
To American public the first Air to Air victory achieved in Operation Desert Storm was either that of Cap. Steve Tate F-15C from 71TFS/1TFW on a Mirage F.1EQ ( pilot Lt.col. Sabah Mutlag 89 Squadron - ejected safely ). Or Lt.Col.Jon Kilk F-15C from 58TFS/33TFW on MiG-29 ( Iraqis never admitted this loss ) .
In fact the first Air to Air Victory in that war was achieved by Iraqi Air Force Lt. Zuhair Dawood MiG-25PD from 96 Squadron on USN F/A-18C ( Pilot LCDR Scott Speicher VFA-81from USS Saratoga CV-60 ).
While the story has been covered very well by American media ( with the details of the loss and confusion to what cause the loss or the fate of the pilot )... No one had ever get the story from the Iraqi perspective ... The perspective of the Pilot him self .... The following is the story of the engagement as the Pilot at that time Lt. Zuhair Dawood reported it to his command :
Jan 17 1991
On the night of Jan 16/17 , I was on standby alert along with other 3 pilots of 96 squadron in the main aircraft shelter of Alqadisiya base ( Ain Alasad base ) and other 4 pilots in the other shelter ( Note 1 ) ... In fact I was wearing my flight suit.
On 0238 hr the Air Defence telephone ring and I answered the call and there was a guy screaming at the other end of the line : MiG-25 IMMEDIATE TAKE OFF !! ( Note 2 ) ... So I hurried to the aircraft MiG-25PD ( Note 3 ) ... In Fact the technicians were ready for this moment and the aircraft was ready ... So the take off was exceptionally fast ( 3 minutes since I received the call ) ...
After take off I switched to safe frequency and established contact with GCI of the Air Defence Sector... Sky was clear with very good visibility .... The GCI started to give me directions of group of aircrafts that penetrated the Iraqi air space to the south of the base ...
My radar was still warming and I was 90Km ( 50nm ) from the target formation when an enemy aircraft locked me with Radar ... So I performed a hard maneuver and the lock broke .... I reported what happened to the GCI and he told me to return to the same direction and you have targets at 38Km ( 20nm ) .. Mean while my Radar became ready ... I locked a target 38Km ( 20nm ) from me and at 29Km ( 15nm ) I fired R-40RD missile from my under Rt. wing .... I kept the target locked with my radar till I witnessed I huge explosion in front of me ... I kept looking to the aircraft going down spirally to the ground with fire engulfing it ... This happened at almost 180Km from base ( less than 100nm ) .
At that time as I understood later , Enemy aircrafts were attacking the base as they hit the old runway while others attacked with cluster bombs both the runway and taxiways and as a result my squadron mates took shelter in the underground bunkers and closed the hardened hangers doors .
Meanwhile .... I locked another target from behind ( Note 4 ) at 40Km ( 22nm ) and I asked the GCI for permission to fire but the GCI refused and asked me to confirm the target visually so I approached it and I couldn't believe he still unaware of me till I reached 8Km ( 4.5nm) and prepared R-40TD heat seeking fire and forget missile and asked the GCI again for permission to fire but he denied my request again and I asked him why ? ... He told me there was a MiG-29 ( Note 5 ) took off 10 minutes after me and he lost track with it and he fears I might engaging it ... I told him this slow moving target is impossible to be MiG-29 but he insisted I disengage and return to base .... So I moved passed the target aircraft and I can still remember the cockpit lights of that aircraft .....
I asked the GCI for directions to base because there was a malfunction in the Navigation instruments in my aircraft and he told me that he lost Radar contact with me !! but told me to take 340 barring from my last location ... I asked him where was my last location in relation to base ? .... But the connection was suddenly lost ... I tried to contact him again but to No use .... I feeling of despair as fuel is becoming low and the navigation instruments is down as I mentioned and as It was dark I could see nothing of ground features as electricity is lost all over the place ....the only thing could see is AAA and SAM fire .... But suddenly I noticed that Haditha train station having electrical power and since I know its location 35Km ( 19nm ) north of base ... I turned around toward the base and connection with GCI re-established but with very poor quality and he told me to switch to base frequency and I did it but no one was responding but anyway I started approaching the base and I switched the wing lights of the aircraft so they would know its friendly airplane and the runway lights were switched on for me ( I later knew that they were tracking me visually ) ... But suddenly and with connection is very poor and breaking up voice the landing officer was screaming to me : DO NOT LAND AT THE MAIN RUNWAY !!! ... So I made a turn and landed in the secondary runway ( later I understood that the main runway was crated by bombing in its last 1/3 ) .... No one was there when I landed .. All inside shelters ... So I taxied the aircraft to the gate of one of the shelters and while doing that I noticed the amount of destruction to the base with concrete chunks and metal objects ( bomb fragments ) all over the place ... I increased the thrust so they can hear the sound of the engine inside the shelter and let me in ... And it worked and they let me and the aircraft to go to the shelter..
End of Story
Notes :
1- Alqadisiya AB was home base of 2 squadrons : Squadron 96 MiG-25PD and Squadron 39 MiG-29A , He didn't clarify wether the other 4 pilots in the second shelter from his squadron or the MiG-29 squadron.
2- Contrary to what coalition thought that the Iraqis didn't realized the war has started until Baghdad was bombed by the F-117A at 0300 hr ... The news of Nukhaib air defense sector strike by an F-117A tail No. 85-816 Lone Wolf pilot Maj. Greg Best at 0238 reached Baghdad or at least the air defense sector command as the order to MiG-25 to take off came at the same minute.
3- Iraq received MiG-25PD and the export version PDS . The PD was allocated to squadron 96 while the PDS to squadron 97 ... The same with MiG-29. Iraq received the A version (33) and the B version (7) and 4 trainers (UB).
4- This was an A-6E from VA-35 also from CV-60 Saratoga
5- USAF F-15C pilot Jon Kilk reported killing MiG-29 with AIM-7 but Iraqi documents never shown this incident ... Kelk reported an explosion in the horizon ... But since Speicher F/A-18 was infront of him and downed at almost the same time ... This probably what he saw .... In total US claims of 6 MiG-29 shut downed in war later revealed by the Iraqi Air Force archive after the war to be 3 and 1 damaged ... The other 1 being the above and the famous dogfight of Jan 19 in which the Iraqi pilot claimed he through his EFT to the desert floor after performing a split-s maneuver and the F-15C pilot thought he hit the ground and explode while he escaped the Radar using ground clutter .
In fact the first Air to Air Victory in that war was achieved by Iraqi Air Force Lt. Zuhair Dawood MiG-25PD from 96 Squadron on USN F/A-18C ( Pilot LCDR Scott Speicher VFA-81from USS Saratoga CV-60 ).
While the story has been covered very well by American media ( with the details of the loss and confusion to what cause the loss or the fate of the pilot )... No one had ever get the story from the Iraqi perspective ... The perspective of the Pilot him self .... The following is the story of the engagement as the Pilot at that time Lt. Zuhair Dawood reported it to his command :
Jan 17 1991
On the night of Jan 16/17 , I was on standby alert along with other 3 pilots of 96 squadron in the main aircraft shelter of Alqadisiya base ( Ain Alasad base ) and other 4 pilots in the other shelter ( Note 1 ) ... In fact I was wearing my flight suit.
On 0238 hr the Air Defence telephone ring and I answered the call and there was a guy screaming at the other end of the line : MiG-25 IMMEDIATE TAKE OFF !! ( Note 2 ) ... So I hurried to the aircraft MiG-25PD ( Note 3 ) ... In Fact the technicians were ready for this moment and the aircraft was ready ... So the take off was exceptionally fast ( 3 minutes since I received the call ) ...
After take off I switched to safe frequency and established contact with GCI of the Air Defence Sector... Sky was clear with very good visibility .... The GCI started to give me directions of group of aircrafts that penetrated the Iraqi air space to the south of the base ...
My radar was still warming and I was 90Km ( 50nm ) from the target formation when an enemy aircraft locked me with Radar ... So I performed a hard maneuver and the lock broke .... I reported what happened to the GCI and he told me to return to the same direction and you have targets at 38Km ( 20nm ) .. Mean while my Radar became ready ... I locked a target 38Km ( 20nm ) from me and at 29Km ( 15nm ) I fired R-40RD missile from my under Rt. wing .... I kept the target locked with my radar till I witnessed I huge explosion in front of me ... I kept looking to the aircraft going down spirally to the ground with fire engulfing it ... This happened at almost 180Km from base ( less than 100nm ) .
At that time as I understood later , Enemy aircrafts were attacking the base as they hit the old runway while others attacked with cluster bombs both the runway and taxiways and as a result my squadron mates took shelter in the underground bunkers and closed the hardened hangers doors .
Meanwhile .... I locked another target from behind ( Note 4 ) at 40Km ( 22nm ) and I asked the GCI for permission to fire but the GCI refused and asked me to confirm the target visually so I approached it and I couldn't believe he still unaware of me till I reached 8Km ( 4.5nm) and prepared R-40TD heat seeking fire and forget missile and asked the GCI again for permission to fire but he denied my request again and I asked him why ? ... He told me there was a MiG-29 ( Note 5 ) took off 10 minutes after me and he lost track with it and he fears I might engaging it ... I told him this slow moving target is impossible to be MiG-29 but he insisted I disengage and return to base .... So I moved passed the target aircraft and I can still remember the cockpit lights of that aircraft .....
I asked the GCI for directions to base because there was a malfunction in the Navigation instruments in my aircraft and he told me that he lost Radar contact with me !! but told me to take 340 barring from my last location ... I asked him where was my last location in relation to base ? .... But the connection was suddenly lost ... I tried to contact him again but to No use .... I feeling of despair as fuel is becoming low and the navigation instruments is down as I mentioned and as It was dark I could see nothing of ground features as electricity is lost all over the place ....the only thing could see is AAA and SAM fire .... But suddenly I noticed that Haditha train station having electrical power and since I know its location 35Km ( 19nm ) north of base ... I turned around toward the base and connection with GCI re-established but with very poor quality and he told me to switch to base frequency and I did it but no one was responding but anyway I started approaching the base and I switched the wing lights of the aircraft so they would know its friendly airplane and the runway lights were switched on for me ( I later knew that they were tracking me visually ) ... But suddenly and with connection is very poor and breaking up voice the landing officer was screaming to me : DO NOT LAND AT THE MAIN RUNWAY !!! ... So I made a turn and landed in the secondary runway ( later I understood that the main runway was crated by bombing in its last 1/3 ) .... No one was there when I landed .. All inside shelters ... So I taxied the aircraft to the gate of one of the shelters and while doing that I noticed the amount of destruction to the base with concrete chunks and metal objects ( bomb fragments ) all over the place ... I increased the thrust so they can hear the sound of the engine inside the shelter and let me in ... And it worked and they let me and the aircraft to go to the shelter..
End of Story
Notes :
1- Alqadisiya AB was home base of 2 squadrons : Squadron 96 MiG-25PD and Squadron 39 MiG-29A , He didn't clarify wether the other 4 pilots in the second shelter from his squadron or the MiG-29 squadron.
2- Contrary to what coalition thought that the Iraqis didn't realized the war has started until Baghdad was bombed by the F-117A at 0300 hr ... The news of Nukhaib air defense sector strike by an F-117A tail No. 85-816 Lone Wolf pilot Maj. Greg Best at 0238 reached Baghdad or at least the air defense sector command as the order to MiG-25 to take off came at the same minute.
3- Iraq received MiG-25PD and the export version PDS . The PD was allocated to squadron 96 while the PDS to squadron 97 ... The same with MiG-29. Iraq received the A version (33) and the B version (7) and 4 trainers (UB).
4- This was an A-6E from VA-35 also from CV-60 Saratoga
5- USAF F-15C pilot Jon Kilk reported killing MiG-29 with AIM-7 but Iraqi documents never shown this incident ... Kelk reported an explosion in the horizon ... But since Speicher F/A-18 was infront of him and downed at almost the same time ... This probably what he saw .... In total US claims of 6 MiG-29 shut downed in war later revealed by the Iraqi Air Force archive after the war to be 3 and 1 damaged ... The other 1 being the above and the famous dogfight of Jan 19 in which the Iraqi pilot claimed he through his EFT to the desert floor after performing a split-s maneuver and the F-15C pilot thought he hit the ground and explode while he escaped the Radar using ground clutter .
Last edited by oldiaf on 30 Aug 2015, 22:33, edited 1 time in total.