Tag: VF-41 Black Aces
Captain Belkacem Emsik al-Zintani fired a missile and 'destroyed' the F-14, supposedly killing its pilot, Commander Henry Kleeman. In 2016, thirty-five years since the famous Syrte Gulf Incident of Aug. 19, 1981, in which two Grumman F-14 Tomcat interceptors of US Navy (USN) squadron VF-41 'Black Aces' shot down two Libyan Arab...
No less than 35 pairs of Libyan interceptors, including a total of 70 MiG-23MS's, MiG-25Ps, Mirage F.1s, and even Su-22s, Su-22Ms and MiG-25RBs, approached US Navy aircraft on Aug. 18, 1981. Relations between Libya under Gaddafi's rule and the USA gradually worsened after Tripoli's announcement that the Gulf of Syrte (known as the...
Kleemann waited about 5 seconds for the Libyan to clear the sun, then pulled the trigger The following article titled Sudden Victory, The Gulf of Sidra Incident of August 1981 and written by LCdr. Joseph T. Stanik, USN (Ret.) appeared in July-August 1996 issue of Naval Aviation News. When Libyan aircraft unsuccessfully attempted to shoot down a U.S. plane conducting reconnaissance...
"It was a significant testament to the construction of the F/A-18—that we were able to fly both aircraft after the damage they sustained. The squadron and Navy completed the investigations and we were returned to flight status in about two months," LCDR Greg "Stubby" Stubbs, former VFC-12 adversary pilot LCDR Greg "Stubby" Stubbs describes the mid-air collision that took place...
The F-14 Tomcats were fired on by the Libyans, turning what had been a game of cat and mouse into a deadly encounter The more than two-centuries-old relationship between the U.S. and Libya has long been punctuated by moments of unfortunate conflict. In the opening years of the 19th century, the young U.S. Navy battled the Barbary state of Tripoli...
