it must have approached virtually head on, and had navigation lights on.
You'd like to think it would have been seen.

One pilot snoozing, the other doing the crossword (OK doing things other than looking out the window). No TCAS. How would they know?

It was stolen by Emile Largo and converted to stealth standard before being passed on to the Iranians by the modern version of SMERSH - Nuclear Operations Secret Handling Intelligence Team (US was too embarrassed by the theft to reveal that the airframe was missing). SAM ex 15 has all the details; he'll brief us when good and ready (but hopefully before the 15th).

Mister B

You presume the Iranian F-14 was squawking. ;)

Yes, I would doubt it if they meant to get close. On the other hand, if it was an accident (a close call), probably means they weren't under close control, so again probably not squawking.

Mr B. Nice acronym. Now take your tablets and relax. Unless you want to help with my new novel.

Interesting thoughts. In my naivety I'd just assumed the mad b******s were playing chicken...

Well, if it did happen and you hadn't been hitting the schnapps from the drinks trolley, I would guess either an offensive VID or an accidental near miss.

It happened, and I wasn't

Fair enough. You seem like a trustworthy chap! So, Offensive VID or accidental. Or, I suppose, as you say, bored F-14 crew ar$ing around. Lucky to see an IRIAF F-14. As I said earlier, very few left - although some unconfirmed rumour that the Ruskis had been helping them to keep them flying.

During 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. Over the years the list became corrupted and that is why you see claims of MiG-25 and Tu-22s, etc.

- 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
- 2 Dassault Falcon
- 1 Lockheed Jetstar

The Iranians did return the Airbus that Iraq stole from Kuwait.

- 1 Airbus 300
- 5 Airbus A310

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

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

Iranian Military Planes Crashes in Annual Parade - Defense News

The other ex-Iraqi IL-76 AWACS/AEW can be seen in the background of the following image. The Iraqi's mounted the radar on a pod replacing the cargo doors.

JetPhotos.Net Photo » EP-CFJ (CN: 11516) Iran Air Fokker 100 by Mehdi Nazarinia - MehdiPhotos.com

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

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

Very good. Thanks TEEJ. About what I thought, but I'd forgotten about the F1s, of course. So no MiG25s then.

Mach Two wrote

No problem, M2. No MiG-25s were in the original list. I've seen other versions of the list but they appear to be corrupted variants of the original. Some of the Iranian fanboy conspiracy theory type websites have MiG-25s arriving and then being sold to Syria.

A search found the following list as reported in Flight magazine during 1991.

The Iraqi foreign minister, Ahmad Hussein, in claiming that 148 military and civil aircraft took refuge in Iran, has been prompted for the first time to detail the aircraft involved.

Of the 115 military aircraft Iraq claims were flown to Iran, 24 were Dassault Mirage F.1s, plus all 24 of the IAF's new Sukhoi Su-24 Fencers, 40 Su-22 Fitters, four Su-20 Fitters, seven Su-25 Frogfoots, four MiG-29 Fulcrums, seven MiG-23ML Floggers, four MiG-23BN Floggers and a two-seat MiG-23UB Flogger.

In addition, Hussein claims that 33 civil aircraft crossed the border and are also held by Iran. These include two Boeing 747s, a 707, a 727 and two 737s, 15 Ilyushin ll-76s, two Dassault Falcon 20s and three Falcon 50s, a Lockheed Jetstar and one Airbus A300 and five A310As. The six Airbuses are Kuwait Airways aircraft stolen by Iraq. Also stolen from Kuwait but not yet accounted for are two Boeing 767-200ERs, a 727-200 and a pair each of Gulfstream IIIs and BAe 125s.

air force | gulf war | iraqi air | 1991 | 1035 | Flight Archive

Excellent. Shouldn't it be Frogfeet? :p

I was looking at their airfields on Google Earth. One of them - can't remember which now - has a lot of what look like Fitter C parked out in the open around some HASs. So I'm guessing they're just left there to rot.

Do my usual evening google trawl, just came across this Xinhua press agency release from June Iran F-14 fighter jets operating despite U.S. sanctions: commander - People's Daily Online
It briefly discusses the Iranians ability to continue flying the F-14, despite sanctions.
Its written very much as a "public interest" story, but Chinese news agencies, especially Xinhua NEVER do "public interest". Theres always some government directed agenda behind it.
Question is - whats the agenda here? Is it some kind of hidden warning? Or are the Chinese pointing out - in an underhand way - that they are the brains / resource behind the ongoing availability of the Iranian F-14 fleet?
Its even more interesting in that other Chinese agencies repeated the story the same day - citing Xinhua. Of course Xinhua credits an Iranian agency with the story, so establishing an "arms-length" situation to try deflect suggestion that the story is Chinese-orchestrated.
Any political China-watchers on here? Comments?

Hm. Interesting analysis there, JD. I like it. I had always understood that the Russians had had a hand in keeping some of the fleet going, but that's not to say the Chinese have too.

The stuff that's coming out now does seem to contradict the assements some years ago that led me to believe that very few were left. That may add weight to the theory that someone has been re-engineering them - possibly even re-engined them.

Let's invade them, nick their jets and find out. We have to or we may never know!

Some footage of IRIAF F-14s


A recent Iranian documentary

Part 1


Part 2


Fleeting footage at 0:49 with bomb load. The Iranians also display AIM-54 Phoenix on the IRIAF F-14s.


IRIAF F-4s



More on the following link including exercise footage.

FulcrumPilot's Channel - YouTube

See following for images.

Photo Search Results | Airliners.net

Blimey, TEEEJ, you've been busy. Some great footage there. Thanks.

Can you hear it? The "Jaws" music starting to build up; seven and a bit days to go to SAM's prophesy fulfilment.

How will the purported cataclysmic event affect the balance of power? Will we adopt a state of seige while these power plays take place? Where will the point of impact be, and will the result be to divide and conquer?

I hadn't realised just how many books Mr Clancy has written; Mach 2 needs to get wiggle on if he wants to match the extensive output. I'm happy to help write the more lurid passages (but only after a few large malts to scramble the brain's reality nodes).:)

Mister B

Just been looking through one of the YouTube clips above (Recent IRIAF F-14 footage - Part 1/2) with two questions in my head - just how many F-14s are we seeing being flown here and how recent?

START Singleton. Iranian, but old
0:32 5 a/c crewing in but only one seen taxying. Old film.
0:50 F4D, not an F-14.
0:54 Phoenix? upload, probably an F-14. but no evidence of its serviceability.
1:00 What engines are those?
1:11 An F-14 who's canopy works.
1:15 A pair of F-14s flying, but this is old, wet film, not even vid.
1:32 Pairs approach. They look like IRIAF F-14s, but doesn't look like "recent" footage.
2:06 Missile firing, looks like an AIM7
2:11 'Splash' could have been anything.
2:18 That's an F4 gunsight with another F4 in it.
2:25 Single F14 flying.
3:52 Possibly 2 F-14s.
6:38 Very old film of a single F-14, part of it repeated. Looks like a faked emergency for the camera.
7:47 Single F-14 in a HAS, no proof of status.
END One F-14 then Russian.

So, it may look like we're seeing lots of F-14 flying, combatting, bombing, etc, but it is actually old, wet film, so could be from anytime and we only ever see two F-14s flying at any one time. There may be some slightly newer footage to place current faces into the film.

I'm not sure (from this footage at least) that we have evidence of a big op fleet of F-14s. As I said, that's only one of the clips. I do have some credentials with video/film, I do it professionally these days and have a fighter background. I'm not just spouting.

Courtney