Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat Spiral-Bound | September 23, 2004

Scourge of the skies during the Iran-Iraq war, Iranian F-14s were so feared by their enemies that the Iraqi air force ordered its pilots not to engage Tomcats in combat. This book traces the combat history of these impressive machines.

So formidable an opponent did the Iraqi airforce consider the F-14 that during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), they ordered their pilots not to engage F-14s and the presence of one in an area was usually enough to empty it of Iraqi aircraft. Officially losses where tiny; only one F-14 was lost in aerial combat (to a MiG-21), one to a control problem and one downed by a ground-to-air missile. This book looks at the F-14’s Iranian combat history and includes first hand accounts from the pilots themselves. It will consider key engagements and the central figures involved, illustrating the realities, successes and failures of the Iranian air campaign.