Operation Eagle Claw - US Special Forces Attempt Daring Iranian Hostage Rescue, 1980 

I just imagine being an Iranian civilian, going on a nice bus trip, suddenly you see a fucking gunship land, soldiers get out and chase a tanker truck on a motorcycle and a jeep, then blow it up right in front of you, then five more giant aeroplanes land all around the bus, dozens of soldiers speaking a language you don’t understand haul everyone off the bus and tie you all up, then six helicopters land, one of them breaks down, another one flies into the back of a plane and fucking explodes, and then they all just leave. What the fuck.

"Hey ignore the burning AC130 and CH53, these Russian documents left behind clearly indicate that this was a Soviet operation", says nobody with an actual brain

The US military seems to go through these cycles of coming up with incredibly brilliant and simple plans, followed by periods of absolutely bonkers incompetent stuff like this.

i am laughing tears here. this sounds like a casual battlefield 4 round. pure chaos muppetshow

Imagine being some Iranian dude in a bus and 5 Americans planes just landed around you

Iranian civilians watching that chain of events unfold before their very eyes must have been like: "we weren't expecting special forces"

I was part of the C-130 Maintenance crew that trained for this mission. At the time, we had no idea we were training for the Eagle Claw mission. For us, it was just another Mobility Exercise with the (odd at the time) addition of sand goggles to our equipment list. We were given notice to report to the flight line with our mobility bags. Large canvas bags that we have to keep filled with a weeks worth of uniforms and personal hygiene items. We were loaded into the C-130s we would be maintaining and packed into the fold down jump seats that lined the outside walls of the cargo space. In the center of the cargo space there were spare engines, spare props, and for the first time any of us had ever seen, a partially dismantled helicopter. In discussion later we found that all of the C-130s were similarly packed. After flying for a few hours the Load Master handed out the sand goggles and we were told to put them on to prepare for landing and debarkation. The goggles were the first hint that we would not be landing at a standard air strip. And sure enough, a few minutes later we landed and when the ramp went down we could see that we had landed in a sandy desert. We found out later it was a desert area near a Texas town. When the ramp went down we realized the air craft was not actually parking just slowing to a snail's crawl, engines still running, as we disembarked. As soon as were out, the load masters unloaded some of the spare engines and other equipment. We could see the other aircraft around us doing the same thing; Slow crawl, unloading troops and spare equipment, and then merely moments later the aircraft all took off again. Looking around we now noticed that surrounding this makeshift drop-off point was a perimeter of combat troops dug into fox holes with weapons pointing outside the area. Now this next part is kind of funny. A few moments later a school bus arrived and those of us in the maintenance crew were loaded up and taken into town and quartered in a decent civilian hotel. After a couple of days, of lounging around the hotel, the majority of us got orders to report to a nearby airport where we were flown back to our home base. We never had to preform any maintenance or any official duties. About 2 thirds of us were part of the group that went back home. Once we got home we wondered about our friends and co-workers that stayed there, but heard nothing from them until about 3 weeks later a friend that was part of the group that stayed called one of us collect and said that his group had gone back out to the desert and did the same exercise a couple of times then again, his remaining group was divided up and 2 thirds of that group were sent to a very nice hotel where they were told they were now on convalescent leave for an undetermined time. But they were not to contact anyone, friends or family until further notice. Our friend told us not to tell anyone he called and that he would sneak another collect call later when his status changed. He said the remaining third of his group supposedly went back to the desert and he never heard from them again. It was not until after the actual failed mission was made public that they allowed our friend and his group to return to our home base. I was always jealous of the three months he had on "convalescent leave" just to keep him and his group quiet about the real mission.

Great synopsis of the fiasco at Desert 1, but the boldness (insanity?) of this plan only really becomes apparent when you read about how the rest was supposed to go down. There were so many things that could go wrong, any one of which would spell disaster for the entire mission, I find it absolutely mind boggling that it was even attempted. The odds of success seemed ridiculously low, the odds of catastrophic failure immense.

If you ever wanted a mission that defines Murphy's law then here you go. What a disaster.

"Well at least nobody died." Im guessing there was no wood available for them to knock on after making that statement.

The Israeli raid on Entebbe in '76 (Mivtzah Yonatan) was the model for this operation, with C-130's doing long-distance transport to a ground target full of hostages. The seventies were the decade for hostage-taking and air hijacking. Anything was possible with some friends, a hand grenade, and a few first-class tickets to the resurrection. Out of these heady storylines emerged Chuck Norris, who first brought Delta Force to the silver screen.

I can't even tell you how much I enjoy these thorough deep dives into specific combat scenarios. This may be my favorite channel. Not in a morbib way but much in the way that inspired someone to make the videos and channel. Knowledge, entertainment.

Carter: Well, at least no Americans died. Murphy's Law: I'm about to end this man's whole career.

*Sees a lonely tanker driving along a road where they’re planning to land* “Sir, what should we do?!” “Idk, blow it up I guess.” What a brilliant team of minds on this mission.

Thank you for your incredibly well researched work. The infographic is very helpful in understanding the events.

The best to do it is at it again I see. Love your work and as usual it’s outstanding. Thx again.

Jimmy Carter has been haunted by Eagle Claw to this day. "Over the years whenever he was asked what one thing he would have changed about his presidency, he would always answer: *"I would have sent one more helicopter."* -Justin Williamson, Raid: Operation Eagle Claw 1980, Osprey Publishing, 2020

I guess this is the benefit of staying up late at night

Just found this channel, and I’m very glad I did!

I remember seeing this on the TV as a child it was a complete embarrassing event for the “ Delta” team. I guess real life is different than Hollywood.

Absolutely wild that this plan ever got approved. Excellent stuff as always

Should just rename this: Operation Fuster Cluck

Thanks for this. I've never been able to understand how it all went south so quickly.

Very nicely done Short and sweet Great job And your animation really helped to see and understand Thank you

The US Navy was far too worried about Iranian air defenses, that's why they flew so low. They could have flown above the sandstorms. Eagle Claw's failure highlighted the abysmal state of DoD weather forecasting, ecosystem knowledge, and climate knowledge. The failure to build more air refuelable HH-53s and MH-53s for the USAF led to the refueling in the desert idea.

Delta Force were originally founded in response to all of the hijackings in the 1970s. The first thing they do on their first mission: hijack a bus.

I've only just started watching your videos but I really like the content and the way it's presented 👍

Excellent videos. You do a great job. Would love to see one for the November 1970 Son Tay Prison raid as well.

This is explained very well in the Book "The Unit" by Eric Haney. Because of the mistakes from this mission the creation of an elite air wing was created, the NightStalkers, the 160th SOAR. That way, experienced, seasoned, and very good pilots and crews are able to take Delta there and back.

I've always heard that because every branch of the service wanted a piece of the glory, they ended up with a bunch of units not used to coordinating with one another and this led to the formation of USSOCOM.

Wow what a story! I love this channel!

This man easy has hundreds, no thousands of potential video ideas based on this concept. Absolute genius. I thought of this a few years ago, but I don't think I could've done it better than this guy

6:37 "I dont trust the machine, i dont trust my map, but id say right now" barely misses mountain I want this guy to be my dad. That was so cool

So instead of just letting the truck drive by, the dude thinks he can prevent being spotted by setting it on fire. ON FIRE. A torch. Yeah, no, nobody is gonna notice that

Out of everything I enjoy about these videos the fact that there's no long drawn out request for subs or likes is quite enjoyable, we just hop right into the action. Thanks guys!

Still waiting on Mogadishu part 2. Excellent job, per usual.

Nothing better than seeing a Notification from thus channel on a Saturday

This incident actually led to a complete overhaul of speical forces which led to the 160th Soar, Seal and Delta Force teams we have today

That is a slick opening you have for your videos. This whole operation was a gong show. Way too many variables that, ended up conspiring against them.

I was serving as a staff member for Commander Carrier Group 3 (COMCARGRU3) aboard USS Coral Sea on GONZO station, with the Nimitz. It was clear something was up as Coral Sea aircraft were having battle markings applied. It was common for staff members to move freely in and out of the Admiral's war room, but now Marine sentries were posted at both doors a number of days prior to April 24. General quarters was sounded the morning of April 24th and we all rushed to our battle stations and just waited. After several hours we secured from GQ. Eventually the captain broadcast over the 1MC what had happened. We were a pretty solemn group. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Just saw this last night on my subscriptions notification. Thanks for the excellent synopsis. Have to say I was caught by surprise by the MC130 crew photo. That's me - third from the left. I was a young 1st Lt - electronic warfare officer. Our call sign was Dragon02. You can't imagine how sad and deeply disappointed we were. Men that were lost were friends, not just names to us. The silver lining was that US SOF changed forever after that. -- Tim Prater

The one good thing that came out of this Op was that Special Operations Command as it is now configured is a much better org and current operations are models of planning and efficiency. Read Adm William McRaven's thesis 'Spec Ops'. Great book on historical special operations from WWII to the 70's just prior to this op.

These are so good to watch

I was just reading Tony Mendez’s book ARGO, and I decided to look up the operation Eagle claw. I never knew the ins and outs of the failed mission, I though the dead Americans were killed in a gun fight. Excellent video, as always!

Half your subscribers have to be waiting for black hawk down part 2. But I’m ok with this

I feel like the reason the old "blame the president" card worked in this situation is because it is so much simpler than actually recounting the level of clusterfuck these soldiers were dealing with xD

Great video as always! As a #suggestion and inspiration for future vids it might be worth investigating Raid at Cabanatuan rescue mission. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for Uploading.

When I was with the US Army 3ID attended a Delta Force briefing on the operation. The original US Army helicopters were replaced with multi-service crewed Navy/Marine copters who never completed a successful practice run in Nevada. The helicopters were cleaned with saltwater prior to the mission leading to failures. The copters were not fitted with sand filters leading to failures.

A lot of Murphy's laws on this one, but Colonel Beckwith, as the events is explained here, does not seem suited for his role. A delay due to a sandstorm, and barely avoided catastrophe that shakes your pilots up, is not something to be taken lightly. He lost his cool several times and became furious due to factors well out of anyone's control, in essence blaming his men for something they couldn't possibly have done anything about. An accident was just waiting to happen at this point

Even now, June 2022, as a former Navy Aviator, I can't figure out how this would have worked! But I can tell you, that it shook the special forces community at the time.

This is by far the best war channel in RU-vid

American General Rememeber Men, Secrecy is the key! Bus driver And to your left we have Two American Planes landing in the middle of the desert, shooting at a Tanker ... AND US!!!

the planning staff for this mission, which may have included direction from WH, figured greater secrecy could be achieved in requisitioning (helo) flight crews from one unit, and helicopters from another unit. Not knowing the purpose of the requisition, the chief(?) gave his hanger queens. He realized afterwards what it was for, and wish he had been told. This is why career path is very important, to know the reality of aircraft maintenance, especially in a period of very tight maintenance budgets. In the Reagan build up, new weapons could not be purchase immediately. but a lot of money went to clearing up backlogged repairs.

Nicely done and illustrated

Absolutely wild that this plan ever got approved. Excellent stuff as always. Absolutely wild that this plan ever got approved. Excellent stuff as always.

I remember the yellow ribbons tied around the trees for those hostages. Thank you for the details of the raid and the concise history lesson.

What a cluster, never heard of this before but reminds me of all the plans Japan had during WW2 that required precise timing and logistics of a lot of different elements that could fail and cause domino effects.

Hi ops room! All Your videos are ridiculously amazing. If you have a chance, could you look into maybe doing one for "the battle of long tan". Its a battle between roughly 100 Anzacs who fought and survived against over 2000 Vietcong/nva soldiers against all odds. Thx 🙂

Great video as always

Great video. Just finished. Love how we aren’t biased here and definitely was a sad day in America’s military . Can’t wait for more content!

Man I've had some bad Greyhound trips but I've never been captured by a foreign military in the middle of a desert.

Another great job, just keep it up!

Amazing as always.

we still need part 2 of the air war of desert storm and the part 2 of black hawk down!! I love your videos

"well atleast theres no casualty" Stalion : *Fine i'll do it my self*

Good job, lads. I love you

I personally know a man who was an aircraft maintenance PO on the Nimitz at this time. He told me, to my face when we were elk hunting in the 80's and he was on leave, that immediately after landing on the Nimitz prior to the mission, the Army mechanics who were on board began taking off all the dust filters on their helicopters. When told this was dumb, they replied that they needed to get all the speed out of the helicopters they could and removing filters was one of the best ways. In his view, the Army screwed this pooch before it even got going by making their machines much more highly susceptible to dust in a dusty environment.

I was there, in the USS Coral Sea, known in the news broadcasts of the time as "another carrier" as in, " the USS Nimitz and another carrier...". But at least we got that mention then. No such luck here.

Very excellent book called “Inside Delta Force” written by Haney. Great first hand accounts of first SFAS selection process. He was on Eagle Claw.

There is an account of this mission in Eric L Haney's book 'Inside Delta Force'.

Hey! My uncle Chris was one of the delta force guys taking part in this. He was in the AC130 that blew up. Awesome to see you cover this!

Oh, psyched for this! I looked this one up a few weeks ago after I heard McRaven mention it on Jocko's podcast, took me a while to wrap my head around everything. I bet after this I'll learn even more :-)

I have written it before, yet easily best channel on youtube.

These recreations are amazing. Whole new ball game dealing with desert sand.

I got caught in a Haboob flying back from Baghdad in a 60. It was not fun at all, and was very lucky to have survived it. It hit so fast we only had a few min from when we saw it, to being engulfed in it. We were very low on fuel, so we really had no options but try to land out our destination. It was 0/0 visibility with moderate turbulence in it.

Nature, the uncontrollable foe.

Great vids. More please.

Beckwith's realisation that it would be foolhardy to go on (7:46) was pretty courageous. A prouder man would've pressed-on, to disaster.

having not known the outcome of the mission before watching the video, i was actually stunned by the outcome - almost like watching a movie. I love this channel

"thanks les, i love you" best line ever

I love this channel, please do the Battle of The Barents Sea, very interesting and less known WW-II battle...

That was a top shelf cluster

There’s footage available of a hurriedly STOL-modified C-130 designed to land in a soccer stadium near the Embassy. I rather think it’s a more workable approach than Eagle Claw, but the prototype, despite much prior success (it was very clever after all) eventually crashed in testing when one of the retro-rockets (yes) deployed prematurely.

Amazing. I love seeing new videos from you and I’ve been thinking about how cool an Eagle Claw video would be from you for a while. Good stuff! 👍

Where are all your other subscribers? you should be at 10 mill already. Been watching your videos for a while now. Thank you!

Great video!!

Every time this channel posts I am filled with joy.

I've heard of this mission. But didn't know the finer details. Till now. Nice job with the video.

I was on this operation and survived the crash , Favorite footage 🎥🎬🎞️ David Staudohar USMC USN SS USCG ret ‼️ including Delta special Forces and Lancers Air tactical command Posting in Honorable memories of Dick Marcinco 🎖️ my friend that passed away on Christmas Day ♥️‼️🙏

Great video. Can you do Black Hawk Down part 2?

Man, this goes to show that you should never underestimate weather, what a series of bad luck.

Another brilliant video. This happened about a year after I MD'd from my beloved corp and although we actually knew little bits and pieces' about what happened, this is a really great concise video and includes a lot of information that we were not told about at the time, thank you again for another fantastic educational video. 👌👍😃

Great video.

Thanks!

Yet another reminder that you should always apply the KISS principle to planning. With all those complexities, so deep in unfriendly territory, the result was inevitable at some stage of the mission.

I can not believe how big this guys channel has blown up. Don't get me wrong he deserves it.

we Iranians really enjoy watching these kinds of documentaries about US failed operations against Iran, and fortunately there are so many of them! 😃😃

“At least there were no American casualties” 5 sec later 8 Americans killed😕

Always awesome content, this time just tragically sad. Keep 'em coming!