High Altitude Bombing Mission

Note: This is just a very brief summary. The full version of the story is available online, in the documentary series by Press TV named, " Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat."

F-14 Tomcat (left) and F-4E Phantom II (right).

July 14th 1981, two F-14 Tomcat took off from Esfahan, Iran. Before reaching their rendezvous, the two F-14s refuelled from a tanker. The two Tomcats made a rendezvous with a flight of four F-4 Phantom IIs at Omidiyyeh, Khuzestan province (Southern Iran). Together, they headed for Iraq. Their objective was to bomb the enemy ground forces intrenched around the Tigris and Euphrates area.

USAF E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft stationed in Saudi Arabia, detected the the take aerial activity from the Iranians and were quick to inform the Iraqi Air Force. The moment when the Iranian flight crossed into Iraq, the Iraqi air defence were ready. Surface to air missiles were launched as a first line of defence. Fortunately, the Phantoms were fitted with electronic jammer pods which successfully deviated the horrendous looking SAMs. Approaching Basra, bogeys appeared on the Iranian radars; they were approaching from Baghdad, likely to be from Al-Kut airbase. Soon, the enemy aircraft were identified as Dassault Mirage F-1EQs. The engagement was frantic. During the heat battle one of the F-14s was hit by a missle from a Mirage F-1EQ. The F-14 was badly damaged but the determined pilot pressed on and followed the departing F-4s back to Iran.

Iraqi Air Force Dassault Mirage F-1EQ

The F-1 made its debut during the Iran-Iraq war. This aircraft type was later used against coalition forces in 1991, during Operation Desert Storm.

At that time, the first F-14 was still locked in its battle against the enemy and after some time, with more enemy aircraft approaching, it was forced to break away and head back.

Heading back home, he encountered and engaged an enemy aircraft. Without hesitation, he launched a missile at it, and he described the missile hitting target as being comparable to threading the bead of a rosary. The description gives a good idea of the missile's accuracy. Not long later, he described seeing a humongous explosion and after that, he had to break in order to dodge the debris. At the same time, he turned towards home. On the way home, near the Persian Gulf, some distance inland, the pilot reported seeing the frontlines, assumed to be in aerial view with a high degree clarity. He described that he was able to see things like troop movement, machines and tanks and also added that the sight of the frontlines from above was surreal.

Moments later, he tried to contact his colleague but there was no reply. His colleague, in the mean time was suffering from the damage sustained during the aerial engagement.

His colleague was in a frantic situation as his aircraft was badly damaged. He described the situation where the fire lights and various warning indicators were turned on. In the end, he had to turn them all of them off, probably to relieve some tension and increase his concentration. Before finding a place to land, his aircraft ran out of fuel. He described that the aircraft's engine went out one by one. Ultimately, he and his co-pilot were forced to eject and they did land safely. Both of them were rescued by a friendly helicopter and were brought back to Esfahan via a C-130 transport aircraft. Both of these pilot who flew their respective F-14s continued flying missions until the end of the Iran-Iraq war and apart from that, they also trained new pilots. Both of these men retired with the rank of Colonel and their post war occupation saw them in the passenger airline industry.

In flight refueling between a Boeing 707 tanker, F-14s and F-4Es.