Air Raid to Al-Waleed (24)‎

The Story of Demolishing Fighters and the Equipment in Al-Waleed Triple Military Bases ‎Known as H-3‎

2016-6-19

Air Raid to Al-Waleed (H-3‎)‎

The Story of Demolishing Fighters and the Equipment in Al-Waleed Triple Military Bases ‎Known as H-3‎

By: Brigadier General Ahmad Mehrnia

Tehran, Sooreh Mehr Publications Company

‎2010 (Persian Version)‎

Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

The team enters the Iraq territory from far north and through heights continues flying towards target. To make easier and safer flight, the operations carry out in the form of two teams consisted of four aircrafts flying close to each other. In this journey, any carelessness can cause the plan fail. The team flies so close to the Turkish border that it is possible the Air Force of this country will be sensitive to the issue in the case of being reconnoitered by Turkish radars. Retired General Ahmad Soleimani, who had observed the flight team from the rear cabin of last aircraft, says about flying on this route:

"We were sent on a mission in two teams of four aircrafts. In an organized collaborative flight and in quite specified situations, the first team flew, but behind them the other four aircrafts almost separated and each one kept flying in their desired position; Eskandari, the leader of second four aircrafts, maneuvered through valleys skillfully; the other one flew above the mountain ridge; briefly, each one had chosen a position. We also followed others and flew lower than them. In fact, I was the last one of team. I looked above and observed the other members’ situation from the rear cockpit. Five or ten minutes after our entrance to the Iraqi territory, the click sound of radio and then the word ‘top’ from Javanmardi caught my attention! I glanced quickly over our heads and in a quick search, I saw two Iraqi Mig-23 fighters circulated toward south at about more than five thousand feet and continued the rout. At first I was very worried and wanted to fill others in on the situation by radio, but I regretted and through internal communication I said to Manouchehr in the front cabin, ‘Sir! Look, two fighters of enemy are above us.’ Now both of us were careful about any hostile movement from them and soon realized that they were moving away from the area. I had no doubt that our prayers answered and God has closed their eyes on us. Therefore, our concern has been resolved and we kept flying."

Two MiG-23 on patrolling

Retired Amir and liberated prisoner, Ravadgar says about that flight:

"Mountains of northern Iraq were deep in snow and had dreadful valleys; so that I said to my colleague in the rear cabin I thought it is better we let the aircraft crash and being killed, if any problems happen to us or enemy fighters track us and target; because jumping into the valleys, extreme coldness, and wild animals will kill us with more torture! Of course I was just joking, because we pilots have trained to survive in harsh conditions and able to tolerate crisis and difficult situations for a while in every condition."

***

When Phantoms leave the region, tankers also leave the south of Lake Uremia toward Mehrabad and two hours later, two other tankers 707, piloted by Capt. Abbas Amouee and Capt. Gholam Hossein Esfahani, Capt. Hussain Eskandarian and Capt. Parviz Varzandi, take off from Mehrabad runway and head to the mentioned region to deliver needed fuel to Phantoms, when they return.

Capt. Abbas Amouee and Capt. Hussain Eskandarian

Retired Second Brigadier General Varzandi, who was seasoned pilot of F-5 and F-4 fighter, spoke about the difficulty in fueling and delivering fuel in low altitude, which limited their maneuverability, and stressed that Boeing 707 not designed for this purpose. Also, noted the operation pressure on phantom pilots and said: "I knew in what difficult situation they are, because I myself had fueled several times."

Tomcat or F-14 is refueling from tanker, photo from the chamber of delivering fuel

In a Boeing 707, Fariborz Babrzadeh[1] and Capt. Ali Asghar Motlaq Majd also had the responsibility of delivering fuel to air cover F-14 and F-4 aircrafts in the West of the country. Meanwhile, the purpose of this flight was that if any problems occurred for each of tankers existing over the lake, immediately being replaced. Four hours duration has been recorded for this flight. The flight engineers of mentioned aircrafts have been: Second Technician Mohammad Hossein Habibi Kheshtmasjedi, Second Technician Houshang Torabi and Third Sub Lieutenant Mehdi Ra’ahvarian. Boom operators of these three flights were also:

1. First Technician Nasser Sheer-razm;
2. Senior Master Sergeant Ali Reza Rahimi Parsa;
3. Sub Lieutenant Saber Abdulrazaq.