On April 4, 1981 at dawn, 8 F-4 Phantoms of the Iranian Air Force took off from Hamedan and conducted a surprise attack on the H3 airbase in western Iraq where Saddam had withdrawn some of his most precious new aircraft for protection. They achieved complete surprise and destroyed or damaged 48 enemy aircraft on the ground. All Iranian fighters returned to Iran safely. Until that date, this was the longest range air attack by jet fighters in history, with air to air refuelling at low altitude in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, and it was a brilliant example of military planning. And this was from an air force that was under embargo by the west, as well as suffering purge after purge by its own government at home. More details on this operation are described below:
The flight leader of this operation was Major Faraj Baratpour (now Brigadier General) and was an experienced and excellent pilot from the Shah’s time, as were all of the crews following him. Major Baratpour and his men were honored publicly yesterday. More pictures below:
http://www.mehrnews.com/fa/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=…
God bless this Iranian hero. >>>
