (retired):

Around mid-January 1987, Operation Karbala 5 had been initiated by Iran to advance inside the Iraqi territory. During the operation, Iran's air force fighter bombers were also tasked to bomb enemy lines in Shalamcheh area in SW of Iran. Planning for the aerial bombing of the enemy front line in Shalamcheh began immediately and it was decided to bomb the area form high altitude. One of the reasons that was decided to do a high altitude bombing was the sheer terror that it would cause among enemy troops. Bombs falling down actually break the sound barrier as they fall. Besides causing a lot of damage due to the high speed of the bombs, the sound generated by the supersonic bombs would create fear and panic among the enemy. It was determined that all fighter-bombers for this operation to gather at 5th Omidiyeh Air Base in order to use the base as a converging place.

WE LEFT BANDAR ABBAS Air Base WITH FOUR F-4E PHANTOM IIs:

Immediately after receiving the frag orders, we left Bandar Abbas 9th air base for Omidiyeh 5th Air Base with four Phantoms and an hour or so later landed there. The high number of the air force’s fighter/bombers was an indication of a pending blow to the Iraqi forces. The plan was to fly in groups of four which I, as the leader of the group, was supposed to execute the mission. My WSO in this mission was Captain “Nasser Engheta”, one of the air force’s youngest and brightest pilots whom few months later during an operation inside enemy territory would be shot down and killed in action. My number 2 was Major “Hossein Del-Hamed” who also got killed in action later on.


IMMENSE THREAT FLYING AT HIGH ALTITUDE

Flying at high altitude was a relief from AAAs and enabled us to react against surface to air missiles, defeating them; however, our big problem would be the enemy’s interceptors. The French built Mirage F-1 was an immediate threat to us . Because our planes were heavy, we could be an ideal target for the enemy fighters. To resolve this issue, we had to find a solution. After deliberation we reached the conclusion that both groups and formations to be escorted by two F-14s. Having the F-14s around meant that we didn’t feel threatened because everyone knew how much the Iraqi pilots feared the F-14s.



WE TOOK OFF ON TIME

The next morning all the F-4 Phantoms each equipped with 4 iron bombs took off at the designated hour from Omidiyeh runway. Immediately after takeoff, we began ascending and gradually gained altitude until we reached about 33,000ft. At that moment, the F-14 interceptors advised us of their presence via a special coded message. Few seconds later we saw the F-14s take their place on each side of our tight formation. With the presence of the F-14s, we were much calmer and relaxed as their powerful radar could alert any incoming threats. More than a few minutes had not passed when ground radar advised us of the presence of four enemy Mirage fighters heading our way at a distance of 60 miles. Seconds later, the F-14s advised us that two of the Mirages are closing in from the left and the other two from the right. At the same time, I saw the F-14s separate from us and prepared for engagement.



THE ENEMY FIGHTER WAS TARGETTED BUT . . .

We were briefed before the mission that if we encountered enemy fighters we would continue up to 20 miles from them and if the F-14s didn’t engage them we would cancel the mission. Knowing this fact I waited to see that if the F-14s didn’t fire their missiles; since, our fighters were heavy and a good prey for the enemy fighters so I was focused on the radar to make sure that the enemy fighters wouldn’t change course and become a threat to us.



There wasn’t much distance left to reach the 20 mile threshold when one of the F-14s fired its missile. The deadly Phoenix missile released from underneath the F-14 and moments later I saw in the radar that the missile hit one of the fighters. Everyone were glad that the enemy fighter was shot down, but all of a sudden, the second F-14 declared hastily that he had been hit by a missile and could not control the plane. We were all at a loss as what to do. I took a deep breath and immediately contacted the F-14 pilot and learned of his location over the border. I told him that if he ejects there, both the enemy and our forces will fire at him. I told him to turn towards east and go as far as he could. Keep the heading of 90 degrees and eject inside friendly territory. Immediately afterwards the F-14 turned to 90 degrees heading and left the engagement area.



The target was bombed heavily. Since it was decided to release the bombs from high altitude, we had to do it from a few Kilometers left to the target, so that the bombs would land on the objective. After coordinating with No.2, since we were about 30 seconds out from the target, we decided to continue the mission. Our situation was so sensitive that if we released our ordnance a second sooner, it was possible to bomb the friendly forces and cause irreparable damages. On the other hand, it was possible for the enemy fighters to return, so with previously agreed upon hand signals, I ordered the formation to increase speed. Fortunately, without encountering any problems we reached the designated point of releasing the ordnance and dropped all of them over Saddam’s forces. We then immediately turned towards our territory. I saw on my radar how the single F-14 bravely protected the sky and us as our lone escort. Minutes later we all safely landed at our base.



The post strike damage assessment (BDA - Bomb Damage Assessment) revealed that all our bombs exactly hit their target and caused a heavy blow to the bulk of enemy forces

 

[AShkan]

PILOT MEMOIRS: SAMAD EBRAHIMI & WSO ALIREZA JARRAH

F-14 vs. Mercedes

It was about 5 years into the war and the tanker war had just started sporadically. Saddam Hossein had placed a bounty on the F-14s; the reward a brand new Mercedes Benz for any pilot that shoots down an F-14. The statement which was televised by Iraqi T.V. came as a welcome to the F-14 pilots, the reason being that they would be the target instead of the oil tanker ships they were protecting, making their job easier.

Ebrahimi, who had been transferred from the F-5 to the F-14 during the war, was a competent and smart pilot. Lt. Jarrah, a young and newly assigned Weapon’s System Officer to the F-14, was well trained but with little experience as a rear cabin operator. During the later years of the Iran-Iraq war, the F-14 aerial engagements had lessened due to the shortage of Phoenix missiles and the interceptor acted as a deterrent to enemy fighters.

The following day after Saddam Hossein’s reward announcement, Ebrahimi and Jarrah were assigned to scramble duty. The scramble alarm goes off and the crew rush towards their interceptor, but the threat was not yet imminent. As threat procedure required, they sat in their seats with systems and engines switched off. Some forty minutes had passed when Lt. Jarrah becomes uncomfortable and unfastens his harness, stretching himself. The situation is still on alert which meant enemy fighters were in the vicinity but didn’t pose an imminent threat. Ebrahimi was reading The Qoran and some 15 minutes later, the scramble alarm goes off. The ground crew gathers around the fighter, the F-14 jets are fired up and systems are online. All final checks are a go and The Tomcat leaves the shelter for the runway. Minutes later they are climbing fast and are guided by radar towards the threat.

Five or six F-1 Mirages are viewed by radar which some acted as refueling tankers for the rest. The IrAF had been using this tactic, refueling Mirage with a Mirage close to Kuwait’s Boubian Island, for attacks on oil tankers that had left Khark Island and were heading towards the Sea of Oman. Three of the Mirages break away from the group; one was equipped with the Exocest anti-ship missile while the other two provided top cover, escorting the strike Mirage. The F-14 tracked them on radar at 80 miles away and the crew was pretty sure that the Mirages were advised by the U.S. Navy of their presence. During the Iran-Iraq war, the U.S. Navy would assist the Iraqi fighters by providing information about the IRIAF activities as well as offering a barrier by positioning their ships between the two approaching air forces, threatening the Iranian fighters that they were approaching U.S. Navy warships.

As the F-14 hoped the three Mirages turn towards them instead of heading for the oil tankers after they had refueled. This made their job easier. Ebrahimi realizes they are close to the Strait of Homuz and immediately decides to take advantage of the distance the enemy fighters had from their home base, Al Naseriyeh, some 800 miles away. He advises Lt. Jarrah of his decision to engage the enemy in a dogfight, forcing them to burn more fuel and face shortage on their return trip. They take the Phoenix missiles offline and prepare for a dogfight. That day besides being equipped with the long range Phoenix missile, they had the medium range Sparrow & short range heat seeking Sidewinder missiles onboard as well; however, the last two had a degraded performance on the F-14s as they were the models used by the F-4 Phantoms.

The distance between the Iraqi fighters and the F-14 was quickly reducing as they flew towards each other. Glad that the Mirages were planning to target the F-14 instead of the oil tankers, Ebrahimi continued heading towards the enemy fighters. At around 15 miles the Mirages fire their Super Matra radar guided missile at the Tomcat and Ebrahimi immediately breaks away, defeating the incoming missiles. He then puts his plan into motion, and engages the three Mirages. He advised Lt. Jarrah to check their six at all times and began maneuvering and banking moderately, avoid ending up at the Mirages’ six and scaring them away. As the dogfights require having the jet engines running in at least military power and at times afterburner mode, the goal was to have the enemy fighters burn as much fuel as possible. Soon, one Mirage ends up in their six as Lt. Jarrah warns Ebrahimi and the Iraqi pilot fires a missile, the F-14 breaks away hard defeating the missile. The Iraqi fighters believing that they are faced with a novice pilot are lured into the Tomcat’s trap. The F-14 repeats this pattern twice more, each time defeating the fired missile. Lt. Jarrah believes that besides the F-14’s superior maneuverability, due to the Iraqi pilots’ haste, possibly anxious about engaging the F-14 in enemy territory and quite far from their home base, they were unsuccessful in shooting them. As the reverse cat and mouse game continues, all of a sudden Ebrahimi sees that the Mirages have disengaged abruptly, returning back, realizing that they have noticed being low on fuel. He quickly positioned himself behind them and locks on to the lead Mirage as the Iraqi pilots go into full afterburner in fear of getting shot. The F-14 continues the lock for a while allowing the Mirages to burn more fuel in afterburner mode and then heads back to base. About five minutes later the radar advises the F-14 that one of the Mirages has gone off scope, an indication that the pilot had ditched in the Persian Gulf.

According to Ebrahimi, 8 or 9 minutes later a second Mirage runs out of fuel, while the third one manages to get over land but there is no confirmation whether it landed safely or the pilot had to eject. Lt. Jarrah speaks of one Mirage pilot declaring an emergency, coding the “out of fuel” transmission.

The F-14 lands at Bushehr Air Base and parks in the shelter. Lt. Jarrah says: -“As we parked in the shelter, I secured my seat (ejection safe) and wanted to unfasten my harness when I realized that I was already unstrapped. I felt my body heat up and began sweating, recollecting the three instances when the missiles were fired at us, if we had to eject, I would be thrown out of the plane, thinking that I was safe but ending up in a free fall, without a parachute, plummeting into the sea. Pilots require ground crew assistance to strap into the seats, hooking them to the parachute, survival kit, etc. I also realized how freely I could turn and check our six during the dogfight, as when the pilot is strapped in, the body movement becomes limited. I was young with little experience and fortunately this danger passed away, thank God.”

It is said that the day after this incident, the brand new Mercedes were removed from the Iraqi air bases and the costly reward, withdrawn.


Source: Tomcat Fights; Persian Gulf Engagements Part 2

 

[AShkan]

AN AIR COMBAT STORY BY IRAN'S AIR FORCE F-14 PILOT COL. PEYROVAN (Retired);



About six years into the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hussein’s desire to occupy Iran proved to be just a desire. Due to his miscalculations, the Iraqi Baathist regime had resorted to inhumane tactics such as the use of chemical weapons or bombing of cities violating the laws of war.



The F-14 was a very modern interceptor, which made it a strong deterrent against the Iraqi air force fighters; however, due to the arms embargo by The USA after the hostage crisis, our Tomcats had begun to deteriorate. And the maintenance crews were working day in and day out to keep these fabulous birds flying.

It wasn’t easy to fully utilize this modern fighter’s capabilities, but the air force technical personnel had managed to maximize its usage with the minimum available equipment and facilities.



In the late December of 1986, the attack against the cities and civilian population by the Iraqis was on the rise. The enemy fighters would fly low using the mountainous terrains and radar blind spots to penetrate far inside our territory and bomb civilians in cities of Hamedan, Arak and Qom.



During these vicious air strikes many of the civilians were killed in their homes, streets and work place. As the air force was fully engaged in various missions; especially, the air defense of vital and strategic areas such as The Persian Gulf, it could not provide adequate defenses for dozens of of large and small cities.

We had been at war for six years. Our fighters and equipment had worn out, we had lost several fighters and their pilots, we had used up a great deal of our missiles and depleted the stockpiles, and with the all-out military sanctions against us, we had no way to replace them. Although the logistics, maintenance and other air force personnel tried keeping the planes operational, but the sanctions began showing their effects slowly. During the early years of the war, the F-14s and their deadly Phoenix missiles delivered a heavy blow to the Iraqi air force; especially, during Operations Beit-Al Moghaddas and Valfajr 8 with the shooting of Iraqi fighters, we had struck terror and fear in their pilots. But in 1986 noting the limitations we faced, we could not use the Phoenix missiles extensively and to prevent the F-14s from wearing out, especially the engines and other scarce vital parts, we had to come up with a solution.



The Air Force’s Deputy to Operations, Col. Abbas Babaei, issued an order to the effect of changing the F-14s flight time, reduction of the round the clock patrol of the F-14s and initiating scramble flights instead. He believed, since it was not clear when the war would end and until the personnel of The Air Force’s Office of Self-Sufficiency Movement came up with a suitable replacement for the Phoenix missile, only in exceptional cases and emergencies the Phoenix missile was to be used. In other circumstances, the pilots should use the medium range radar guided Sparrow missile or the short range heat seeking Sidewinder missiles against enemy fighters.



[NOTE: The F-14s delivered to Iran before the 1979 revolution were armed only with the long range Phoenix missiles. Before the deployment of the short range Sidewinder missiles model “L” or "P", and the medium range Sparrow missile model “F”, which were adapted for the F-14s, The Iranian Revolution broke out in early 1979. As a result, all military contracts were nullified by the new Islamic Government, leaving the F-14s armed with only the Phoenix missile and the 20mm M61 Vulcan Cannon. When the war between Iran and Iraq broke out, the F-14As were armed with Sparrow E-4 or E-2, and Sidewinder 'J' air to air missiles, but the missiles used for the F-4Es were not 100% compatible on the F-14A’s radar, the AWG-9, and offered a degraded rate of accuracy.]



Meanwhile the enemy had an unlimited supply of surface to air missiles and air to air missiles which they used against us. Of course, we were fortunate enough that our innovative personnel’s efforts paid off and during the last two years of the war, the Hawk missile was loaded on to the F-14 and tested as a replacement for the Phoenix. During the last years of the war this missile (Sedjil), was an encouragement for our pilots and a suitable backup to use the Phoenix less.



In January 1987, during Operation Karbala 5, we inflicted heavy loss to the bulk of the Iraqi forces in the Shalamcheh region. As retaliation, the enemy fighters began bombing the cities and civilian population using the mountainous terrain in the west and radar blind spots. During one of these attacks on the city of Qom, several defenseless civilians perished. Because of this incident, the air force commanders decided to provide special air cover for a while utilizing the F-14s so that if the Iraqi fighters managed to elude the radars and air defenses, the F-14s would greet them and teach an unforgettable lesson to the pilots. The CAP area was code named Quebec; Q being the first letter of Qom, and the commanders had briefed and informed all the pilots of the operation and the sensitive nature of the subject.



Usually before any mission, pilots analyze, evaluate and contemplate different scenarios they might encounter during the mission, devising various tactics in a quiet and calm place. Protecting the skies of a large city is quite different than defending a military zone, industrial center, refinery or other vital oil facilities. These areas are usually protected by their own air defenses, the workforces have been trained to keep safe and families don’t live inside these complexes. Also, being prepared for aerial attacks goes with the territory for these occupations but the civilian population especially the women and children are vulnerable to these attacks. Naturally, the air force had planned the majority of its defense role alongside the border trying to prevent enemy fighters from penetrating into our territory. But there is no such thing as an absolute effective aerial defense anywhere and at times enemy fighters can penetrate the defenses. Perceiving the mentioned facts, the night before my first mission, I preferred to have two F-14s providing the CAP mission so that the city could have a better coverage by us; however, I knew with the shortages we faced and the number of additional missions, it would not be possible to have 2 F-14s patrolling. The thought of one of these aggressors being able to get to the city and attack the people had occupied my mind and felt the weight of the responsibility. February 2nd, 1987, I rested some more to remedy my last night’s sleeplessness. The pilots that had the afternoon flights and were engaged late into the night would come a few hours late to the squadron building the following morning to be vigilant and stressed-free.



It was around 14:00hrs when I and my WSO, Captain Kazerouni, after receiving our flight detail, mission papers and weather forecast for the CAP area, we went to collect our flight gears. After checking our gears, we left for the shelter and after performing the walk around, got into our F-14 and started the engines. As I checked the systems, I noticed one of them had a problem which could not be repaired within a short time; therefore, we had to use the reserve plane for our mission. We immediately got ourselves to the reserved plane as my colleagues patrolling Quebec area had been flying for several hours and after a few refueling were waiting for us to replace them. Once I saw the reserve F-14, I was shocked to see that it was only equipped with two heat seeking missiles. These missiles were short range and used for close aerial combat while the plane should at least be equipped with a few medium range radar guided Sparrow missiles plus the two Sidewinders. I thought to myself that maybe due to the high number of missions, the overworked ordnance personnel didn’t have enough time to load the reserve plane properly. I placed my trust in God and performed the walk around as I thought again: “almighty God, you are witness to our limited resources with which we have to stop an enemy that has unlimited supplies.”

I got into the plane and started the engines one after another and began checking the systems and flight controls. Capt. Kazerouni also began checking the radar, preparing the navigation systems and other required systems for the mission so if there was a slight problem, the technical crew around the plane could resolve the matter. After making sure that all systems were functioning properly and coordinating with the tower, we made our way towards the runway as I quietly began praying. Before taxing onto the runway, the final checks were done and the missiles were armed by the ground personnel. We got approval from the tower control and rolled onto the runway. After checking the engines and the flight controls once again, I powered up to 100% and released the brakes. It was February and the cold weather offered the turbofan jet engines a better performance as the plane took off at a shorter distance into the sky within several seconds. We left Isfahan 8th Tactical Air Base towards our CAP area, northeast of the city of Qom, with clear and sunny skies.



We reached 18,000ft and radioed in our presence to Karaj and Subashi Radar via coded message. As we reached the CAP zone, the other F-14 which had been there for several hours left the protection of the area to us. It was around 15:15 and the refueling tank was circling the area so that if we required any fuel we would be able to receive it. The fuel tanker advised its position by coded message. 45 minutes had passed and we were carefully observing different directions with our radar. Sometime had passed and a deadly silence was present. I looked at the fuel gauges, we could still fly. One of the problems with single flight CAP is that when refueling, the plane has to move away from the patrol area a bit and we were worried that during this time the enemy fighters may appear.



We were patrolling in our assigned area and were flying exactly towards northwest when Subashi Radar Officer in Hamedan came on the radio and said out loud anxiously: “Shahed 54, Shahed 54, Rahnavard 53 2.” I replied him immediately and the officer asked us to change course towards southwest. He then advised the position of four bogies in that day’s assigned code. We were flying at 14,000ft and according to ground radar the enemy fighters were flying at a lower altitude than us. I asked Kazerouni to search and track them on our radar. Seconds later Kazerouni had identified the targets on radar. Without delay I told the radar that we have the targets and will head towards them for engagement. According to our calculations, the enemy fighters were around north of Arak heading towards Qom at low altitude.



Our distance to them was around 100KM. After coordinating with Capt. Kazerouni, we obtained the target’s information via our radar in TWS mode so that the Iraqi pilots wouldn’t be aware of our presence. If we did a radar lock on the enemy fighters, their warning system would alert them of the F-14’s presence and there was a possibility that they would turn back towards Iraq, dropping their ordnance on one the cities on their return path. In that case, they would flee from our planned trap and noting the distance they had from us, it wasn’t possible to chase and engage them, knowing that we didn’t have much fuel either. I turned all the switches on needed for the engagement and as we approached the targets, I gradually reduced my altitude and acquired the suitable speed for the tactic I had in mind. I had to fire my missile at the closest distance possible.



I had the targets in my radar and Captain Kazerouni kept on updating me of their speed, altitude and heading. If we were armed with Phoenix or Sparrow missiles, I would’ve engaged them head on, but since we were only equipped with heat seeking missiles, I had to keep the targets at an angle either to the left or right of the plane so that I could end up behind them with a swift turn and fire my missile towards their engine exhaust. But one thing kept on bothering me and made we worry; the fact that since they were heading northeast it was possible that even if we shot one of them down, the rest of the flight group would reach the city. Therefore, engaging them head on to disrupt their formation seemed a good idea. So I decided to increase my speed and engage them at a farther distance from the city. The distance between us was reducing and instead of looking at my radar, I was looking in front me for a visual. Captain Kazerouni kept on advising the distance. Our heading was 240 degrees meaning flying southwest and since it was in the afternoon, the sun was setting and it made it difficult to visually identify the fighters. Obviously one of the reasons for choosing this time to attack was due to this fact and our own pilots followed the same strategy when bombing targets in enemy territory during the morning. The intense morning sunray made it difficult for the Iraqi interceptors and air defense to see us easily before reaching the target.



I reduced my altitude to 1,000ft while the enemy planes were flying at about 200ft above ground. Captain Kazerouni declared the distance at 5 miles and since with the use of the radar we were flying towards them, we should have seen them by now. A few seconds later four shadowy dots appeared ahead of us at a lower altitude. Their speed was lower than ours and I had them under observation. Kazerouni came to my assistance to visually track them, forgetting about the radar. The enemy fighters were Mirage F1s. I was flying at 1,000ft and it seemed the enemy hadn’t seen us yet, since they didn’t show any reaction whatsoever. I saw my window of opportunity and reduced the altitude as I pushed onto the throttle, diving towards the fighters.

At about 2 miles they noticed our presence and clearly felt the danger.



Their formation broke as expected and three banked right while a single one turned left. With an appropriate maneuver I ended up behind the group of three and began chasing them. I told Kazerouni with a raised voice to lookout for the 4th plane so it wouldn’t go towards the city or end up behind us. My speed was very high and I was passing one of the fighters when I performed a Hi Yo Yo maneuver to reduce my speed. This is a type of maneuver in which by pulling on the control stick, the plane’s speed changes into increased altitude in a short period of time. I got behind the Mirages again and Kazerouni said that the 4th fighter is turning towards west. I looked behind to see the enemy fighter’s position and saw Kazerouni has turned about 150 degrees and is exactly looking behind us; I was relieved. The Mirages had two 30mm cannons and during ground strikes they were armed with two heat seeking missiles on the tip of their wings so that if they encountered any interceptors they could defend themselves. Hence having an F-1 ending up behind us would have been very dangerous.



With a quick maneuver I got myself behind one of them in a firing position when all three fighters broke to the left and jettisoned their ordnance in the desert. I was waiting for this moment and my concerns were now lessened. Although all three were banking left but they were at different ranges, altitudes and distance apart as well as keep switching places. With the jettison of their payload, their maneuverability had increased, in a way that I was unable to position my plane so that it would fulfill the required firing parameters. Meaning that while they were continuing to turn left towards west (about 270 degrees) I put the pressure on them to perhaps shoot one or one would hit the ground, but failed to do so. The Iraqi pilots seemed to have high flying skills. The turns continued until they ended up towards west and began fleeing by increasing their speed and lowering their altitude. This is a routine practice when fighters want to get away from chasing interceptors because it makes it tough and dangerous for the interceptor to keep on trailing the intruders and may break pursuit. The pilot’s worse enemy in this case will be the ground terrain which many of the pilots worldwide during training or combat sense a false vision due to high speed and low altitude. Slight negligence, deviation by the pilot, lack of experience or skills will cause the plane to hit the natural obstacles or the ground and kill the pilot, but I wasn’t about to let go. However, the conditions inside the cabin were different. At low altitude and high speed and due to performing extensive maneuvers the temperature in the cabin had increased.



At low altitude, the molecules in the air are more compressed and at high speeds and maneuvering, the friction between the molecules and the body of the plane produces heat inside the cabin which the cooling system cannot compensate. Besides the heat, the created excess sound and noise was also unnerving and all of these conditions were causing me to sweat a lot. Underneath my helmet, oxygen mask and face was soaking wet and in that tense flying condition, I could not even wipe the sweat drops off my eyes. One of the planes which seemed to be the leader was flying in the middle and slightly ahead of the other two as I chased them back towards Iraq. We had offered the aggressors a pleasant reception and now it was time to see them off in a well-deserved manner.



All the parameters for firing the heat seeking missile was set on the middle Mirage, except the altitude. I was a bit higher and began reducing my altitude when all of a sudden my craft got caught in the Mirage’s jet wash and at an altitude of 100ft the plane began vibrating. We dropped dangerously close to the ground and Captain Kazerouni became intensely worried. I managed to control the plane and increase the altitude, as well as my speed to avoid getting caught in its jet wash again. We were several miles away from our initial engagement point and I had no intention in returning to my base empty handed. I was still attempting to acquire my last parameter to fire the missile as we only had two missiles and any carelessness would possibly change the outcome of the mission. I didn’t want excitement and haste to be the cause of wasting the missiles. The interesting fact was that all this time none of the fighters were releasing any flares as countermeasure for the heat seeking missile that was about to be fired into their exhaust and this made things easier for me. Because I had increased my speed, I got closer to them again but this time, noting the previous experience I shifted slightly to the left to keep away from its jet wash cone. I then reduced altitude and got behind the enemy fighter.



Our F-14 was vibrating somewhat but I didn’t pay any attention to it and immediately aimed the targeting symbol on my HUD (Heads Up Display) on the Mirage’s engine exhaust. The loud missile tone was buzzing in my ears and as I yelled out, I squeezed the trigger. The missile separated from underneath the plane and travelled the short distance within seconds, striking the engine before the pilot’s reaction could save him. The explosion caused a large section of its tail to separate from the plane and since we were flying at a very low altitude, the Iraqi pilot had no time to eject. The plane immediately hit the ground as the two pilots that were flying on each side of him were a witness to the incident.



As the plane exploded the debris spread in the air and because I was flying fast and right behind him, the threat of being struck by the debris was imminent. I pulled up the plane to avoid the debris and inverted it as I reduced the speed to minimum, observing the Mirage as it crashed into the ground. Captain Kazerouni was excited and advised Subashi Radar anxiously that we had splashed one enemy fighter and the rest were escaping. The radar control officers were thrilled and kept on thanking us. As we passed over the downed fighter, I rolled back the plane. We were at 2,000ft and because I had reduced my speed, the enemy fighters had created a distance between us. My mouth was dry and I was soaking wet from perspiring. For a second I decided to follow them but because of our low fuel and increased distance from Qom, I decided not to. It was possible that a second group of fighters could attack the city. I gave the coordinates to the downed aircraft and flew towards the fuel tanker. I contacted the 707 pilot and refueling technician and it seemed that the outcome of our mission had reinvigorated them from their long tiring flight.



Due to a bit of turbulence and possibly being fatigued from the intense engagement, when refueling the metal part of the basket hit the front corner of the canopy and caused a slight damage. After refueling we returned Quebec, our CAP zone, and continued the patrol. It was getting dark and everything was peacefully quiet. Our mission was ending after about 3hrs of flight time, so we said goodbye to both Karaj and Subashi Radar and left the area. We circled around the city of Qom and thanked God for helping us to defend the city and teach the enemy a painful lesson. It was here that I realized that if it’s God’s will, even limited provisions are enough to defeat the enemy and my concern regarding being a single patrol with missile constraints seemed unnecessary.



We flew towards Isfahan Air Base and 15 minutes later we touched down on the runway. I taxied the plane to the shelter and we were greeted by the cheerful ground crew. We also thanked them and advised them of the canopy problem which was repaired by the next day. Esfahan’s air base commander, Col. Attaii, was waiting in the deputy to operations’ office to greet us and I summarized our mission and engagement.

Later on Brig General Sattari, IRIAF Commander, sent a gift to me and Captain Kazerouni.



The next day we were informed by our listening posts that one of the Mirage’s didn’t make it back to its base due to lack of fuel and the pilot was forced to eject. Following this incident, the low altitude raids on the cities and civilian population by the Mirages ceased and the Iraqi pilots didn’t seem to dare and show themselves in this area

 

[AShkan]

Black Tuesday, The Downing of Two F-14s by Iraqi Mirages


Fourteen months had passed since the beginning of Iran/Iraq war. What Iraq had thought would be an easy occupation after the Iranian Revolution had turned out to be a grave miscalculation. Iran hadn't thought the war would last more than six months; however, due to the military sanctions by the U.S. and extreme support of Iraq by several other countries, their hope turned to despair.

The F-14 had dominated the air and not a single fighter had been shot down by Iraq since the war had broken out. With the import of the Mirage F-1s, Iraq was hoping to regain air superiority and create a worthy adversary for the F-14s after fourteen months. The objective was the drive of the F-14s further inland to relief the pressure off the border. However, it seemed that the F-1s were also not an adversary to The Tomcats and as a result The IrAF devised a plan to shoot them down.

November 24th, 1981, two F-14s were patrolling southwest of Iran. One piloted by Captain Nezam Abadi and the other one by Major Hoshyar. A few groups of Iraqi MiGs cross the border and ground radar directed the F-14s towards them. As usual The Tomcats “active radar search” the targets to frighten them, but they do not flee back to their territory. The F-14s fly towards the targets and the MiGs begin to split up. The sky is filled with Iraqi fighters and as the F-14s maneuver to engage the MiGs, Iraqi F-1 Mirages approach them from behind. The F-14s are preoccupied with the fighter decoys and ground control fails to notice the new incoming set of threats. The Mirages position themselves correctly and fire their Matra missiles. The F-14s are struck close to the city of Ahvaz. Both F-14 crews manage to eject and land safely. The defeat of two F-14s in one day sounds off alarms in The IRIAF and detailed investigation in to the incident takes place. The Iraqi tactic is analyzed and pilots are briefed. For the next seven years, only in two instances the Iraqis managed to trap and shoot down The Tomcat.

 

[AShkan]

TARGET: DUKAN DAM INSTALLATIONS
“MEMOIRS OF THE LATE MOHAMMAD DANESHPOUR, F-5 PILOT”

As always, I headed for the command post early in the morning. A package containing the latest aerial photos of important enemy targets and installations was supposed to arrive to the base. I entered the tactical room and after the usual greetings I asked the intelligence officer and the base’s deputy to operations if the photos had arrived. The officer in charge spread several aerial photos on the desk. I looked at all of them carefully. The pictures were good since it showed details of several important targets clearly. One of the photos belonged to Dukan Dam and the surroundings which clearly showed the installations next to the dam as well as the control room and power house generator.

A couple of hours later, I was sitting with one of the other pilots in the briefing room and were going over the photos and discussing details of the mission. We believed the anti-air weapons mainly composed of AAAs and the way they were setup in the area made it almost impossible to perform a low level attack, without engaging the enemy or be outside their aerial coverage. Therefore, it was decided to do a high bombing mission to be out of range from the AAA shells and safe. After the briefing ended, we headed for the ready room to collect helmets and flight gears and went towards the planes.


Everything was coordinated with the control tower and with their permission, we powered up the engines and moments later we were in the sky. As we passed friendly areas, we decreased our altitude to easily cross the border into Iraqi territory. As agreed during our briefing, we would increase our altitude near the target and using the landmarks seen in the photos, we would identify our desired locations. Up until then, everything was going according to mission plan. We reached our initial landmark and upon positive identification, we began our maneuvers and turns, getting ourselves ready to dive and attack. The limited fires of enemy AAAs indicated that they are aware of our presence over them.


As soon as I reached the point to initiate my dive, all of a sudden I saw a bright fiery round approaching me from below and passed me at 100 feet away and continued to go up with high velocity. There was another bright round that followed the first one heading towards me and passed the plane. I then realized that our assessment of enemy AAA was limited to 23mm and 37mm guns while today for the first time we encountered 57mm guns which were guided by radar due to the accuracy of the fired rounds. I advised number 2 and told him to dive immediately, drop his bombs and leave the area. I did my last correction turn to reach my desired point. I turned left while AAA shells were being fired towards me one after another.


All of a sudden, I felt a hard thump at the rear of the plane and the nose dropped down into a dive. I found myself in an ideal firing position and didn’t want to miss my chance, as these opportunities rarely happen. I focused on targeting the power station’s control room. The fiery rounds of the AAAs were coming towards me and passing by the cockpit. The accuracy of their aim proved to me that they were using radar guided AAAs. I reached the release point and dropped my bombs, banking hard and fast afterwards as I head into a ravine in the mountain adjacent to the dam disappearing.


I found an opportunity to inspect my plane. The different lit warning lights were an indication of caution and danger. I checked the indicators and gauges on my panel and noticed my left engine had failed. To avoid more damage to the plane and possible start of a fire, I shut down the left engine and radioed my number 2, requesting his status. He replied that he is fine, has dropped his bombs on the target and is crossing the border into our territory. I asked him to continue his flight path and land, giving him further instructions to advise the radar in the area and our base of my condition in order to make preparations for my emergency landing.

Everything was calm again and without any concern I was flying low at 550KPH with one engine. I thought that it might be possible that the enemy had scrambled its interceptors after us and if this belief were true they would take a heading of 60 degrees, towards Mahabad (a city in Kurdestan province), in pursuit of us.


If enemy fighters found me, with my plane’s condition, I could neither engage nor could possibly flee and outrun them. With my current emergency condition I had to fly a direct route back to base and land as soon as possible, but decided to change course and fly in another direction for a while. I checked the right engine’s condition as well as available fuel, there was no problem. As I was flying I changed my heading 30 to 40 degrees by making small turns while kept on looking around, above and behind until I reached a safe point inside our territory. After contacting the radar and establishing radio connection with airport tower control, I first asked about my number two’s status and learned that he had landed safely. I then began explaining my condition. When the left engine is shut down, some of the systems are nonfunctional or switched off and the pilot has to rely on backup systems which have lesser performance and accuracy. Some of these main problems would be the lowering and locking of gears, wheel brakes and steering of the nose gear. Anyway, I lowered the gear and after following all procedures for emergency landing, approached the runway. Due to the failure of wheel brakes, I knew as soon as I landed I had to deploy my drag chute.

I landed the plane right at the start of the runway and pulled the drag chute lever. But the lever was loose and began wobbling in its place. Also, I didn’t feel the effect of braking or opening of the chute. I pulled the stick back using both hands and all my strength and at the same time pressed on both brake pedals. I knew the brakes where one of those systems that were inoperable when the left engine was shut down, while in that situation it could be a great help. As the plane’s speed reduced gradually I looked at the runway foot markers passing by. In normal conditions and according to flight standards the speed should be below 185KPH at 4,000ft to the end of the runway, but I passed the 4,000ft marker at 230KPH, getting closer to the end of the runway. I pushed on the brake pedals with all my might.


Since I thought that I might not be able to keep the plane aligned with the center of the runway, I decide not to lower my arrestor hook and engage the hook barriers. The plane stopped when its pitot speed tube brushed against the barrier net. I opened the canopy and turned off the plane as it stood there. The technical crew, rescue team and fire trucks that had followed me from touch down until the plane stopped, gathered around me and each began doing its duty. I tried to get out of the seat by my knees gave in. Sweat had covered my body as I spent a few minutes resting in my seat. Eventually, like half paralyzed people I got out of the plane with the help of the technical crew and stood beside the plane as I leaned against one of the technicians.


That night one of my friends told me that he heard from Iraqi radio that one Iranian fighter had been shot down over the Dukan Dam and the pilot ejected. I began laughing hard and when he asked why I was laughing I told him: “The poor guys are not to blame because they saw a white shoot open in the air and thought for sure the plane got hit and the pilot ejected. They possibly have sent their search team to find and capture the pilot not knowing that it was the drag chute that had been deployed due to the shell that hit the plane”.

 

[AShkan]

REVENGE OF THE TOMCAT


Black Tuesday for the Tomcat pilots was a costly lesson. The over confident pilots and ground control personnel revaluated their performance and tactics. This hard blow to the F-14 required a counter punch to regain air superiority both physically and morally. The IRIAF knew little about the new F-1 Mirages employed recently by the Iraqi air force. One of the F-14 pilots, Fazlollah Javidnia known as Javid, offers an idea to ground all transport, military, civilian, etc. aircrafts in the south-southwest area to be able to focus fully on the F-1 as well as being advised by Ground Radar Control if any aircrafts are in the vicinity deeming it as hostile. Wednesday, November 25th, 1981, a day after the two F-14s were shot down, Pilot Javidnia and WSO Khorshidi (K.I.A. later) take off from Esfahan TAB for CAP mission. They soon encounter two F-1 Mirages close to the border at above 20,000ft. The cat and mouse game soon begins as the F-14 kept the Mirages at a 20NM distance, returning back once the distance got into the Mirages' missile range. The F-14 performs this tactic several times and then calls GRC that he is returning to base. The Tomcat turns towards Esfahan and moments later performs a wide split S, heading towards the Mirages once again at much lower altitude. They get a lock on one of the fighters and fire their Phoenix missile. As the Mirage is a single seater, the pilot has to do both the visual and radar check himself. Seconds later Javidnia sees two Matra missiles being fired aimlessly and continues his lock until the Phoenix's active radar takes control. The missile hits one of the Mirages and the explosion causes the second Mirage to catch fire. The pilot of the shot Mirage manages to eject while the second one turns around heading back as it gives out a thick black contrail. The ejected pilot is captured and interrogated for the specs of the newly acquired F-1 Mirage. It is not confirmed by anyone if the second Mirage made it back or not.

The retaliation is perceived costly to the Iraqis as the Iranian listening posts pickup a transmission indicating that Javidnia is to be shot down at any cost. His voice had been recorded and based on voice recognition, the Iraqis would know when he is flying.

About a week later on Thursday, December 3rd, 1981 Javidnia is on CAP mission and is advised of two Mirage F-1s approaching from the west. Shortly after, GRC advises of a single F-1 approaching from the south and Javidnia knowing that he is on IrAF's hit list, flies north and sees a fighter approaching. Realizing that he has targets approaching from three directions, he assumes that there is no reason for a fourth bogie not approaching from the East, Iranian territory, getting him surrounded in a cross. As he turns to check the east, he finds an opportunity and fires a Phoenix missile towards the Mirage coming from the south. The Mirage is struck causing the rest of the Mirages to abort their hunt. The listening posts confirm that F-1 Mirages are also ordered to avoid the F-14 like the other Iraqi fighters; hence, relinquishing air dominance back to the IRIAF after only 10 days.

 

[AShkan]

BLACK TUESDAY II
September 2nd, 1986, 1400 hrs. Pilot Captain Ahmad Moradi Talemi (Talebi) and WSO Captain Hassan Najafi take off for a routine CAP mission. After the first refueling, the F-14 turns towards west and continues its patrol. The F-14 gains altitude of up to 40,000ft, continuing west towards Iraq. Ground radar control advises the fighter to change heading to north-northeast as he was leaving his patrol area. Meanwhile two Iraqi interceptors appear on ground radar controller's screen and warns the F-14 of the incoming bogies, directing him to change course as instructed. The F-14 enters Iraqi territory and is intercepted by two Iraqi fighters from behind. It is heard by Iran listening posts that one fighter fires its missile and strikes the F-14 confirming the hit and ejection of the crew. The F-14 pilot is shown on Iraqi TV explaining how well he has been treated and explains how his aircraft's control system had failed. The RIO is not shown on TV. Fereidoun AliMazandarani is assigned to investigate along with another team.

F-14 Hi-Jacked
A couple of months earlier, Captain Moradi requests for vacation outside of Iran. After obtain necessary permission, he and his family go to Germany. His wife is also a Homafar with the IRIAF. Before the month's end, Moradi returns to Iran alone. During his stay he had been contacted by different anti revolutionary groups and eventually linked to Iraqi Intelligence. The mission is to Hi-Jack an F-14 to Iraq most likely for The U.S. to inspect and analyze it, how the Iranians have managed to maintain the aircraft. The day is set and the crew get ready for their CAP mission. The first F-14 fails take off inspection as well as the second one. The third F-14 is okay to fly but is not armed with The Phoenix missile and Captain Moradi finds excuses to cancel this fighter as well. As standard flight regulations, if three fighters do not qualify for flight, the mission is scrapped and cancelled. However, Moradi insists on checking a fourth craft which is granted. The Tomcat takes off and begins patrolling the assigned area. He fills the tanks during the first refueling and heads towards Iraq increasing altitude. Moradi begins calling radar station called "Mohammed" a few times. Captain Najafi, RIO, asks about the station as he does not have it on his list and realizes then that they are at 40,000ft and well out of their patrol area, below 20NM to the border. After a few calls to "Mohammed" a reply is given to the F-14 call sign "Mohammed One". Ground radar control advises the fighter to change heading to north-northeast as he was leaving his patrol area. Meanwhile two Iraqi interceptors appear on ground radar controller's screen and warns the F-14 of the incoming bogies, directing it to change course as instructed. GRC believes the interceptors will flee realizing that the approach fighter is an F-14 but they continue flying at about 14-15NM to the right of the F-14. The F-14 still continues towards Iraq and both Hamedan and Dezful TAB scramble their fighters but it is already too late. The F-14 enters Iraq and the interceptors make a smooth right turn ending up behind the F-14 changing their role to escort fighters. The F-14 begins decreasing altitude. The lead Sukhoi fighter is a Major that switches role with his wingman, a young lieutenant, giving him the lead. At about 10NM behind the F-14 the major tells the now leader: "Aren't you ready?" He replies I will fire now and 5 seconds later cheers that he has hit the enemy fighter. Fifteen seconds later the GRC is heard for the first time: "Do you know what type of fighter it was?" The young lieutenant replies: "Wait let me check." Seventeen seconds later the pilot presumably pulls under the F-14 and replies: "It's an F-14"!!! There is no reply from GRC or confirmation for that matter. Shortly after the major takes lead again and declares bingo fuel and is required to make an emergency landing. He then turns to 140 and makes a straight in approach towards an abandoned runway, landing with his wingman. Forty five minutes after they land, a rescue chopper is sent to locate the F-14. The scenario continues off and on for the next two hours until they find the ball of fire on the ground where the crash site is found. Captain Ahmad Moradi Talemi is shown on TV all groomed nicely at 1600 declaring his plane was shot down over Iraq!! WSO Captain Najafi is released in the early 1990's long after the war was over. Captain Moradi is shot on August 10th, 1987 by a sniper on a bridge in Switzerland by unknown shooter (!!!) as he was walking with his wife and child. Rumors and speculations of what happened to the F-14's remains or intact plane are in debate:
-The plane was given to the Russians.
-The plane's secret avionics and weapons were downgraded by Americans and then handed over by the Iraqis to the Russians.
-The plane was analyzed by U.S. to obtain information as to how the Iranians were able to fly the fighter. Col. Mazandarani states that the craft was returned intact by the Iraqis after much debate and arguments between the different ministries of both Iran and Iraq, before The U.S. attacked Iraq.

 

[AShkan]

Close encounter with a Mig-23 (Pilot Memoirs, Fereidoun "Fery" AliMazandarani)


After the ground attack of the Iraqi forces on September 22nd, 1980, The IRIAF played the role of the army for the first few months until Iran ground forces could get themselves to the boarders. As a result, the F-4s and F-5s were bombing and using their guns to slow down The Iraqi ground advances while the F-14s provided CAP for these strike fighters.

It was mid November, 1980 and I along with Lt. Yousef Ahmadi were flying our F-14 around Ahvaz area, providing cover support for the F-4s and F-5s that were striking Iraqi heavy motorized ground forces. We were called by radar to offer support to a group of two F-5 Tiger Sharks returning from a bombing mission inside Iraqi territory and were being chased by an Iraqi fighter.

As we approached Northeast of Ahvaz at an altitude of 24,000ft, we couldn’t position our fighter to fire our Phoenix missile; as a result, we engaged the Mig-23 fighter in a dogfight. We began turning hard trying to get each other in our respective gun sight, but the Iraqi pilot was very skilled. Although I managed to fire two bursts of gun using our M61 Vulcan Canon, but the Iraqi pilot masterfully dodged the 20mm rounds each time. Eventually, with speeds exceeding 480Knots the Mig-23 went into a dive from 24,000ft as I chased him and we got into a spiral dive. At this point I asked my WSO to just call out our altitude as we descended rapidly. Both fighters tried to get into a firing position as we continued diving in a scissor like maneuver enduring high G force. The Iraqi pilot was showing off his skills as we were unable to get him in our gun sight, turning in tight circles and descending. I could hear my WSO calling out the altitude 2,000ft, 1,800ft, 1,500ft, 1,000ft, 600ft and we were still chasing each other descending when Lt. Yousefi called out 300ft. I pulled up the nose hard while simultaneously pushed power to zone 5 after burner, avoiding hitting the ground in an immense high G pull up as I inverted my plane to see my opponents position when I saw a huge fire ball to my left, an indication of the Mig-23 slamming into the ground. Unfortunately, this worthy adversary unable to eject, was killed instantly.

Afterwards, I requested from the ground controller to identify the pilot if possible. Later that evening I heard from the liaison officer of the 4th TAB that the pilot was a major, possibly one of the squadron commanders of the Al Shoaibiyeh Air Base in Iraq.

 

[AShkan]

PILOT MEMOIRS, HOSEIN KHALILI


Hosein Khalili was one of the several F-14 pilots that was transferred to the F-14 after the war had broken out as part of a plan to replenish young fighter pilots for the Tomcat. He was an experienced F-5 pilot with many hours of flight and combat missions who got transferred into the F-14 pilot program in February of 1982. He is known as the pilot that shot down 3 Iraqi fighters within 75mins.

During the last year of the war, Iraq was equipped with the latest French and Russian aircrafts and weapons such as the MiG-29, Mirage F1-EQ-6 and SU-24 as well as the Exocet Anti-ship missile and KH-28 Anti-radar missiles funded mainly by Kuwait and other Arabian States. The neighboring Arabian countries (U.A.E., KSA, Qatar, Kuwait, etc.) had become safe haven for the out of fuel Iraqi fighters or base of operations. The U.S. was now more involved in giving intelligence to Iraq as well as controlling Iran's air traffic via AWACS. Amidst all the support Iraq was receiving, Iran was suffering on obtaining parts and A2A missiles for its Tomcats, the only fighter that was defending the southern region adequately. The operational Phoenix missiles were almost fully depleted and in order for the Iraqi fighters not to realize that, they would rotate the Phoenix missiles on the F-14s in CAP missions.

December 18th, 1987, Hosein Khalili and WSO Lt. Jarrah scrambles off at 1530 to engage enemy fighters. As soon as he is in the air, they turn on the radar and view the many number of Iraqi fighters approaching. It was a planned mass attack by the Iraqis. As Khalili advises GRC, he hears him yelling: "We are hit, we are hit." and GRC goes dead. The KH-28 Anti-radar missiles had become a nuisance towards the end of the war and Khalili decides to patrol the Kharq Island area. That day Iraq bombs Bushehr Radar, Siri Island Oil Terminals, Bushehr Nuclear Plant and several other targets. The following day Col. Ardestani, Deputy to Operations, asks Khalili about the events that had taken place the day before. For sometime, the strategy implemented by Air Force Commander, Col. Babaii who had been killed by friendly fire on a recon flight several months back, was to deter enemy attacks and not to engage them. He would say that even if we shoot down five aircrafts, Iraq can replace them easily but if we lose one F-14 or F-4, we would not be able to replace them. The new air force commander, Col. Sattari, and a special team that had replaced the Bushehr Radar with a tactical radar had joined Ardestani and Khalili for the meeting and Khalili emphasizes that the old strategy is of no use anymore. Iraq knows that the F-14 defends Khark Island and uses this to strike other areas. The suggestion was to leave the decision to the F-14 pilots based on the situation. It is agreed and Ardestani advises Khalili not to take unnecessary risks and if the F-14 is lost, he will be responsible!

February 9th, 1988, Khalili and WSO Ghiasi scramble at 0830 to engage four enemy fighters. They lock on the fighters but unlike usual, they fighters keep on coming. Khalili decides to use Sparrow missiles as the fighters approach one another. Due to the degraded rate of accuracy of the Sparrow E series on the F-14, their firing distance is around 5-10NM. At 5NM Khalili fires two Sparrows at one the fighters and once he receives the BReaK X sign on his TID, he breaks left and encounters a second group of fighters, Mirage F1s. In a maneuver, he ends up behind 2 Mirages and is ready to fire its Sidewinder missiles, when one of the Mirages breaks away and Khalili follows him. Previous experience has taught him that the break away fighter always reengages from behind and decides to let the easier target go and follow the broken away fighter. Shortly after in a tight turn at a range of 800-1000ft, he fires his sidewinder and moments later strikes the Mirage. The rest return to Iraq and Khalili finds himself around Arabi Island out of Bushehr Radar's range. On his return he makes contact and advised GRC of the situation while an F-4 taken off to search for the F-14 is recalled. As soon as they land, Bushehr TV interviews Khalili but Base Commander Yassini advises Khalili that he is on Alert 5 (5min Alert) for the two F-14s in the area. Shortly after the scramble sirens goes off and Yassini approaches Khalili says:

-Be careful Khalili as the Iraqis will come back again for you.

Khalili takes note of the warning and takes off again and realizes the area is filled with enemy fighters; however, shortly after, the enemy fighters disperse and return to their bases. The area is cleared and there is no chatter on the radio. Everything is dead silent and GRC advises them that the area is clear. Usually during this time, the pilots loosen their harnesses to relax a bit, but he recalls what Col. Yassini had told him. On his young WSO's advise, they turn towards Khark Island to check the oil tankers. The last and this flight was Ghaisi's second and third combat flight. As they approach the group of tanker oils heading out of the Persian Gulf, they notice a fighter diving towards the ships. Khalili is not sure whether the fighter is friendly from Bandar Abbas or not. He sets course to intercept the fighter anyway and as the fighter passes in front of him, they realize it’s a Mirage F-1. Khalili turns and follows the fighter and immediately switches to Sidewinder and gets missile tone at a range of about 1,000ft, firing it. At this point, WSO Ghiasi yells out: "Break, break, break." Khalili immediately makes a sharp turn as WSO continues: "We're sandwiched . . we got two MiGs behind us." After several heavy maneuvering, at very low altitude Khalili goes to Zone 5 afterburner, fleeing the scene. Once they are close to their patrolling area and are assured that the MiGs have ended their pursuit, they turn around heading towards the tankers again. They see the struck Mirage burning in shallow waters.

At the end of the day, they confirm two hits visually and one probable based on the F-14 instruments.

 

[AShkan]

Memoirs, Major Yadollah Sharifirad

The 65th day of the war began like every other day. I left for the Command Post early in the morning and asked about my mission. Either the mission wasn’t known or was deemed secret to let us know in advance; therefore, I was waiting in the Operations Room for orders. After two hours they advised that if Col. Javadpour doesn’t arrive within the hour, I will have to take over his mission. Col. Javadpour, one the best pilots of our air base, didn’t arrive on time. The mission had been planned and assigned and my number 2 was Lt. Amir Zanjani. I summoned him and briefed him about the mission. We said our goodbyes to our friends and colleagues in the Operations Room, collected our flight gears and head for the shelters.


WE TOOK OFF ACCORDING TO PLAN AND REACHED OUR TARGET

It was Wednesday morning, November 26th, 1980, when we went towards the shelters and began our walk around (inspecting our fighters). We got into our planes, started the engines and took off. Moments later we got together at a designated point in the air. We recorded the time and flew towards the target. After fourteen minutes we passed the boarder. The symbols and markers on the map matched the ground land marks. The weather was good, we had a great visibility and there were no problems. The target was a lookout post in northeast of Solaimaniyeh. Everything went according to our briefing and we were over the target on time. We immediately went into an attack formation and dove towards the structure. As we reached the altitude to fire our rockets, I noticed that the post was empty and abandoned; therefore, I refrained from firing the rockets. I advised Lt. Amir Zanjani and in order to make sure that the lookout post was abandoned, I did a low level flyby.


WE RECONED ANOTHER TARGET

I told Lt. Zanjani to assume a tactical formation and we headed towards secondary target. The target was about 3 minutes away passed a deep gorge and over a hill. Our altitude was very low and we were flying fast. We were safe from enemy fighters. As we were passing by Solaimaniyeh’s communication antenna, Amir Zanjani said: “Captain, do you see the antenna to the right?”

I could see it and replied him accordingly. He continued: “It’s a nice target.”

As I was making my last turn towards the secondary target and was about 30 seconds away, I said: “It’s been attacked a few times, it’s abandoned.” and passed a cement factory at west of Solaimaniyeh city. Before reaching the target, I heard an explosion under my plane and the way it shuddered my plane, I immediately said: “Amir, I’ve been hit but still flying. Be careful, there are too many antiaircraft artillery.” But I didn’t get a reply. I called out his name several times and asked: “Can you hear me?”


AN IRAQI MIG WAS CHASING ME

As I was checking my left side for Amir’s plane, I saw a Mig-21 and the situation became clear as to what was going on. I immediately jettisoned my ordnance and turned on the switches for an aerial combat. I went full throttle and lowered my altitude as much as possible. I saw my survival in the destruction of the Mig chasing me. I was excited. I had to either shoot down the Mig or kick the bucket. It was awhile since the Mig had spotted me. He was flying above me and had a better position in every aspect. Besides, he had the home field advantage. I began my tactical maneuvers and we past one another a few times at the same altitude. We ascended and descended to no avail.


THE IRAQI MIG CRASHED

Using a maneuvering tactic I got the Mig to overshoot me and save myself from getting hit; however, he also managed to get a grip and slow down his plane. But now I was the one who had the higher ground advantage. He made a mistake by not increasing his speed. The Mig was in front of me at a lower altitude but I made a mistake as well and fired a missile without getting a proper lock. The missile went by him and exploded which I believe didn’t do any damage. I switched to guns and most of the time I was behind him or at times above to his right. Our altitude was very low and the Mig’s speed was very low as well. I used my guns several times and hit the Mig, but couldn’t shoot him down. Finally, as the Mig pilot was looking at me flying to his right, all of a sudden his left wing scraped the ground and instantly caught on fire and crashed.


I FLEW TOWARDS THE BORDER AT HIGH SPEED

There was no time to lose. I left the combat area flying low and fast, heading for our territory. It wasn’t the place to think about Amir. As soon as I entered our skies, I contacted radar and gave a report of the mission. I told them that I had no news of Lt. Zanjani and couldn’t believe that they didn’t have any news about him either. There was only silence to my questions. After entering our base’s control area I contacted the tower. I received the required information for landing and as I was flying on fumes, I landed my plane. I taxied to the shelter and after shutting down the engines and filling out the required form I went towards the Command Post. As I began summarizing how I lost Amir, I realized that my colleagues were saddened, and learned that it was because of the loss of Lt. Abolhassani, the news they had just received before I entered Command Post. I was in dismay until I came to know . . . .


AMIR ZANJANI HAD GONE AS WELL

Lt. Amir Zanjani was killed in action. On one hand the grief of losing Amir was heartbreaking and on the other hand, the dogfight moments and the actions I had taken, being alive, they all made me feel conceited. The news regarding the loss of Lt. Abolhassani was painful. Amir’s bashful face is still in my mind. His kind and tender voice, saying: “Captain, it’s a nice target.”

At times, I think to myself, during the remainder of my life, will I ever have the chance to meet a pilot that holds Lt. Abolhassani’s qualities, politeness, skills and love for country, all within himself? Will it ever be possible to meet someone that could fill his joyful spirit, smiles and jokes? Sometime later, it became evident that an Iraqi plane tailing Lt. Zanjani crashed into his craft from behind, killing them both instantly.

 

[AShkan]

War Story: Capt. ALI BAKHTIARI F-4E Pilot

ATTACK ON UMM-QASR

It was the early days of the war and it was imperative to attack the enemy’s naval installations and their naval vessels.
Our mission was to prevent enemy movement in northwest of The 'Persian Gulf' in order to establish sea supremacy for our forces. Enemy boats had to be attacked anywhere in the northern part of The 'Persian Gulf 'in order to restrict their movements at their homeports.

When we were ordered to strike the huge and heavily defended installation of Umm-Qasr, we had to plan the mission carefully and wisely. We had detailed aerial photos of the target area, which showed the enemy’s air defense arrangements clearly. I began briefing the other pilots regarding the mission and deliberated with the second pilot regarding our ingress and regress routes. We chose our flight path in a way that would minimize our exposure to the enemy.

We started our engines and took off heading towards the target fast and at a low altitude.

Our flight group consisted of two F-4E fighter jets each equipped with six 750lbs iron bombs. We managed to find the area as it was shown in the aerial recce photos.

A large area alongside the coastline was comprised of installations, equipment and buildings as well as the docks for Iraqi 'OSA Class' missile boats. We prepared ourselves for the attack and on my command we separated towards our assigned targets.

As planned, I increased my altitude, identified my assigned targets and dove towards them. I aimed precisely and as I released my bombs, I began firing the gun as well. My primary target was one of the military docks of Umm-Qasr Port and besides the dock, I was to target any anchored missile boats as well. I saw the bombs land on the targets clearly and number two was done bombing his objective too.

It seemed that we were able to reach our objectives without being seen and with the element of surprise, bombarded our targets precisely. A vast area of the port installation and docks was now ablaze and the explosions from the missile boats were clearly visible. Our strike was successful and now we had to return to base and await the reconnaissance flight to perform its duty twenty minutes after the mission to assess the inflicted damages to the port. That was part of the famed 'BDA' missions flown by our RF-4E aircraft.

About 20 miles to the border, I suddenly heard a loud explosion underneath my right wing as the plane shook violently. I immediately began checking my F-4’s various instruments and flight control systems. The right wing was apparently on fire, flight control was sluggish and some of the systems weren’t functioning. And yet our powerful fighter had responded well to the apparent damages. Several of the gauges including the critically important fuel gauge were lost. Although it was difficult to fly the plane but I continued heading towards the border. There were no more threats in the area and eventually the fire in my right wing subsided. The damage to the flight control was a big problem for me and I was worried not to be able to reach the home base; therefore, I decided to change course and land at the nearest air base after I crossed the border.

As I finally crossed the border, I headed towards the closest air base I had chosen. All was okay for now but I was expecting some additional system failure or something worse. There was also the possibility of further explosions because of the damage caused by enemy SAM to the fuel tank in the right wing. Moreover, I was not sure about the amount of fuel I had left and the best course of action would be to land as soon as possible.

With all the problems that my plane had, I was still in control of it and shortly after, I saw the runway at a distance. I circled around the base to check the runways, because they had been successfully bombed by Iraqi fighters days earlier. I chose a suitable part of the runway for touch down and landed my wounded bird carefully.

Since I had lost parts of my right wing, I had to compensate by landing at a higher speed than normal which made it even more risky on a shortened runway.

The right main gear tire was burnt and the left tire blew after hitting the asphalt and the small pot holes from the Iraqi attack. I lost both tiers and as a result controlling the plane became almost impossible. I used the emergency brakes to stop the plane as soon as possible, but although it reduced the speed considerably, I was still running at around 50 miles. The blown tire and pot holes caused the plane to drift to the right of the runway despite all my efforts to keep the plane in a straight line. Eventually the right main gear sunk into the dirt and broke off, causing the right wing to hit the ground. The mighty but wounded F-4 came to a halt and I shut down the engines, instructing my 'WSO' to abandon the aircraft immediately.

The rescue and fire fighters gathered around the plane but there was no fire to put out. I walked around the aircraft; the right flight controls were completely lost and the wing was damaged as it had hit the ground. We went to the base command post and advised our own home base of the status of ourselves and the bird. A transport plane was sent to pick us up for our return journey back to our own air base.

When we arrived at our air base, we were told that the recce jet had returned and the films were being processed. As soon as we received the photos, we began analyzing them in detail. Those images were clear and sharp. One of the docks was completely destroyed along with an 'OSA' class missile boat. A second 'OSA' was targeted and burning, rendering it useless for a long time. Many of the port installations were bombed and heavy damage could be seen. Overall, the mission was a complete success; although, when returning, one of the fighters had been hit by enemy's surface to air missile.

I was worried about the plane but I was told that it would be transported for repairs. The right wing was completely useless and needed to be replaced. The fuselage and nose suffered minor damages which needed repairs as well. The plane was ready after 16 months and 15,000 man hours of intense work without assistance from the manufacturer. The process may have taken long, but it indeed provided valuable experience and lessons to the ground technicians and the maintainers of the Iranian Air Force.

Source: Rahrovan-artesh.ir