hot scramble Archives - The Aviation Geek Club

As we came down the ladder we were given the news that the war had ended minutes ago I muttered to myself We went to war and came back in peace Brig General nbsp Ali Asghar Jahanbakhsh former IRIAF F-14 Tomcat Pilot In the following story former Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force IRIAF F-14A pilot Brig General nbsp Ali Asghar Jahanbakhsh the first Tomcat pilot to engage a MiG-25 Mach 3 interceptor remembers the last sortie flown against Iraqi Air Force IrAF aircraft during the 8-year long conflict between Iran and Iraq nbsp Date Fall 1988 As you know in the latter stages of the war Iraqi s growing air force had resorted to bombing civilian population centers in order to create terror and panic among the Iranian people They had absolutely no regards for the laws of warfare nor had any mercy for innocent civilians Per tactical instructions our quick reaction alert aircraft usually responded to any intrusion into our air space within a 15 minute time frame meaning it would take around 15 minutes to get airborne from the moment scramble klaxon rang to the second the jets got airborne However the last few years had seen an exponential growth in Iraqi air force s capabilities in employing stand-off ordnance They with the help of their French and Russian allies had acquired stand off munition that enabled them to bomb our cities oil refineries and industrial centers from far away In one instance an Iraqi jet had released its ordinance from 40-50 kilometers away and by the time our interceptors got to the intruding jet it was too late Despite the intercept the bombs had destroyed their intended targets To counter this new challenge we employed the hot scramble tactic It gave us the opportunity to take off quicker and it would only take less than 4 minutes time In a hot scramble scenario both pilots sit ready in their jets on the runway instead of the shelters Target data would later be given to our pilots upon completion of their take off roll by the combat radar controllers This new tactic would help cut our take off time to less than 4 minutes which in turn gave us a fighting chance to close in with and thus prevent the Iraqi bombers to accomplish their missions I was given one of these hot scramble duties on a hot August day in 1988 at Bushehr s 6th air base Radar controller told me 3 bogeys are about 35 miles away and closing I managed to see three bogeys on my own radar and then our position was roughly 27-28 miles away from them My RIO was then nbsp 1Lt Ali Jarah who became later the IRIAF s Plans deputy He was constantly updating me As soon as we got to about 7 miles of now what were three bandits At that time I locked on their lead aircraft which we suspected had the stand off ordnance and made him break from his formation and run for the Iraqi air space I engaged the two escort fighters and pushed them back 80-85 kilometers away from what might have been their intended target Kharg island They broke off and ran as fast as they could back to Iraq Mission accomplished Three Iraqi jets failed to fulfill their dastardly job This print is available in multiple sizes from AircraftProfilePrints com nbsp CLICK HERE nbsp TO GET YOURS F-14A Tomcat VF-2 Bounty Hunters NK201 159625 1976 I thought to myself that we were out of danger and decided to turn back A few seconds in our return trip my jet s ECS system failed ECS is the jet s environmental control system which also cools and warms the cockpit As a result of this malfunction hot air was blowing inside the cockpit My RIO tried to reset the system it didn t work I followed the check list a couple of times hoping to reset or shut off the ECS but alas it didn t work Moments later my poor RIO said he is burning alive in the backseat He even suggested we should eject I told him hey look at those big hungry sharks down there Any ways I went supersonic in order to quickly get to home base that was now less than 80 kilometers away We were going above 600 knots Ten miles out I could make out the runway but I noticed we weren t aligned with it At 400 feet above the ground I brought the engines to idle deployed the air brakes and pulled 5g to slow down the jet We were under 350 knots By touch down we were going 210 knots It was awfully faster than the normal 125 knots instructed in the manual I gently pressed on the brakes to avert a disaster and my concern was a burst tire It did not happen After a long taxi down the runway we came to a stop Ground crew rushed to us and helped us de-plane to what seemed to be a freezer compared to the internal temp underneath the canopy inside the cockpit As we came down the ladder we were given the news that the war had ended minutes ago I muttered to myself We went to war and came back in peace Iranian Tomcats - Background Info Iran originally placed an order for 80 Tomcats and 714 Phoenix missiles by the time relations between Tehran and Washington were interrupted in April 1979 79 F-14As and 240 AIM-54s were delivered However Iran never received any of the advanced AIM-7F Sparrow and AIM-9H Sidewinder missiles intended to complete the arsenal of its Tomcats and thus for the first months of the war the type had to serve armed with Phoenixes and internally installed 20mm General Electric M61A1 Vulcan six-barrel cannon It was only in spring 1981 that the technicians of the IRIAF adapted the fleet to carry rather dated and less reliable AIM-7E-2 Sparrows and AIM-9J Sidewinders As explained by Tom Cooper amp Milos Sipos in their book Iraqi Mirages The Dassault Mirage Family in service with the Iraqi Air Force 1981-1988 out of about 120 Iranian pilots and slightly less than 100 radar-intercept officers RIOs that had completed their training on F-14s by 1979 fewer than two thirds were still serving as of 1981 Nevertheless each of them had received extensive training in air combat tactics in the USA and at home and this was refreshed during rushed courses launched following the first border clashes with Iraq in August 1980 Cut off from US support and with its support infrastructure in chaos most of the time the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force IRIAF was unable to keep more than 12-20 out of 76 available Tomcats in fully mission capable FMC condition at any time Still these were enough to maintain combat air patrols CAPs over Khuzestan Khark Island and Tehran usually lasting from 0900 in the morning until 1700 in the afternoon This model is available from AirModels nbsp CLICK HERE nbsp TO GET YOURS Photo credit Fars News Agency and Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force

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hot scramble

Former IRIAF F-14 Pilot Tells the Story of the Last, Exciting Iran-Iraq War Tomcat Hot Scramble