Iranian F-14 Tomcat Ace Reveals His Iraqi MiG-Killing Secrets 

As an Iran-Iraq war veteran, involved within the 21 Brigade of the Iranian special Forces (Anti-Guerilla Missions, Pilot rescue Missions) in the 80s, I have to say, that this documentary was one of the nicest of I have ever seen over the Internet in the recent years. Thanks, sir, for the focus and perfect way to tell the story. God bless and keep the good work.

I was a Navy JAG Officer 1974 - 1978 and often did courts martial on ships at sea. On board one of the carriers I remember some of the U.S. Tomcat pilots having large Imperial Iranian Air Force F-14 decals on the doors to their rooms. I asked one about it, and he said it was his way of thanking the Shah for buying enough F-14s to lower the unit cost so the U.S. Navy could afford them. Amazing times.

I’ve heard about another Iranian F-14 ace who goes by the name of Jalil Zandi with 11 confirmed aerial victories. Sadly, I believed he died in a car accident outside of Tehran in 2001. May his soul rest in peace. 🙏🏼 He was like the Maverick of Iran. 😎

At last a US tomcat pilot acknowledging the bravery and skill and dedication of the Iranian Tomcat pilots . 25 aces is remarkable and they recorded a lot of first world records with their tomcats . Iran was the savour of the Tomcat project . Thank you sir . It is time Iran and US put aside tensions .

On his 4th kill he told his RIO to count altitude aloud every second, that is why he pulled out just in time, and mig didn't. Also he said, he was sad that that pilot didn't eject, 'cause he was a good pilot.

The Shah also bought Bell Helicopters (Hueys & Cobras). My dad just left the U.S. Army as a trained helicopter avionic tech during the Vietnam War and he was contracted by Bell along with other ex-Vietnam vets to maintain the helicopters in southern Isfahan from 1975 to 1979. Entire American families moved and lived there. During the last year we lived in Shahin Shahr just north of Isfahan along with Grumman contractors and their families. Shahin Shahr was like an American military base (fenced off with armed Iranian soldiers for security) where Bell and Grumman families lived and we kids went to Americanized schools in this Americanized community. That all ended when the Iranian Revolution kicked off and then we all had to leave back to stateside. I was 10 years old when we left Iran.

As an Iranian I am impressed with the depth and knowledge shown in this video. To add more here, the Iranian pilots also carried out the famous "Operation H3"; an Iraqi airbase in the far west province destroying 40+ Iraqi Mig 21s and 23s without casualties. The Iranian Tomcats had to circle around the Iraqi/Turkish border at 350ft altitude and refuel with a Boeing 707 twice without detection by the Iraqi and the Turkish military.

I was a USAF enlisted student at Lowry AFB Avionics Electronic Technical School in 1977. During fundamental training there were Iranian & Saudi students in the school and an obvious dislike between each group. During breaks each would stay with their own group and when they moved, they moved together and never mixed between each other. We were all young American kids at the time and found this very humorous. Later we found out from one of the Saudi students that they would get reprimanded if they mixed with the Iranians.

Got to admit, they had some good pilots, and the Tomcat in desert camo looks wicked.

I was an avionics tech on Marine A-6E Intruders, and the perceived danger of Iranian F-14’s had an interesting effect on our jets. The electronic countermeasures aboard A-6’s were incapable of of alerting and defending our aircrews of detection by the F-14’s and their Phoenix missiles’ radars. As a result, we installed a pair of off-the-shelf Tandy “fuzz-busters” from Radio Shack on the dashboard in the cockpit. We would get gripes from the crew saying the “fuzz-busters” would go crazy as the jet was taxiing to and from the runways. Well yeah, that’s because PMO is out there clocking people’s speed on the roads around the field! 😁

My father was an Iranian Air Force pilot from 1968 to 1988. He got his pilot's license in the US, he flew with C-130 and Boeing 707 tanker aircraft and the last time of the war between Iran and Iraq he flew with Boeing 747 tanker aircraft. He was with During Operation H3 and according to him they flew over the border between Iraq and Turkey and Syria and Iraq. I have met many F14 pilots in the Shiraz air base, they were very brave and determined. One of the pilots said: if we had enough Phoenix and aircraft spare parts, we would never allow the Iraqi air force to take off from the ground. F14 was the best in its time air to air defense. I wish to see one day Iran and the US become alliances again, we Iranians love the U.S.A.

Being a career Navy aircraft mechanic I had heard the myths and legends surrounding the Iranian tomcats. I would never have imagined that after all these years that those birds were still flying. Thank you, sir, for putting this together.

I graduated from Air Force pilot training in April, 1976. We had several Norwegians in the class plus two Iranians. Less that 3 years later, the Shah lost his throne. We never heard from our 2 Iranian brothers again.

My cousin-in-law’s father was the Iranian general in charge of the F-14 training program. The story of how the family got out of Iran to join him here in the US is heroic. The family is simply impressive, and the children, now in later life, have all been highly successful Americans. That kind of intelligence is not easily replaced.

I worked for Bell as a trainer at Esfahan 1977-79. Some of our friends were expats working on the Tomcat. Still have the patches and decals they gave me depicting the double tailed tiger with Iranian AF rondelle. Wonder to this day if or how they kept the Tomcat flying. When I got chased out in February '79 I remember the thousands of Bell 212, 214, 206 and AH-1J helicopters we left behind to be maintained by a rather weak Iranian maintenance organization. I loved the country and people. Traveled all over by motorcycle. True they got pretty nasty toward Americans after Khomeini arrived but that's the nature of a despotic leader. I keep trying to remember the name of the lake resort area about 2 hours outside of Esfahan - any expats? Real shame about the Tomcat. Such a beautiful superior aircraft.

I have always viewed the F14 as an underachiever particularly compared to the combat record of the F15, how wrong could I be? Never underestimate the ingenuity of a people with their backs to the wall, absolutely amazing what the Iranians did to keep them flying and armed, airborne Hawk SAM's for goodness sake! Great video, thanks muchly.

The Iranian Tomcat story is astonishing. We might never know all of it. Years ago, I remember 'official sources' claiming the IRIAF Tomcats had maybe 4 or 5 kills. Now we know they had as many as 5 in one day. 150+ kills against what were at the time frontline Russian and French aircraft designs. It's just amazing. I would love to see the naysayers claim the Tomcat was dud in light of this video. Thank you for another outstanding video.

Thank you Ward for amazing contents. The first Tomcat base was Shiraz AFB. Then in mid 80s, they move them to Esfahan AFB. I was born in Shiraz AFB and used to watch nighttime scramble sorties with beautiful afterburner glow from top of our building. Big shout out to all Tomcat pilots including my best friend's father Captain Edraki.

Kudos to you sir for such an objectiv, accurate and unbiased assessment of Iranian Tomcats in action. I happened to have flown with MANY Iranian ex-tomcat pilots during my career as an airline pilot in Iran and I have tremendous respect for them. I am fully aware of how hard they worked to defend Iran from Iraqi aggression in the 1980s with severe handicaps. Their training days in the US was almost always a topic of discussion on our flights and applying tactics they had learned in the US ultimately produced the number of aces that we see in various documents. Wishing you an amazing 2022 and looking forward to your next videos!

In high school, I dated a girl whose mother was a sister of the Shah. Her mother told me of how their family had escaped the revolution. Apparently, they smuggled their money out of the country in rugs. Thanks for sharing this bit of history.

Ward, regarding the destruction of the Tomcats in storage at Davis Monthan: the scrapping was limited to the A models, which were the oldest and most worn airframes. Four A's which were of historical significance were spared.The B and D F-14's were not scrapped. Over the years various B and D's have been sent to museums around the country. As of late, there are 10 Tomcats still in storage at D-M. The 80th Iranian Tomcat that was never delivered to Iran was parked in the desert at D-M when I was employed there, still in it's Iranian camo paint scheme. Very cool looking I must say. Later on a team from Grumman came out and got the Tomcat flyable. It was flown back to Grumman, where it was overhauled and delivered to a USN squadron ( I don't know which). The theft and smuggling of F-14 parts was very real, regarding everything from hydraulic actuators, electronic components, and various parts of the TF-30 engines which were used on the A models which Iran flew. I was working for Navair, Norfolk where 3 individuals were indicted in federal court on various charges, one of whom I knew. But the decision to scrap the majority Tomcat inventory was not the result of one case, but rather over several years when it was realized how intense organized was the Iranian effort to keep their F-14's flyable.

Ward, you have become my military history teacher. Thank you. Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.

Ward you nailed it! Congratulations! Just one thing about Iranian pilots "they were not arrogant!" They were praud And... They saved our country eventually. Just imagine US Navy in sanctions, sabotage and execution of their own Pilots going to war with the Russians. That's why Iran is alive still after 7000 years of history.

I picked up Iranian military trainees hitchhiking through West Texas before I eventually started working for Grumman Houston as a machinist during the F14 years. They called themselves Persian when I asked where they were from. I built a lot of F-14 parts that were destined for Iran. I can still hear rivets being pounded into the overwing fairing that was assembled right across the aisle from the machine shop. The contract also called for training a few Iranians at our facility. I have to say that the Iranians I worked with must have been sent because of political connections rather than potential because they were untrainable. I still have some Royal Iranian F-14 and E-2C stickers and arm patches somewhere in my treasure trove. I spent a small break from Grumman to work as a pipe welder during this time too. Iranian students passed out leaflets of anti-Shah materials at the Shell chem plant I was working at on the Houston Ship Channel and I took some while coming out of the parking lot just before the revolution. I scanned that and placed it on Scribd.

as a former A-4 Skyhawk avionics tech, I'm amazed that the Tomcats were kept flying so long without proper support. Cannibalizing down aircraft for spares can only last so long. Must have been sending the avionics out somewhere for repair, but that would require training and tools, and probably some hard to get components. It would be fun to find out how they did it, but the audience for that might just be a handful of folks like me. 🙂

Fascinating. My Step Dad worked for a subcontractor of Hughes in the late 70s. He went to Iran on business approximately a year or so before the Shah was deposed. He said you could feel the tension in the air.

I was a teen(barely) when TopGun first debuted. I have been a Tomcat fan ever since. What an awesome little history lesson here, sir! Thank you for sharing your experience, wisdom, and knowledge pertaining to the F-14TC, as well as some intriguing, yet factual stories about the long-term usage of this iconic fighter jet by the Iranian AF. Amazing that the Tomcat is currently STILL a very effective and ever-impressive aircraft, and obviously the F-14 is well worth its salt, being that Iran put a good deal of effort and money into keeping this legendary(just my opinion here) bird maintained, up to date armament-wise and another generation of pilots(if even only a handful of them) trained to effectively operate them. Great stuff, and BTW, I subbed, sir!

Thank you for this video brother much appreciated

Great content as usual! I requested this video a little while ago, so I got pretty excited when I saw the title of the video! I remember the Iranian F-4s, F-5s and F-14s in airshows and parades as a child and was hoping to fly the Phantom or the Tomcat one day, but didn't manage to get to the airforce -- which is probably a good thing, left the country and ended-up flying the Tiger Moth in the UK! Not quite the same, especially when it comes to speed and firepower, but I'm happy! Thanks again for the video!

This'll probably never happen but I'd love to see a conversation between Ward and Colonel Mazandarani

actually a lot of pilots survived the revolution executions, my father was one of them! :)

Another great piece Ward! Superbly produced! Outstanding content!

As a Intel support staffer for AWACS (1982-1985) I can tell you we all took the F-14 threat as very serious. Especially after an in person briefing from Tomcat crews at Tinker AFB. The consensus was that if an Iranian f-!4 turned toward a AWACS in Saudi Arabia, the only hope was turn away and try to fall out of the sky gracefully. A Phoenix missile in active mode IS going to hit you especially when you are in that big ol AWACS. Our only hope was for poor maintenance of those missiles and planes. From what you say Ward - they did a pretty good job of that. At that time AWACS was flying 24/7 over Saudi Arabia and tracking both Iranian and Iraq air activity. .

Love the inside scoop as always, Ward. That sneaky Tomcat crew in the fly-off - if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying. Classic.

Great story. My father worked at Grumman as an F14 Tech Rep and he was "selected" to relocate to Tehran in the late 70s. Unfortunatly, about month before our move, the Shaw was overthrown and our move was obviously cancelled. When I look at old videos of Tehran, It looked alot like the United States, very westenized. I can't help to wonder what it would have been like to interact with the Iranians at the time.

About fifteen years ago, give or take, I had a chance to talk to one of these Iranian Tomcat pilots. It bothers me that I can't remember his name now, but he said he held the record for the most missiles dodged in one sortie (at the time). I'm not even sure how many he said there were anymore, it's been so long. He said he had to be hospitalized for a week because of the beating he took from the G-forces. Any chance you could find that story? I was left with the impression that this happened pre-revolution, but don't quote me on that.

In 1980 after I got out of the Navy I worked at Naval Air in Alameda on the AIM-54 reliability and test program. There was a complete Phoenix mobile test unit there that belonged to the Iranians but was on permanent hold. One year we had a little Christmas party in it, or at least that's where we stashed the hooch (ha,ha) Another trivia tidbit on the Phoenix, it had a circuit card that was called a KTD for killed target detector so if it's designated target was terminated before it got there it could select an alternate one. It was an impressive missile for the time.

I'll never forget the day my little nephew took me into NAS Oceana, and walked me through a huge hanger of F-14's being worked on, then watching a few take off from right next to the hangers. As a civilian, it was a terrific day. If i remember right, it was 2005, and they were one of the last crews left. They were A LOT bigger than they look on TV! (Top Gun)

Thanks for your objectivity. Love your channel!

This video is jam-packed with information I didn't know, about a subject that I thought I knew alot about. Thank you!

This is what makes this channel so delightful; the covering of small details which fleshes out the bigger picture. If you read some other legitimate sources, it really gives you a much deeper appreciation for the history of this once mighty aircraft, and the idiotic policies/personalities, that went into highly questionable choices/decisions. Bravo Zulu, Sir. Now you know why I took the wave off on the last pass.

Memories! I got to sit on the 80th Iranian F14A, which never went to Iran, at Calverton, in a student visit from the Polytechnic Institute of NY, Farmingdale campus, where I was studying Aerospace Engineering in the mid-seventies. My buddy, Joe, was much bigger than me and made sure I sat in the RIO seat while he sat upfront. Got a nice photo too. He went on to a 35 career with P&W. We were so incredibly impressed with Grumman and with the F14 forevermore! So sad that both had such an ignominious ending after so many years of quality, service, and sacrifice. Come to think of it my old University is also, no more.. Much obliged for the trip down memory lane, Cdr. Carroll!

Another fantastic episode, thanks so much for making these and sharing your knowledge.

Ward, I'm about 3/4 of the way through Punk's War. Really loving it.

I am absolutely fascinated by all your stories and GREATLY appreciate your channel. My cousin's husband was an A-6 pilot and was CAG on the Washington. I always love listening to his tales as a naval aviator and your videos always remind of them. Thanks again!

Mr. Carroll I cannot thank you enough for your continued coverage of historical US Naval aviation. I find myself anticipating upcoming videos with bated breath. Surprisingly, I consider it to be great feeling. As I am watching your videos I can almost smell and sometimes tasted the Jet A (CV-62). Thank you again.

About 1981 I delivered an Air Force aircraft to the boneyard at Davis Monthan. Parked on the receiving ramp were two brand new, immaculate F-14s. The canopies were perfect, without a single scratch. The tires were brand new with only a few landings on them. There was not a hydraulic leak or smudge of grease anywhere. They were painted dark green, with no insignia or national markings of any kind. When I asked the guys in the line shack where they came from, they said, "They came straight from the production line on Long Island. They're the last two manufactured for the Shah of Iran, but couldn't be delivered because of the revolution. They'll sit here until someone decides what to do with them."

Separate from the topic at hand, you have a real talent for objectively telling and detailing a story, certainly at a professional level. This is particularly impressive on the assumption that you're not scripted and not using a teleprompter. Well done!

I worked in Iran for two years, 2000to 2002 on Karg island. I worked one month in and one month out for that time. We flew into Bushier each time and I saw F 14s and F 4s at the airport.

Good piece, Ward! This helps bring Tom Cooper's books on the Iranian AF and the F-14 in particular-especially the Osprey one-to life. Maybe one day their F-14 guys and ours can get together and swap some stories.

Back in the early ‘90’s, I was an AO in VF-102. Our previous skipper was assigned to a test squadron that had the last Iranian Tomcat that we kept in its inventory. He landed that jet at NAS Oceana and taxied up to our hanger and parked it. Quite a sight seeing an F-14 all decked-out in Iranian paint and markings. One of those times you wish you had a camera on you at that time.

Thank you for bringing us these accounts!

Love the interjected Office humor and detailed break down. You’ve earned a sub.

actually my uncle was the late brigadier general Jalil Zandi. As far as I know he was the only Tom cat pilot with 11 confirmed kills. With all due respect to Colonel Mazandarani, I had never heard of his 11 or 15 kills! I know he had a few confirmed kills but as far as my research shows, the late General Zandi is the only one with 11 confirmed kills. May God bless them all as majority of them did not agree with the current regime and actually hated the mullahs, but when the call came to defend the mother land Iran, they all answered the call regardless of their feelings towards the regime. If it wasn’t for the Air Force, specially in the first 6 months of the war, the outcome would have been much different. It’s a well known fact that brave F-4 and F-5 pilots used their plane to hunt Iraqi tanks and armor like an RPG because they had to! There was no one else to stop the Iraqi advance in the beginning so the pilots did many thing that was never designed for attack aircraft but they did it anyway and many paid with their blood! Many of them were in jail when the war started and they volunteered to go fight! Many of them like hero Major Ghafoor Jedi was thrown out of the Air Force, but on the fist day of the war, they came back and flew with no rank, no pay, and many of them like Major Jedi gave their lives while conducting SM missions. There is a lot the world doesn’t know, and unfortunately they think all Persians are the enemy and as a few people put here “the bad guys”! But reality is different, the Iranian people have been taken hostage in their own country for 40 years and 95% of them are against the regime specially the military, the official military and not IRGC. In reality, they are just officers like you who love their country and they defended it with everything they had for 8 years against an invading enemy that was supported by the whole world!

Great channel. I really enjoy that you can make balanced assessments even regarding things close to your heart.

Really enjoy your content and the focus on the F14. Thank you and keep up the good work.

Thanks so much Mooch. It’s just Christmas 🎄 morning in Melbourne Australia and what a great episode to wake up to. It’s amazing to note that The Shah bankrolled Grumman to keep them away from insolvency and keep the rest of the F-14 production line moving. If I’m not mistaken, Iran was the first foreign country to be given full choice of American cutting edge fighters (F-14 & F-15). To think that had the revolution not occurred, you may have seen F-22 in the Imperial IAF squadrons.

Riveting!...Learned so much. Didn't know the Phoenix was battle proven. Great work Mooch!

Thanks for these videos, always interesting and I'm learning something new every time

Thank You Sir for such an informative presentation.

Ward Carroll you magnificent bastard, I bought you book (hardbacks on the way to go on my vintage flight simulator shelf--after reading of course).

Great Video Ward... Remember seeing the Iranian F-14 and their P-3 During my last deployment with Kittyhawk battle group West Pac 96....

Ward, you have an amazing way of conveying alll things F14 related. Thanks for your channel. Grumman should make you their honorary RU-vid ambassador

This was very insightful! Love the Tomcat and I always wanted to know more about the IRIAF F-14s. Thanks for creating these great videos!

It should also be noted that at the time, the Canadian government was also looking for a new fighter to replace the CF-116 Freedom Fighter (a license built version of the F-5 Freedom Fighter built by Canadair). Unfortunately the costs associated made the Canadian government reconsider. However, when the Iranian Revolution happened, the Canadian government tried to convince the Iranians to sell their F-14's at cut rate prices, to Canada. Officials from the Canadian foreign ministry tried to use the revolution, and their impending lack of spare parts, as leverage to convince the new Iranian government to sell the Tomcats to Canada. Unfortunately, the deal fell apart when it was discovered that the American hostages from the embassy were held at the Canadian embassy in Tehran.

It takes a soldier honest to praise another soldier. Iranians are natural friends of the American people. Despite the changing of political leadership. God Bless great clip

Honestly i can listen to you whole life 🍷❤️ it was one big Amazing documentary video❤

What a great episode! thank you for that!

Hi Ward: Another fascinating video as always! I do have to tell you, though, that watching that beautiful Tomcat being shredded to pieces at the boneyard awhile back literally made me sick at my stomach. I needed to see it though. Thanks again for accepting into your care Col. Mize's MoH and for showing it and describing it to the participants in the Patreon members Happy Hour. That meant a lot. I hate that I have had to miss so many Happy Hours of late, but found myself bedridden for quite a while. I have been somewhat stronger the past week or ten days, so hope to be there Sunday. I have some stuff to send you and will try to get it packed up and in the mail next week. I confirmed that some things that I was not 100% sure of are declassified, so I can tell you more that will make sense about my association with Col. Mize. I apologize for seeming so "mysterious" when I first contacted you about his MoH but I expect you can understand. Thanks for everything and here's wishing you and yours all good things throughout the Holiday Season and beyond. Best regards, Ken

Ward, I am really enjoying your videos! As an aviation fan and follower, from childhood and especially for the Tomcat while growing up during Iran-Iraq war, I am happy to be here and see and learn from your channel! Would probably be able to translate part of an interview with one of air force generals (a Tomcat pilot) and his notes on the first Mig-25 kill over the Persian Gulf during the war. Hope could arrange for that and send it out to you, of course if be of interest..

What a great breakdown ... Facts all day ! Great work sir thank you very much !

Hey Ward , Never liked history in school, but watching your videos is really awesome!! Keep at it !! Thanks for doing the flying for us, and God speed !

So the Phoenix did work as planned, we just never got to use the tomcat in this fashion. The tomcat was as deadly as it looked. Amazing story thanks for sharing

F-14...one of the most beautiful and capable fighter ever build ❤️

Hey Ward, great stuff! I am an ex Luftwaffe WSO - Tornado - and really do enjoy your videos. Great to hear some stuff one usually wouldn’t hear about. Thanks for that and keep it up. Cheers 😃

Ward, I stumbled upon your accurate and highly detailed account of history surrounding the F14s. I did not know that the F14 never accumulated a kill while in service with the US Navy, yet the only astonishing TomCat kills where performed by Iranian pilot with over 150 kills and only 3-4 losses (astonishing kill ratio) and now thanks to you, everyone (myself included) know this incredible historical detail. I have heard many F14 pilots describing the aircraft like clothing that they wore in order to explain what a perfect fit this fighter was and how ahead of its time. Excellent account of history, Ward. Great job.

Thank you for your unbiased, informative and historical documentary of the Tomcats during the Iran Iraq war.

F 15 Eagle crew might have felt the sadest they have ever felt with the Shah's show of admiration for the Tomcat

I'm so jealous of your top story office, thanks for all the great videos Sir!

This is such an intressting topic and i really apreacite your time nad effort,, thank you! sepas 🙏🏼

I was on the Enterprise during Operation Earnest Will. I know our Tomcat guys were wanting to go up against their Tomcats. But never happen.

Thanks for the video Ward. This is all very nostalgic for me as I was born on one of those bases in Iran and lived on a few other ones during my early childhood and the early years of the Iran and Iraq war.... Can you please make a video about The H-3 airstrike?

That’s badass. Thanks for a fascinating and very balanced presentation.

Thank you for your awesome storytelling abilities, I look forward to every video you post! Also, its great to see DCS being used for the reenactments, I was so stupidly excited when it was announced. Now they are about to release the AH-64d and im even more hyped

I remember many Iranian Flight Students and ground crew training at NAS Miramar. Our apartment complex, where I lived, had many Iranians leasing apartments. After the revolution, they all left the base, unknown where they went.

I've worked for high-tech R&D firms for 20+ years, and one thing I've noticed is that the quality of Iranian ex-pat engineers and scientists is excellent. It really seems that Iran could be a first-rate economic and technological world power, if it wasn't for its embracement of an idiotic and backwards form of government. That's why many of its brilliant citizens have fled for the United States.

With this quality material u have a new subscriber, Thanks a lot.

Thank you again great details and so much information really great content as always

Amazing. All this time I was under the impression that our technicians had sabotaged all the F14s that were in Iran at the time of the Revolution. Thank you for enlightening me!!

Very informative lecture, thanks. I love tomcats and am disappointed that they are out of service. Big credits also to the Engineers who developed this magnificent machine.

Great program 👍, there are lots of f14 retired iranian pilots who they live in us and canada,that they have a lot to say about capabilities of f14 .....thank you again for this clip

Thank you very interesting episode.Happy New Year 2022.

Wow, that was very interesting. I had no idea how effective the early Tomcats and Phoenix's had been or that the Tomcat might still be a formidable 4th gen fighter. It's a real testament to Grumman that the planes are still flying and to Iran for making the most of that situation. If the people in charge of the revolution had thought through the situation better it could have been so much worse for everyone else. Imagine if Iran had gotten all the airplanes, missiles and a lot more spare parts... 🤔

I am glad you touch based on how important this deal was for Grumman. Also I have seen the Iranian pilots talk about the mountains terrain of Iran made the F14 radar more effective than F15’s for tracking low targets. Off note the number of Iraqi raids that turned back once they knew they were up against F14. Left out was also Sadams promise of new Mercedes to any iraqi pilots that shot down an F14! Great video.

Great upload mate.

Very interesting material as usual. I had wondered what the background story of the Iranian Tomcats was both pre-Shah and post-Shah. Thanks Ward.

Thanks for the great video as usual, regardless of nationality, you pilots are great souls ✌

I was at Phillly naval yrd. taking classes in '78 and we rode the morning buses with the Iranian crews every day. They were quite stand offish. Ironically, I ended up at Diego Garcia a few years later in case things escalated with Iran.

i really liked the presentation here. nothing but the facts, no dumb background music, no smashcuts. just the facts. well done, Mr Carroll.

Hi Ward thank you for the awesome video