Please read this only with a historical perspective of the events contained in the topic.
Since GE gave us a “gift” at the last event, the Persian Tomcat, let’s talk a little bit about history
Although the US Navy established the Top Gun program (officially called the “United States Navy Fighter Weapons School”) in March 1969 as an emergency measure to improve the performance of its pilots in the face of the failed results of aerial combat in the Vietnam War, then underway, making them aces in future wars – the title of “ace” awarded to the pilot who has shot down at least five aircraft in combat – only five American pilots and radar/weapons operators (with only one US Navy crew earning the honor), all of them aboard the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.
Ironically, despite the shooting down of Libyan aircraft on two occasions – in 1981 and 1989 – by American F-14 crews, the only Tomcat pilots (which would become the eternal symbol of the Top Gun program, after the homonymous film starring Tom Cruise in 1986) who achieved the status of aces in the aircraft, true masters in the art of aerial combat in all its forms flying the F-14, were the Iranians, who after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 became one of the mortal enemies of the United States, after receiving almost all the F-14s (and related equipment, including weapons) ordered through the “Persian King” agreement.
F-14 fighter pilots: standing from left: Asadullah Adeli – Jalil Zandi – Gholam Hashempour – Abbas Babaei – Iraj Siros – Mohammad Rostampour. Seated from left: Seddigian – Ahmed Moradi Talebi – Akbar Panahi
The Islamic Revolution, Iranian F-14 Crews, and the Iran-Iraq War
With the Islamic Revolution – which reached its peak in February 1979 – F-14A Tomcat crews were seen, as were everything that came from the United States (“the great Satan,” in the words of the leader of the Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini) as something to be demonized and destroyed, which resulted in executions, arrests, and desertions. A third of the 79 delivered were “grounded,” due to the limited stock of available parts, and American technicians had been expelled from the country or fled, avoiding a repeat of the episode of the American embassy in Tehran, whose employees were taken hostage and would only be released some time later.
However, the new Iranian leadership’s view of the military was forced to change, because on September 22, 1980, Iraqi fighter-bombers attacked six Iranian air bases and four other military bases, beginning the Iran-Iraq War, which would last eight years, during which dozens of aircraft of all types operated by the Iraqi Air Force were shot down by F-14 crews.
Considering the unique capabilities of the F-14 Tomcat (matched only by the pure Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-31 “Foxhound” interceptor, which had begun operating in the Soviet Air Force Fighter Aviation Air Defense Force earlier that decade), the training of its crews, and the fact that the adversary had nothing remotely similar in its Air Force, it is not surprising that by the end of that war, ace status had been achieved by several crew members, with many more recording fewer than five victories.
Jalil Zandi: 11 confirmed victories flying F-14A Tomcat
These are the Iranian Tomcat aces:
Fazlollah Javidnia: 12 confirmed victories, under circumstances still unknown;
Jalil Zandi: 11 confirmed victories (two Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-21 “Fishbed”, four MiG-23 “Flogger”, two Sukhoi Su-22 “Fitter” and three Dassault Mirage F.1EQ);
Abolfazl Mehreganfar: 6 confirmed victories, but under circumstances unknown;
Hassan Harandi: 6 confirmed victories, also with no details known;
Shahram Rostami: 6 confirmed kills (three Dassault Mirage F.1EQ with a single AIM-54A Phoenix, one Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-21MF “Fishbed-J” and two MiG-25RB “Foxbat-B”);
Jamshid Afshar: 6 confirmed victories (two Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-21 “Fishbed”, one MiG-23BN “Flogger-H”, two Dassault Mirage F.1EQ and one Sukhoi Su-22 “Fitter”);
Hossein Khalili: 5 confirmed victories, details unknown;
Jalil Moslemi: 5 confirmed victories (details partially known, including one MiG-23ML “Flogger-G”);
Kalil Sedghi: 5 confirmed victories (all against MiG-23ML “Flogger-G”, four of them in a single day, including a double kill with a single AIM-54); Major Ali Toufanian: 5 confirmed victories (two Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-23MS “Flogger-E”, with a single AIM-54, one MiG-25PD “Foxbat-E”, one Dassault Mirage 5 and one Mirage F.1EQ);
Mostafa Roustaei: 5 confirmed victories (one Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-21 “Fishbed”, two MiG-23 “Flogger” and two Dassault Mirage F.1EQ with a single AIM-54)
Khalil Dashtizadeh: 5 confirmed victories with details unknown to date; Assadollah Adeli: also with 5 confirmed enemy kills (including a record yet to be broken: three aircraft, in this case MiG-23 “Flogger”, shot down with a single missile, the AIM-54).
Some Iranian F-14 fighter pilots: Those on the left: Jalil Zandi – Gholam Hashempour – Assadollah Adeli – Ahmad Moradi Talebi – Gholam Reza Nezamabadi. Those seated from the left: Zahedi – Ali Reza Geranpaye – unknown
Colonel Fereydoun Ali-Mazandarani, “the ace of aces” of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat
However, the list above is missing the name of another Iranian Tomcat ace. In fact, the “ace of F-14 aces”: Colonel Fereydoun “Ferry” Ali-Mazandarani, who over the eight years of conflict with Iraq accumulated no less than 16 victories in aerial combat, eight of which with AIM-54 missiles (one MiG-21 “Fishbed” and seven MiG-23 “Flogger”), two with M61 Vulcan cannon bursts (another “Flogger” and a Mirage F.1EQ), one with a MIM-23 Hawk missile (when AIM-54 stocks were already running low, in this case shooting down a Super Etendard) and another five simply using the Tomcat’s maneuverability, when the adversaries were unable to shoot it down and crashed into the ground or sea.
It is said that in one of these combats, against five Mirage F.1EQs attacking the Nowruz oil field, the Master Arm Switch failed, preventing the use of any weapons on board, forcing the aircraft to maneuver above the aircraft’s normal limits, resulting in accelerations of 11.9Gs, which caused 19 structural cracks in the F-14, taking the aircraft off the flight line for two years. Two Mirages crashed into the ground.
Colonel Fereydoun Ali-Mazandarani - He joined the Iranian Air Force Reserve in 1999.
At the end of the war, only five F-14s were lost, for a total of 180 enemy aircraft destroyed.
By Sergio Santana:
Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Sciences (Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina – UNISUL), postgraduate degree in Aeronautical Maintenance Engineering (Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais – PUC/MG). Content contributor for Shephard Media. Contributor to the publications Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft and Aviation News. Author and co-author of books on Surveillance/Reconnaissance/Intelligence aircraft, military vessels, combat helicopters and air operations.