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The first 'Gulf of Sidra incident', August 19 1981, was an incident in which two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter fighter jets engaged and were shot down by two US F-14 Tomcats off of the Libyan coast.

Contents

Background

Incident

See also

Notes

External links

Background

In 1973 Libya had 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. As part of its ongoing Freedom of Navigation activities in support of 12 mile (22.2 km) territorial waters practices the US Navy aircraft carrier USS ''Nimitz'' (CVN-68) was operating near the so-called line of death.

Incident

On the morning of the 19th, two VF-41 ''Black Aces'' F-14As, ''Fast Eagle 102'' (CDR "Hank" Kleeman/LT "DJ" Venlet) and ''Fast Eagle 107'' (LT "Music" Muczynski/LTJG "Amos" Anderson), were flying combat air patrol to cover aircraft engaged in a missile exercise. An E-2A Hawkeye gained radar contact with two Sukhoi Su-22 'Fitters' which had left Okba Ben Nafi Air Base near Tripoli. The Fitters were heading towards the Tomcats and the lead Fitter fired an AA-2 Atoll short range heat seeking missile at the Tomcats. The Tomcats evaded and were cleared to return fire by their orders, which mandated self defense on the initiation of hostile action.
Muczynski engaged the lead Fitter and shot it down with an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. Kleeman engaged the wingman and shot it down with another Sidewinder. The official United States Navy report states that both Libyan pilots ejected and were safely recovered.
The international tensions and dogfighting incidents seen in the movies ''Top Gun'' and ''Iron Eagle'' were drawn in part from this incident.
According to a transcript from the USS ''Biddle'', the Fitters were shot down before the controller was even sure that the F-14s had been fired upon. They did not receive clearance, but they were forced to defend themselves after being fired upon.
Less than an hour later, while the Libyans were conducting a Search and Rescue operation of their downed pilots, two fully armed MiG-25s entered the airspace over the Gulf and headed toward the US Carriers at Mach 1.5 and conducted a mock attack in the direction of USS Nimitz. Two VF-41 Tomcats and one VF-84 Tomcat headed towards the Libyans which then turned around. The Tomcats turned home but had to turn around again when the Libyans headed toward the US Carriers once more, after being tracked by the F-14s radars once again the MiGs finally headed home. One more Libyan formation would venture out into the Gulf toward the US forces later that day.^[1]

See also

★ mv ''El Fatah'' and mv ''Almasira'' sunk in the Gulf of Sidra

★ Gulf of Sidra incident (1989), another case where US jets shot down Libyan jets.

★ Hainan Island incident similar story between USA and China

Notes

1. COOPER, Tom, Libyan Wars, 1980–89, Part 2.

External links

★ Description of the incident

★ Air Aces record

★ US Department of State Country Study of Libya, reporting that both Libyan pilots survived.

★ The audio recording from the dogfight and a short text transcript. Engagement running at 5 minutes and 46 seconds (note that it's not the best audio quality)

★ Reagan and Gadhafi - Robert M Kimmitt's commentary on the 1981 "Line of Death" incident

★ Naval Aviation 1911-1986. A pictorial study pp.91