Iraqi Mirage F.1EQ battle series Episode I

Cold war, Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm - up to and including for example the A-10, F-15, Mirage 200, MiG-29, and F-18.
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by oldiaf » 19 Aug 2015, 17:35

No one can deny that the Mirage F.1EQ was a decisive factor in destroying the Iranian economy and ultimately led the Iranian government to accept the UN peace in 1988. So I am going to tell some stories of the Mirage Missions in that war :
1 - Isfahan Oil Refinery hit 1986
2 Mirages F.1EQ Squadron 79 Base Abo Ubaida near the city of Kut one commanded by at that time by Captain Sabah Motlag as formation leader and the second one ( withheld for privacy ).
each aircraft Loaded with : 2 400 KG unguided bombs , 2 Magic 550 AA missiles , Chaff and flare dispenser , ECM pod and 1 EFT 2200 Lt.
Take off happened at dawn and low altitude flying as planned till reaching the target , here the formation leader took a hit from AAA and had to abandon the mission while No.2 scorred 2 direct hits on the refinery.
On the route back , the Formation leader plane begin to lose speed and altitude ( Max speed was about 430 Knots and max altitude was 10000 Feet ) and he had to rely on No.2 to lead the way but because of the low altitude No.2 took a bird strike to the engine so he had to limp his way out .
Arriving at base both planes made it safely with formation leader landed first followed by No.2
Here is a photo of the damaged plane S/N 4503 :
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Last edited by oldiaf on 19 Aug 2015, 22:40, edited 1 time in total.


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by old.iraqi.air.force » 19 Aug 2015, 21:46

SN was 4503 as you can see below, it was long day..
Image


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by oldiaf » 19 Aug 2015, 22:36

old.iraqi.air.force wrote:SN was 4503 as you can see below, it was long day..
Image

My mistake ... Now corrected ... What was the date of the operation ?


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by old.iraqi.air.force » 23 Aug 2015, 00:30

oldiaf wrote:What was the date of the operation ?

TOT was 0735
Here is some picture to Capt. Sabah Motlag as you desire and as you know assassinated by the Iranian militias at the hospital in Baghdad 2006
Image
Here he received Medals of Courage when he was captain for achieving air victories during Iraq-Iran war, later after the end of the war became Air Combat Wing commander successor in the leadership to Maj. Gen. Mokhalad AbdulKarim when the last became Base commander
Image


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by nikolaos » 24 Aug 2015, 17:33

I want to ask what was the provision of Iraqis for deep inside the Iranian airspace missions like the one described, as regards the escort of the strike package? What would have happened in similar raids if Iranian planes had scrabled to intercept?
Did Iranian fighters ever managed to foil or deter similar missions?


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by old.iraqi.air.force » 25 Aug 2015, 00:13

nikolaos wrote:I want to ask what was the provision of Iraqis for deep inside the Iranian airspace missions like the one described,

Destroying Iran's economic capabilities in order to bowing the Iranian regime to stop the war "whenever they have the ability to produce and export oil or gas they have the elements to continue in the war". for that all gas and oil filed and refineries or tankers and pipelines, power plants became targets to the Iraqi air force and even bridges, railway lines and ports.

nikolaos wrote:as regards the escort of the strike package? What would have happened in similar raids if Iranian planes had scrabled to intercept?

The answer of this question can't be short but i will brief to you.
Earlier in the war till 1985 the strike packages in Iranian depth was limited to MIG-25RBs and TU-22/16, in some case these bombers were escort by MIG-25PDs but the MIG-25RBs didn't require any escort.
In 1985 the Mirage start to deal with target in depth Iranian territory but in all these missions didn't require any escort for these reason:
A.They were fly on low altitude to minimize any detection so Iranian had no chance to scrambled and intercept them before reaching their targets (and till this day for most targets that hit by Mirage Iranian have no idea which route that has been used).
B.Iranian air force started to receding earlier 1986 but that doesn't mean totally not active, in this case these two Mirages they must defending themselves as they have been trained.
C.Any escort to low altitude strike mission will be useless, Once the fuel barely enough to reach the target and deal with it and return safe, so any engagements with enemy planes they will run out of fuel.
D.Any escort on 30,000 ft or higher (to reduce the fuel disbursements) will alert enemy air defense and maximize risk to the strike packages.
Therefore was no escort aircraft to the Mirage deep inside Iran.

nikolaos wrote:Did Iranian fighters ever managed to foil or deter similar missions?

Inside Iranian territory didn't happened (because the geographical nature of the mountains and valleys exploit to minimize Iranian radar detection) and we have videos proof that each strike inside Iranian was completely successful and you can note through videos how the pilots deal with targets relax and with out being intercept.
On Kharg Island and near Bushehr reactor happened that for several time because the open sea area.


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by oldiaf » 14 Sep 2015, 23:26

What happened to the damaged Mirage ? Was it repaired ? Sent back to France ? Or scrapped and used for spare parts ?


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by old.iraqi.air.force » 15 Sep 2015, 16:26

oldiaf wrote:What happened to the damaged Mirage ? Was it repaired ? Sent back to France ? Or scrapped and used for spare parts ?

Repaired in Iraq and flew another missions.



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