World Famous Comics: Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft)
Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft)
By: Tom Cooper Publisher: Osprey Publishing Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Osprey Publishing Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 96 Publication Date: September 23, 2004 Release Date: September 23, 2004
Product Description: So formidable an opponent did the Iraqi airforce consider the F-14 that during the Iran-Iraq war, they ordered their pilots not to engage F-14s and the presence of one in an area was usually enough to empty it of Iraqi aircraft. Officially losses where tiny; only one F-14 was lost in aerial combat (to a MiG-21), one to a control problem and one downed by a ground-to-air missile. This book looks at the F-14’s Iranian combat history and includes first hand accounts from the pilots themselves. It will consider key engagements and the central figures involved, illustrating the realities, successes and failures of the Iranian air campaign.
A True Representation of IIAF Personnel In his review, R. A Forczyk (Laurel, MD USA), unwittingly notes the cause of US animosity towards Iran as the 1979 Hostage Crisis. However, he fails to mention that the source of hostage crisis is indeed the 1953 CIA coupe against the democratically elected and legal government of Iran. In fact, it is this unwise, and shortsighted effort by CIA only a few months after a Republican was elected into the office, that set the stage for terror in the Middle East in the coming years. R. A Forczyk conveniently ignores the undeniable facts of our current history. The reality is that the Iranian Air Force outperformed their Iraqi and non-Iraqi/Arab counterparts inspite of all adversity and inspite of lack of spare part and munitions for their aircrafts. No other Air Force could have acheived the results acheieved by the Iranian Air Force. It shows the depth of creativity by Iranian Air Force personnel demonstrated and documented by this book. This a great read by a couple of informed individuals. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the military affairs.
The Iranian Tomcats were tough opponents indeed F-14 Tomcats remain the mainstay of the IRIAF today and pose a serious challenge to anyone who plans an air strike against Iran. The book gives a nice operational record of the type in Iranian service with many photos and personal stories of heroism, triumph and sacrifice. The IRIAF of the 1980s was initially decimated by the mullahs but the F-14 fleet kept enough of its skilled personnel to give the Iraqis a bloody nose. "Shah's pilots" returned to duty en masse after the Iraqi invasion (pardoned by the revolutionary government) and used the F-14 in a most professional way scoring numerous kills. The author overturns some myths about the F-14s, like that the American technicians sabotaged the AIM-54 missiles or that the lack of spare parts reduced the number of available aircraft to a mere handful. The Iranians not only put the F-14 to use as a pure air to air fighter, but they used boldly the AWG-9/AIM-54 combination scoring kills from extreme ranges like 56, 64 and even 100 km! In one case an AIM-54 hit destroyed three (!) Iraqi jets with its blast and there were cases where single F-14s engaged eight or more enemy aircraft in dogfight and prevailed! The main problem was the TF30 engines which caused more losses than the enemy fire. Of course the lack of published records does not help to verify the total number of kills achieved by the IRIAF F-14s but they must be several dozens given the superiority of the type over the Iraqi MiGs and Mirages. It is doubtful though whether the IRIAF Tomcats remain as potent today and how many AIM-54 missiles are left in stock, but surely their pilots and technicians know the F-14 well and have even made some improvised corrections to it.
Not Factual A weak book written by an annonymous author of some unknown origin claiming to be an expert on Iranian Air Force. The book is only based on rumors, Iranian regime's official stories and some other lies told to the unknown author by, again, unknown people. One of the weakest books of the Osprey series. Not Recommended!
another side of tomcat this book tell us about F-14 tomcat belong to IRIAF, not U.S Navy, very good book,many stories is new for me, just like shot down Tu-22 iraq by AIM -54 Phoenix. this book highly recomended for F-14 tomcat Fans just like me.
Recommend with some reservation This is a book that provided additional information on Iranian F-14s, a topic that is rarely covered. Cooper and Bishop provided perspectives from Iranian pilots, views that are essentially ignored because these neither fit general military analysis, Iraq POV, nor the official Iranian government positions. Anyone who studied or read air combat accounts knows that, there are always uncertainties on air combat records, whether it's due to propaganda or fog of war. You usually have to look at stories from different sides to get a more complete picture. Therefore, Cooper and Bishop's efforts are greatly appreciated, even if they are not verifiable or totally correct (and with obvious Iranian pilot bias - not necessarily a bad thing if you know that upfront).
Having said that, I'd like to provide some additional info in response to Mr. Forczyk's review (even though I'm not military intelligence officer like him). The attitude from Cooper stems from the fact that he and Bishop's works are often belittled and ridiculed by others, including US military aviators. This bounds to make a person unhappy, especially when there are declassified US government documents to support some of his claims. Although Mr. Forczyk raised some reasonable doubts, such as no independent verification of these accounts and no details explaination about sources, I think he forgets that this is supposed to be an original work with first-hand sources. It's hardly surprising that this account is different from the Iranian government's account, since there is politic involved (FYI, Bishop and Cooper's work appears to be banned or at least unwelcomed by Iranian government). Saying "These are the same guys who lie to the world every day about their nuclear program, isn't it?" doesn't make much sense. What does Iranian government's nuclear program and propaganda has anything to do with the words of pilots their government dislike? Having contacts with former Iranian air force pilots (some no longer in Iran) is not the same as "pretty cozy with the Iranian Government", I don't think that's a right assumption.
Furthermore, I think it is a big jump to say that F-14's superior performance in Iraq-Iran war is impossible because otherwise Iran would have won by aerial bombing. The way Iraq and Iran used air power is very different from US traditional thinking (especially the post Desert Storm type). Air power simply isn't a decisive factor in Iraqi and Iranian minds, Saddam didn't say "Air Force has never been a decisive factor in the history of wars" without reason. During the Iraq-Iran war, Iraq perfected the underground and passive defense. Able to shoot down enemy aircraft in some air combats doesn't guarantee that you have impressive SEAD capability, and Iran certainly did not have US technology advantages displayed during Desert Storm. Mr. Forczyk forgets that Iran and Iraq both used Ballistic missiles to bomb each other's cities, that didn't have any cease fire effects. So why should F-14s, F-4, and F-5 with limited load and no PGM able to achieve greater results, given the air defense threats? Given these questionable assumptions, I think Mr. Forczyk's two stars is a bit unfair to the authors.
In sum, I'd say this book is certainly worth a look for anyone interested in F-14 or Iraq/Iran war, even though you may not accept all of its views. I give this book 3.5 stars - One for stuffing a lot of interesting info in a small book, one for interesting/rare photos, one for originality and going into a relatively untouched subject, and another half star for its potential value (if most content prove to be true...)
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