laststandonzombieisland

The last shah of Iran placed a $2 Billion order for the most advanced combat aircraft the world in 1974, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. The order contained an airbase, a huge parts store, 80 F-14A fighters and nearly 714 of its unique AIM-54 Phoenix missile-the only one capable of knocking down an airborne target 100 miles away. Deliveries to the IIAF, Imperial Iran Air Force, began in 1975 from Grumman’s Calverton, NY plant with airframe BuNo 160299. Pilot/RIO training and support was done by the US Navy in CONUS bases during the same time period.

Ultimately 79 of the huge F-14s and 284 Phoenix missiles were delivered by 1979 when the Iranian revolution halted deliveries. Cut off from US-support and suffering from contractor sabotage and a loss of qualified pilots and mechanics, the IRIAF, Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, have continued to operate the F-14s for the past 30+ years.

The Iranian F-14 force saw much more combat than their US brothers. During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war IRIAF F-14 drivers claimed some 100~ confirmed victories over Saddam Hussein’s air force. It is known that only 5 of the Iranian F-14s were lost in air to air combat during the war, giving them a very respectable kill ratio of some 20:1. Their victims included both older MiG-21 and 23 series aircraft but also the more advanced Mirage F1 and the vaunted MiG-25. Standing orders to pilots in Saddam Hussein’s air force was that when an F-14 arrived in the sky they were not to engage but to break off and evade combat.

The most successful Iranian F-14 pilot was Major Jalal Zandi, who shot down 9 confirmed and 3 unconfirmed Iraqi combat aircraft. Another Iranian F-14 pilot, Major Rahnavard, flying alone attacked a formation of 12 Iraqi MiGs over the Persian Gulf in two separate engagements, downing four aircraft in one day.

Air and Space Magazine has a great new article with much more information here.