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In
the early days of December 1980 a single F-14 took off from
Khatami Air Base in Esfehan. The pilot was patrolling and
scanning the sky over the Persian Gulf about 60 to 70 miles
west of Bushehr at an altitude of about 3 to 4 thousand ft.
,when ground radar advised the F-14 pilot of multiple boogies
closing fast toward him. His aircraft was too far out to send
in any back up help, so ground radar told the pilot you are
on your own and good luck.
The pilot turned around towards them knowing he had a disadvantage
in numbers. By now the F-14 and two boogies were head to head
about 20 miles apart. The crew got a Phoenix Missile lock
at about 10 miles, although it was a close range for phoenix.
The pilot went ahead with fox1, he fired an AIM-54 phoenix.
Following the smoke path of the phoenix he saw a ball of fire
from the wing of MiG-21 that was breaking-up. Moments later
a splash down from pieces of MiG-21 were visible in the ocean.
In the mean while F-14 pilot observed the second MiG-21doing
a hard G-turn away from the fire ball since the 2 MiGs were
flying too close together. He was going back toward Iraq.
The F-14 in pursuit could not get any radar lock on the second
MiG-21 before he went super sonic.
Submitted
by F-14 Pilot
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