Posted on 08/24/2004 1:33:36 AM PDT by Khashayar
In their (iraqis') frustration for a successful offensive against Iran on the northern front between 12th and 22nd March of 1981, Iraq fired two Frog-7 surface-to-surface Rockets against cities of Dezful and Ahwaz.
Within days after this attack, commanders of the 31st and 32nd Tactical Fighter Wing in Shahrokhi Tactical Air Base (TAB 3, near Hamadan) planned a counter attack. According to Iranian intelligence, the Iraqi Air Force removed most of her valuable assets to its Al-Wallid air base on the Baghdad-Amman highway close to Jordanian border, part of H-3 complex.
There at least two squadrons equipped with ten Tu-22B and at least six Tu-16 heavy bombers as well as two other units with MiG-23BNs and Su-20s were hidden. Supposedly out of reach of the Iranian Air Force.
But, Iraqi's were wrong. For their operation against Al-Wallid, 31st and 32nd Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) gathered their best F-4E Phantom crews, four F-14A Tomcats, one Boeing 747 airborne command post and three Boeing 707 tankers. The plan was as follows, since the interceptors of the Iraqi air defenses were usually not very active, especially not in Northern Iraq.
The only other obstacle was that Iranian pilots had to be careful to avoid SAMs in order to reach their target. Al-Wallid was almost 700 kilometers from Hamadan, and Phantoms had to fly over Baghdad.
To increase their chances Iranian commanders decided to deploy their aircraft to Tabriz (TAB 2) first, and then from there they would have a "clean" route passing by Mosul and Kirkuk toward H-3.
Since Phantoms could not reach their target without refueling in the air, two Boeing 707-3J9C had to be sent to Turkey in order to help the operation by meeting the attackers somewhere over northern Iraq. The operation began in the early hours of the April 4,1981.
The formation of eight F-4E, accompanied by two airborne reserves (whose pilots were sad enough that they had to return as nobody had any technical problems), started from Tabriz (TAB 2) and crossed into Iraq.
Two pairs of F-14 Tomcats stayed at low altitude over the border waiting for their return. Sometime earlier, two Boeing 707 started from Istanbul International Airport in Turkey (officially in order to return to Iran) and clandestinely diverted from international commercial route in order to fly into Iraq.
Flying at very low altitude between mountains of northwest Iraq, two tankers meet the Phantom formation and topped their fuel tanks, before escaping without an incident back towards Tabriz. The Phantom attackers then turned toward their prime target. The surprise was terrible for Iraqi's, not a single Iraqi interceptor on three bases of H-3 complex was in the air or ready to start.
The Phantoms split their formation into two sections coming from several different directions and attacked different parts of the base.
First they bombed both runways at Al- Wallid in order to block any Iraqi fighters from taking off. Then further, bombs destroyed several hardened aircraft shelters. In the meantime, cluster bombs of the second group of Phamtons wrecked three large hangars, two radar stations and five Iraqi bombers. Subsequently, other parked aircraft were strafed.
Iraqi's still hadn't reacted, even their anti-aircraft fire was weak, Phantoms had enough time to make multiple attacks and hit one enemy aircraft after another with the fire from their guns. No less than 48 different planes were claimed as destroyed or badly damaged at the end.
Finally, the whole Iranian formation turned back towards their base. Not even one F-4E was damaged during the attack on Al-Wallid and although many Iraqi interceptors were hasty scrambled toward them, none could catch up with Phantoms.
The Iranian attack against Al-Wallid is the most successful such operation against any air base since 1967. Never again would only eight aircraft destroy such a large number of enemy aircrafts on the ground in one mission.
Iraqi air defense command later claimed that Syrian interceptors were helping Iranians during the attack, and their radar followed Phantoms for some 67 minutes. If it was so, there are only two questions to be asked from Iraqi air defense. First, If they were alarmed by Syrian interceptors, why Iraqi interceptors weren't in the air already?. Secondly, why didn't they succeeded in stopping the brave bunch from the 31st and 32nd TFW?
DO NOT POST POLITICS, Please! Only Military or Historical posts to learn some thing. I Appreciate!
source
http://www.iiaf.net
Don't know if you are interested...
As some of you had been in touch with Iranian pilots in 1970s in the USA
The IRIAF has been severely weakened over the past 20 odd years.They only have around 60 F-4s which are close to obsolete when you compare them with Turkish or Israeli Phantom variants & they probably have only 20 or less F-14s flying due to lack of spares & attrition.Their Mig-29s are pure air defence variants as the Russians have'nt sold the Mig-29SMT fighter bomber variant to them. They also have around 20 odd (ex Iraqi)SU-24 swing wing bombers & Mirage F-1 fighters,but their exact weapons load is not known & will probably revolve around dumb bombs & anti-ship missiles.
Any Iranian pre-emptive or retaliatory action against Israel will centre around ballistic missiles (like the Shihab3 if its operational) & terrorism(via Hamas & Islamic Jihad & what not).
The Israelis have atleast 3 aircraft that can reach Iran-their new F-15I & F-16I fighter bombers & their older F-16C/D fighters(which would need refuelling though).Moreover Israel's 3 Dolphin class subs are known to carry a land attack cruise missile,the Popeye Turbo(also thought to be sold to India) -which is primarily meant for nuke deterrence,but could conceivably be equipped for a conventional land attack.
Your comment on their F-14s is wrong...
Ok tell me how many do they have now??
Where do these Mirage-F1 fighters come from ? France sold such planes to Iraq, but not to Iran. Were they confiscated by Iran when Saddam sent his warplanes over there in 1990-1991 ?
Yep-they were part of the planes that Saddam sent for safe keeping-poor bloke didn't get them back!!The Su-24 swing wing bombers were also part of that group.
The Mirage F-1 is a good bird, even if it's outdated now. The Iraqis used them a lot as fighter-bombers, IIRC.
Sending warplanes to Iran was Saddam's strangest move, given what little love Iran felt for him. He could have sent these planes into then-neutral and much friendlier Jordan, or even to rival Syria, and stood a better chance to have his air force back.
Does Iran have any homegrown clones? Other countries who have been subjected to intermittent supply problems (Israel, Syria, China) knock off designs of planes, tanks, rockets, etc.Israel-made Military Equipments For Iran Seized In GermanyThe ship, "Zim Antwerp I", sailing under a Thai flag and carrying some 3,000 chains, rubber treads for armored personnel carriers and other spare parts for tanks, manufactured by an Israeli firm, had reached Hamburg, coming from Israel and en route for Thailand, Hamburg custom officials said, adding that the shipment was to be transboarded in this port... "German customs authorities informed the Defense Ministry that the final destination [of the ship's cargo] was Iran", the statement said, meaning that they were probably informed about the cargo’s final destination, contrary to the Israeli Defence Ministry’s declarations.
IPS Correspondent in Germany
Aug 2002Russian-Iranian Arms Sales ControversyIran has not spent enough on military modernization to build up its conventional weapons... "Iran has carefully focused its arms buys on proliferation and creating a threat to shipping in the Gulf," Cordesman writes. "Iran does represent a potential threat to U.S. interests, but it has not had a major conventional arms build-up or received large destabilizing transfers of advanced conventional weapons. The violations of U.S. and Russian agreements have been minor, have had little military meaning, and been more technical than substantive... Iran's procurements to date cannot compensate for the steady decay of Iran's older equipment."
Anthony Cordesman
October 20, 2000
George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent
Good to let you know that Iranian Air Force is still great. I like it because it is one of the things our late Shah left for us.
Its personnel are Pro-Shah and all of them were trained in the USA.
http://www.iiaf.net
IRIAF has around 18 french Mirage F-1 stationed in North Eastern base of IRIAF near Mashad
http://www.iiaf.net/forum
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