Observations made on recently released, undated photos uploaded at
AJA.ir
IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D fighter-bomber of 101st TFS, before hardened aircraft shelter at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D "Dowran" fighter-bomber of 101st TFS. Note in background air traffic control tower for Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D "Dowran" fighter-bomber takeing flight at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D "Dowran" fighter-bomber. Note emblem on intake denoting "Dowran" specification upgrade of Phantom II by IACA.
IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D fighter-bombers of 101st TFS, taxiing at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D fighter-bombers of 101st TFS, take flight at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber, taxiing at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber aircrew of 101st TFS
IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber of 101st TFS, taxiing at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10
IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber of 101st TFS, depicting night operating of aircraft at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
Ground crew servicing of IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber, within hardened aircraft shelter at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber, serial 3-6697 / 14878 (cn 3213)
Partially disassembled IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber
IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1EQ multi-role fighter of 102nd TFS, taking off at at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ and F1BQ multi-role fighters of 102nd TFS, at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1 multi-role fighter of 102nd TFS
IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighter of 102nd TFS, taxiing at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1 multi-role fighter pilot of 102nd TFS
IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighter of 102nd TFS, taking off at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighter. Note emblem on side of intake.
Ground crew direction of IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighter at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
Climb of IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighter of 102nd TFS
Climb of two IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1 multi-role fighters from Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10
IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighters of 102nd TFS, at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10
Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighter beside hardened aircraft shelter at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
Said to be Iranian-built flight simulator for Dassault Mirage F1 multi-role fighter
IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1 multi-role fighter in state of partial disassembly, hardened aircraft shelter at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.
IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1EQ6, serial 3-6212 (IrAF #4651) still retaining anti-ship grey scheme from previous IrAF service.
Photos: Nahaja.Aja.ir
The grey Mirage could be the one i landed at Hamadan Air Base. Thanks for bringing such great pictures!
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Did any Iraqi airforce fight the US or they all fled? and why? Saddam who had a pretty large airforce even by western standards and a good air defence system did not know the poor morale of Iraqi military, so was it just that the Iraqis did not want to fight or were simply scared of Americans? During Preying Mantis, Iranians outnumbered and outgunned thousand fold kept on fighting even though one our Frigates Sahand (F74) went down and another Sabalan (F73) went straight to its assistance and even downed a US Cobra, but was damaged but kept on fighting. Even the heavily outnumbered F-4E from Bandar Abbas joined in on an almost suicidal mission, so I wonder why the whole Iraqi military simply refused to fight and fled to Iran, surrendered or just melted away? Iraq had over 400 operational aircraft in 1991 including the ones captured in Kuwait so they could have caused some serious damage if the planes were harnessed properly and led by capable pilots and strategic planners.
Deletesimple answer from previous wars. Arab armies do not have bottle to fight. Look at their miserable performance against Israel!
DeleteAnon 7:32
DeleteSome Iraqi pilots were ordered to fight back, and a few managed to shoot down Coalition aircraft, though the Coalition to this day denies that Iraq won any aerial engagements, and claim that mechanical failures were the cause of Allied aircraft losses. For example, one great Mig-25 pilot of the Squadron No 84 shot down an F/A-18 on the first night of the Coalition air campaign. And a couple more such aerial victories followed. Also the Coalition lost over 50 aircraft to SAM and AAA in their effort to neutralize our SAM network. Our main (the Air Force) obstacle to defend ourselves was the system which had been imposed by Saddam Hussein. We had not been allowed to conduct exercises after the war with Iran to further improve on our flying skills. We had learned alot during the war with Iran and had gotten better as time went by. After the war with Iran, our command and control went back to become very rigid and slow, which meant that even the simplest action(s) had to first go through several people until it reached Saddam Hussein, who then decided to whether to grant permission or not, and then his response had to be relayed through the chain of command back to the airbase(s).
Another aspect was the capabilities of the Coalition. They were superior in every sense, from overwhelming numbers, to command and control, to having the technological edge. They had weapons and equipment that made a huge difference, such as Tomahawk cruise missile and Electronic-warfare aircraft and AWACs. Their first attack-waves were so massive, so well co-ordinated and so destructive that we literally lost the war within hours and it quickly got the the point where it was simply useless trying to defeat the Coalition.
Saddam said that we must move our aircraft out of the enemies reach in order to preserve them until the fighting stops. And the plan was for aircrafts that were stationed in Baghdad and eastern Iraq to escape to Iran. We were successfull in saving many of our aircraft in that way...if you want to call it a success, that is. The Coalition had anticipated that such a thing would happen, but they thought that we would fly to Jordan (the only country in the region that was not in the Coalition and who opposed the plan of going to war with Iraq). So they were caught by surprise when we raced towards the east, and they didn't have enough patrolling aircraft in the air ready to engage us, that's how some 140 aircraft got away. Not long after, they increased the number of patrolling aircraft which enabled them to cover more of our airspace, making it impossible for remaining Iraqi aircraft to flee.
Thanks for the candid reply. I would agree that Saddam was micro-managing everything and without the benefit of education or military experience, just like our Mullah's did in the initial phases of the Jangle Tahmili (Iran-Iraq war) when they suspected all the pilots and senior officers. Saddam can be compared to Hitler who was another illiterate megalomaniac who did not understand military planning and strategic mass before invading USSR. Iraq should have built remote temporary airfields in the mountainous north and western deserts with hardened shelters and adhoc runways all over the country like Iran has done. But Iranian landmass is huge and our diverse topography is a military planner's dream with mountains and excellent defensive terrain.
DeleteAnyway, it is sad that Saddam ruined Iraq and we can see the consequences to the day. BTW, I read that the US and its coalition lost over 100 aircraft (including rotary) but like in Afghanistan they attribute all to "technical" failures like the Jordanian F-16 shot down near Raqaa last month by a MANPAD as the pilot acknowledged in his interview.
You are welcome, always a pleasure.
DeleteHaving more airbases, remote and dispersed airstrips won't do much in my humble opinion, which we had by the way. The Allied coalition aircraft performed what is called airfield denial missions, which means the elimination of runways. They used a very powerful weapon specifically made for that purpose. I don't know the name of the weapon, but what it did was crater the runways from one end to the other! Not only that, but they immediately followed those strikes with bombs that opened up and out came hundreds of mines that spread all along the runways! I only know that neither we nor Iran had that kind of weapons. The extensive damage caused by the Allied coalition would have taken a long time to repair, not to mention all the mines that first had to be disarmed and cleared away before any repair work could begin.
It was nothing like how we attacked each others runways in the first days of the war in 1980. We attacked almost all of your major airbases in surprise attacks, but the number of attacking aircraft were few, and we put a few small or medium sized holes on a small part of the runway at each airbase, which were fixed by your engineers and technicians in just a couple of hours, and aircraft could take off and land again. Then the next day you responded ferociously with alot of aircraft, but largely with the same sort of bombs we had used (neither our nor your bombs could penetrate concrete aircraft shelters). However your strategy was a bit different to ours, as you concentrated on destroying our runways more so than sheltered aircraft, but you did strike aircraft that had returned from previous day's bombing and was visible in the open. As for hardened shelters, we had plenty of them. Aircraft stored in them are not protected anymore, since many modern airforces possess so called "bunker busters" that can punch through concrete. And the 1991 air campaign against Iraq was the first war that saw the widespread use of advanced missiles and bombs.
As for the Jordanian pilot. I think his mistake of flying too low and thus within the envelope of anti-air missiles can be attributed to inexperience (just 25 years old or something), poor situational awareness, as well as under-estimating the enemies capability. He could have avoided any threats on the ground simply by flying at very high altitude. As i understand it, he was hit by a missile from an SA-7. This is an old weapon system can easily be defeated by employing the right maneuvers as well as releasing flares, IF you know that one has been launched and as long as you can spot it and track it with your eyes, which isn't easy!
Another thing to consider is whether his aircraft was even equipped with systems designed to warn of incoming heat-seaking missiles, or perhaps he had them, but did not know how to properly fine tune those systems to provide him with early warning to increase his chances of survival.
Dear General Basrawi,
DeleteThank you very much for your interesting comments and information.
As an Iranian I am interested to know about your experiences after landing in Iran. How were you treated by the Iranian leadership? To your knowledge did any Iraqi pilots stay and helped the Iranians with the landed fighter Jets?
Kind regards
K
You are welcome my friend, and thanks for the kind comment.
DeleteI lived in Iran for 3 years until early 94, then i moved to Canada. Upon arrival in Iran after escaping the Coalition bombings, we were asked alot of questions by the IRGC. They wanted to get information on the state of our armed forces and military infrastructure. Yes, we were also asked to help in detailing the electronic systems and flight characteristics of the Mirage F1s as well as the Sukhois. The facts regarding the targeting computers and radars of the Mirage F1s which were revelead to the Iranian personell, technicians and pilots, confirmed what they had thought for years, that the Mirage F1s were the most advanced anti-shipping platform they had ever encountered. They also said that all of our aircraft would remain until hostilities ceased, and then sent back, as per the agreement between our governments. However later on it, the Iranian government changed its mind, and it was decided that no aircraft would be returned, kept as reparation for Saddam's aggression in 1980 and the damages caused by the invasion. My stay in Iran was good, i was treated as a guest should, especially by the authorities. I was provided with accomodation in Hamadan. However overall i felt that i was viewed with suspicion by the local population only at the notion that i was Iraqi, without even knowing that i was actually a former Air Force pilot. Some of my fellow pilots were given the option to move to Tehran. Unfortunately i lost contact with most of them when i left for Canada (I know that others moved back to Iraq, others also went to Canada and other countries), but some of them might have settled in Iran permanently.
Best regards
Fascinating story! Thank you sir for sharing it with us.
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