“I fired one AIM-9 at very close range, and when my missile hit the MiG, it blew up into a massive fireball almost immediately – I could not avoid the explosion,” Maj Hazin, IRIAF F-14 Tomcat Pilot
The F-14 Tomcat, a legendary fighter jet, was retired by the U.S. Navy on September 22, 2006, and continues to serve as a key component of the interceptor fleet for the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF).
As Tom Cooper and Farzad Bishop describe in their book “Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat,” the F-14’s deployment in Iran is marked by a highly unlikely series of disputes and ‘educated guesstimates’ that are entirely incorrect.
At the time of the Iraqi invasion in 1980, the Tomcat force effectively bore the brunt of active air defense operations against thousands of Iraqi airstrikes. Indeed, F-14 crews fought more aerial engagements than the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy combined during the Vietnam War, scoring a similar number of aerial victories.
On Oct. 26, 1980, two IRIAF F-14A Tomcats, flown by Maj. Hazin and Capt. Akhbari, engaged two Iraqi Air Force (IrAF) MiG-21MFs from Qalat Salih air base over Shahid Asaye, just north of Ahwaz.
Hazin, later a lieutenant general, recalled what happened during the short air battle which ensued; ‘We closed on the Iraqi MiG-21s undetected. Our airplanes were only armed with AIM-7s and AIM-9s, so we came in really close. I fired one AIM-9 at very close range, and when my missile hit the MiG, it blew up into a massive fireball almost immediately – I could not avoid the explosion. Parts of the disintegrating MiG-21 hit the left wing of my aircraft and were then ingested into the left engine.
‘Fire warnings were blinking all around the cockpit. I lost power in that engine, and when I looked to the left I also realized that the AIM-7 and AIM-9 that had been mounted on the port wing shoulder pylon had been ripped away. The shoot from the explosion of the MiG enveloped my jet as it passed through the fireball.
‘Meanwhile, my wingman had engaged another MiG-21 and shot it down using two Sidewinders. He later reported that after seeing my F-14 exiting on the other side of the explosion, he was sure that it was badly burned and the crew dead.
‘There were two other Iraqi MiGs nearby, but they dropped their bombs and turned back to Iraq, leaving their squadronmates to their fate. This was most fortunate for us, as I had great problems with the controls and the speed of my Tomcat. Capt Akhbari suggested we land at Ahwaz or Dezful, but I refused to do so. Both of these airfields could soon fall to the Iraqi Army, and I was not going to be responsible for handing an IRIAF F-14A to the enemy. So we decided to return to Khatami, where the jet could either be repaired or used as a spares source. If that was not possible, we could abandon the aircraft and let it crash into the Iranian desert. Despite the jet having suffered severe damage and being difficult to control, we managed to get it safely back to Khatami. The F-14 was later repaired and returned to service.’
Photo by Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force official site and gire_3pich2005 via Wikimedia
Iranian F-14 Tomcat units in combat is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
