1989 air battle near Tobruk
| Gulf of Sidra incident (1989) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The lead F-14 has just destroyed the last remaining MiG-23. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Libya |
 United States | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2 MiG-23 Flogger Es | 2 F-14A Tomcats | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
2 aircraft destroyed, pilots lost at sea | none | ||||||
The second Gulf of Sidra incident, January 4, 1989, occurred when two US F-14 Tomcats shot down two Libyan MiG-23 Flogger Es that appeared to be attempting to engage them, as had happened previously in the first Gulf of Sidra incident (1981).
Background
In 1973 Libya claimed much of the Gulf of Sidra as its territorial waters and subsequently declared a "line of death", the crossing of which would invite a military response. Tensions between Libya and the U.S. were high after the U.S. accused Libya of building a chemical weapons plant near Rabta, causing the U.S. to deploy the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) near its coast. A second carrier group, the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) was also being prepared to sail into the Gulf of Sidra.
Engagement
On the morning of January 4, 1989, the Kennedy battle group was operating some 130km north of Libya, with a group of A-6 Intruders on exercise south of Crete, escorted by two pairs of F-14As from VF-14 and VF-32, and as well as an E-2C from VAW-126. Later that morning the southernmost Combat Air Patrol station was taken by two F-14s from VF-32, AC207 (CDR Joseph Bernard Connelly/CDR Leo F. Enright 159610 AC207) and AC204 (LT Hermon C. Cook III/CDR Steven Patrick Collins 159013 AC204). The officers had been specially briefed for this mission due to the high tensions regarding the Carrier Group's presence; the pilots were advised to expect some kind of hostilities.
At 11:50 hrs, after some time on patrol, the E-2 informed the F-14 crews that four Libyan MiG-23s had taken off from Al Bumbaw airfield, near Tobruk. The F-14s turned towards the first two MiG-23s some 50 km ahead of the rear pair and acquired them with radars. At the time the Floggers were 72 nautical miles away at 10,000 ft (3,000 m) and heading directly towards the Tomcats and carrier. The F-14s turned away from the head on approach to indicate that they didn't want to engage. The Floggers changed course to intercept at a closing speed of about 870 knots (1,000 mph, 1600 km/h). The F-14s descended to 3,000 ft to give them a clear radar picture of the Floggers against the sky and leave the Floggers with sea clutter to contend with. Four more times did the F-14s repeat this maneuver, still tracking the Libyans. At 11:59 the Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) of the lead Tomcat ordered the arming of the AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-7 Sparrow missiles it was carrying. The E-2C had given the F-14 crews order to fire if threatened, the F-14 crews did not have to wait until the Libyans opened fire at this moment.
At almost 12:01 the lead Tomcat pilot said that "Bogeys have jinked back at me again for the fifth time. They're on my nose now, inside of 20 miles", followed shortly by "Master arm on" as he ordered arming of the weapons. At a range of 14 nmi (26 km) the RIO of the lead F-14A fired the first AIM-7M Sparrow; he surprised his pilot, who did not expect to see a missile to accelerate away from his Tomcat. The RIO reported "Fox 1. Fox 1." The Sparrow failed to track because of a wrong switch-setting. At 10 nmi (19 km), he launched a second Sparrow missile, but it also failed to track its target.
The Floggers accelerated and continued to approach. At 6 nmi (11 km) range the Tomcats split and the Floggers followed the wingman while the lead Tomcat circled to get a tail angle on them. The wingman engaged with a Sparrow and downed one of the Libyan aircraft. One of the US pilots broadcast "Good kill! Good kill!" The lead Tomcat closed on the final Flogger from the rear quadrant and at 1.5 nmi (2.8 km) the pilot fired a Sidewinder, which hit its target. One crewman broadcast "Good kill!" and "Let's get out of here." The Libyan pilots were seen to successfully eject and parachute into the sea, but the Libyan Air Force was unable to recover them. The Tomcats then proceeded north to return to the carrier.
Aftermath
No one is sure to why the two MiGs operated in this manner and provoked an engagement, and the Libyans did not launch a successful rescue operation to recover the pilots. The following day, the Libyans accused the US of attacking two unarmed reconnaissance planes, but the footage, also called the gun-camera videos, showed that the Libyans had been armed with AA-7 Apex missiles. Depending on the model, this can be either a semi-active radar-homing missile or an infrared-homing (heat-seeking) missile.
The attacks had repercussions on the NATO base at Lampedusa, and the U.S. Naval Air Station at Sigonella. Gaddafi reportedly threatened reprisal against the commanders of those bases.
Identifications of the Tomcats vary. The narrative above used the details from Air Aces[1]. Another source[2] identifies the wingman as AC202 rather than AC204. Both agree on AC207 as the lead.
Commercial products
As a result of this and similar incidents, some military-memorabilia vendors have been selling a "Gulf of Sidra Yacht Club" patch, suitable for sewing onto a U.S. Navy G-1 flight jacket. It is suspected that some of these patches are actually worn by fighter pilots. Curiously, although the better-documented incidents in the Gulf of Sidra involved F-14 Tomcats shooting down Russian-made Libyan jets, the commercial patch generally shows an A-6 Intruder flying over several sinking ships. It's true that an A6-E was involved in the 1989 incident, but it served as a spotter and did not engage: the F-14s engaged and made the kills. This patch has nothing to do with the 1989 incident. It came about as the result of the 24-25 March 1986 sinking of 3 Libyan patrol boats in the Gulf of Sidra by A-6Es.[citation needed]
F-14 Tomcat BUNO 159610
At the request of the National Air and Space Museum, the Navy provided BUNO 159610 to its Udvar-Hazy location near Dulles International Airport [1]. Although Tomcat BUNO 159610 downed the Libyan MiG-23 as a VF-32 F-14A model Tomcat, it returned from that deployment and was entered into the F-14D remanufacture program and served later in a precision strike role as a VF-31 F-14D(R). On September 30, 2006, it was formally unveiled to the public with now retired CAPTS Connelly and Enwright on the podium as honored guests.
F-14 at the Reagan Library
One of the F-14s reportedly involved in the MiG incident has found a final resting place at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.
See also
- mv El Fatah and mv Almasira sunk in the Gulf of Sidra
- Gulf of Sidra incident (1981) Another incident involving F-14s and Libyan fighters
- Hainan Island incident similar story between USA and China
References
- ^ Sidra 1989, Air Aces.
- ^ Top Edge.
External links
- Brief description of the incident
- January 16, 1989 Time Europe story, with details of the radio broadcasts and times.
- Air aces record
- VF-32 photo gallery
- Audio recording of the engagement
- Libyan Wars, 1980–89, Part 6 — Chemical Reaction, Tom Cooper.
- Actual combat footage from of one of the F-14s