WD, the TU-22 is a 3-man crew and downward ejection even.

Su-17UM3 (S-52UM3, 'Fitter-G')
Revised trainer with the same avionics suite as the Su-17M3. The export version was designated Su-22UM3 with R-29 engine, and Su-22UM3K with the AL-21 engine. Manufactured 1978-1982.

Wikipedia says that the Libyan Air Force has SU22M3 and UM3K. It could therefoe have been the UM3K and the two crew to ensure no defections :)

Wikipedia also states that the TU-22 were grounded for lack of spares it also shows the G222 as retired. They don't have appeared to have moved between 2004-2009; maybe we could ask them to look after a few Harriers for us.

I'd assume some, if not all, of Libya's UM-3K trainers have some combat capability, particularly if serviceability is an issue.

Willard Whyte,

The Iranians put most of the Iraqi defecting fleet into service.

Ex-Iraqi Su-22 Fitters in Iranian service.

Photos: Sukhoi Su-22M4K Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net

Ex-Iraqi IL-76 in Iranian service.

Photos: Ilyushin Il-76TD Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net

Ex-Iraqi Mirage F1 in Iranian service.

Photos: Dassault Mirage F1BQ Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net

Photos: Dassault Mirage F1BQ-1 Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net

Ex-Iraqi Su-24 Fencer with the big wing fences fitted. Iran also bought Su-24s direct from Russia.

Photos: Sukhoi Su-24MK Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net

Ex-Iraqi Il-76 AWACS in Iranian service. This aircraft crashed in 2009.

Photos: Ilyushin Il-76MD Adnan 1 Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net

Iran also put into service the ex-Iraqi MiG-29 and Su-25s.

In April 1991, the Iraqi foreign ministry published the following list of Iraqi aircraft flown out to Iran, and accordingly requested these aircraft back. The Iranians didn't return anything.

- 24 Mirage F.1EQ/BQ
- 24 Su-24MK
- 40 Su-22
- 4 Su-20
- 7 Su-25
- 4 MiG-29
- 7 MiG-23ML
- 4 MiG-23BN
- 1 MiG-23UB
- 15 Il-76
- 2 Boeing 747
- 2 Boeing 737
- 1 Boeing 727
- 1 Boeing 707

TJ

Teeej
Interesting list.
I wonder what happened to the Iraqi aircrew that took the aircraft to Iran?

(CNN) -- A Libyan military aircraft crashed Wednesday southwest of Benghazi after the crew refused to follow orders to bomb the city, Libya's Quryna newspaper reported.
The pilot and co-pilot parachuted out of the craft, and the plane crashed in an uninhabited area, the paper said.
The Russian-made Sukhoi-22 aircraft crashed west of the city of Ijdabiya, 160 km (100 miles) southwest of Benghazi, Quryna reported, citing military sources.

:ok:Good boys..

I find it fascinating (with all due respect to the loss of life) how a city like Tobruk, once again, finds itself in a pivotal moment in history.

TBM, please note posts 54 and 56 et al yesterday.

TEEEJ

My use of the ellipsis was quite deliberate...

Rjtjrt wrote,

I would imagine that they were detained, given the choice to remain and or released? It took a long time for Iran to repatriate Iraqi POWs from the Iran-Iraq war from 1980-1988. They were still repatriations 10 years plus after the conflict. They probably detained them for violating their airspace?

Iran/Iraq: 1,999 Iraqi prisoners of war go home

Iran/Iraq: Iraqi prisoners released

BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Iran returns Iraqi POWs

BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Iran releases Iraqi POWs

TJ

I used to be a frequent visitor to Benghazi a few years back, calling in there for cheap fuel on the way back with flowers/veg from NBO to MSE, the G222's in the HAS are prepped for storage and have not moved for years.

There were a few Chinooks on the military apron but they never seemed to move,not much activity apart from the occasional SU22 training flight.:ok:

Libya attempted to retrieve the two Mirage F.1s on Malta. The Maltese Government sent them packing.

Libyan plane brought pilots to Malta to return jets

Libyan plane brought pilots to Malta to return jets | News by Country | Reuters

TJ

Defecting Libyan pilots return home to heroes welcome. :D

The general populas of Malta seem fairly evenly divided between the "by letting NATO planes land we're breaking our constitutional neutrality clause" camp and the "since the NATO action began we've been treated to better aviation displays than at the actual Malta Airshow" camp.
I'm with the airshow....................

Nice to see some follow-up on this story.

Well done to the guys - a courageous decision being rightly hailed by their approving countrymen!

Hope nothing ill happened to their families

Mirage gets colours of liberated Libya - timesofmalta.com
:ok:

Defected Mirage Jets Return to Libya with New Colors

VALLETTA — Two fighter jets that defected to Malta at the start of the Libyan uprising last year returned to their home country on Feb. 22 with the colors of the new regime freshly painted on their sides.

The Mirage jets were flown back to Libya by the same pilots — Col. Alial-Rabti and Col. Abdullah al-Salheen — who landed them in Malta in February 2011 when they disobeyed the Gadhafi regime’s orders to bomb civilians in Benghazi. The two pilots were given protection in Malta during the Libyan uprising. The jets were decommissioned and kept in Malta despite calls by Tripoli on the Maltese government to return them.

The green roundels on the two jets have been replaced with the new Libyan independence flag. The fighter jets were official handed over to the two pilots by Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi at a ceremony on the airfield on Feb. 21.

The jets were unable to leave Malta due to bad weather and spent an extra day on the tiny island, which played a key humanitarian role in the conflict. The pilots performed a low fly-past over the island before roaring off.

Looks like 1 of the 2 returned jets may have crashed:

Mirage returned by Malta crashes in Libya - report - timesofmalta.com