Preface

Introduction 

Chapter 1: Two Novel Air Arms

• The Beginning
• British Intervention in the Gulf
• The Baghdad Pact
• The CIA Connection
• The Royal Iraqi Air Force
• The CENTO Pact
• New engagements with Kurds and Israel
• Shopping for the latest aircraft
• Notes

Chapter 2: The Shah’s Eagles

• An emerging Regional Power
• Peace Roll
• Phantastic Phantom deals
• The Mother of all Build-ups
• The Persian Cat...
• ...and the Persian King
• Organization and mission of the IIAF
• Spy Missions and Border Incidents
• The Intervention in Oman
• Excessive Foreign Involvement
• The Revolution
• Order of Battle; IIAF/IRIAF and IIAA/IRIAA, 1978/1980
• Notes

Chapter 3: Saddam’s Falcons

• Iraqi Air Support Command
• Saddam’s Falcons: the IrAF Air Defense Command
• Breaking the Ice
• Algiers Accord and the Iranian Secret War
• Border Skirmishing
• Coup d’etat
• Hot Summer of 1980
• Order of Battle; Iraqi Air Force and Iraqi Army Air Corps, 1980
• Notes

Chapter 4: First Gulf War, Phase I: Another Day of Infamy

• Misfortunes of the IrAF
• The Impaired Offensive
• The Invasion
• Revenge
• Desperate to Land
• Deadlock over the Front
• Persian Eagles
• Problems on the Ground, Success in the Air
• The First Iraqi Breakthrough
• Arab Traditions
• Notes

Chapter 5: Phase II: Iraqi Spearhead into Iran

• The “Noonday Phantom”
• Dezful under Threat
• The First Osirak Raid
• Fighting for Khuzestan
• A Draw
• Problems with SA-6
• The Battle of Karun River
• Double Trouble
• The Interception of the “Baghdad Express”
• Double Kill
• The Advance Towards Kermanshah
• Resupplying Problems
• The Fall of Khoramshahr
• Operation Morvarid: The Assault Against Iraqi Oil Rigs
• Notes

Chapter 6: Phase III: Iranian Counteroffensives

• An Eye for an Eye
• The Premature Offensive
• All Bombs Away?!
• Chieftains on the Move
• Holding the Line
• Tomcats over Khark
• The Mirage Comes True
• The H-3 “Blitz”
• Turning the Tides
• Maintenance Challenges
• Iranian Art of Interdiction Strikes
• Operation “Opera” - The Israeli Strike Against the Iraqi Nuclear Reactor
• Saving Abadan
• Exocet Debut
• Fat’holmobin: the Decisive Phase
• Beit-ol-Moqaddass
• Liberation of Khoramshahr
• Turmoil in Iraq
• Notes

Chapter 7: Phase IV: Entering Iraq

• A Friend in Need
• Iraqi Buildups and Iranian Misgivings
• Dowran’s Last Raid
• Anti-shipping Operations
• Fort Khark Island
• Trading Hot Punches
• Beans and Bullets...but Foremost Gas
• The Controversial Claim
• The other Turkey Shoot
• Solid Phoenix
• New Impulses
• The Big MiG Hunt
• Unarmed Stragglers
• Valfajr Chain-Offensives
• The Bloody Summer and Autumn
• Slugging Matches
• Sugar for Iraq
• IrAF – The Next Generation
• Notes

Chapter 8: Phase V: Total War

• Genesis of the “Tanker War”
• Fighting on Two Fronts
• State of Air Warfare
• Operation Kheibar: The Knife Attack into Iraq
• Heliborne Invasion
• High Speed Chase
• The First Siege of Khark
• Iran Strikes back
• The Clash with the Saudis
• An Eye for an Eye
• A New Breed of Iranian Air Force
• Extending the Danger Zone
• Convoy Ho!
• Super Etendards on the Prowl
• New Escalation in “War of the Cities”
• Operation Badr
• War of the Cities: Phase Two
• Changing of the Guard
• Khark Under Siege: Round Two
• Electronic Ping-Pong
• Tit for Tat
• Notes

Chapter 9: Phase VI: The Grand Slam

• The Gate to Iran
• Maintenance Problems
• Weapons Struggle
• Reorganization of the Air Defense Network
• New Organization of the Battlefield
• IRIAF Practice Maneuvers
• Shadow-Boxing
• Valfajr-8: the “Decisive” Assault
• The Silkworm Hunt
• Fighting the Republican Guards
• Iraq Strikes Back
• The New War of the Cities
• IRIAF Counter-air Strikes
• Fruitless Iraqi Counteroffensives
• A Souvenir From the Land of Palm Trees
• Trying Here and There
• Tanker Plinking
• Results of the Eighth Valfajr
• Intelligence Assistance... or a Shell Game?
• Notes

Chapter 10: Phase VII: Trading Hot Punches

• Reorganizing the IrAF
• IRINA in Action
• Against Helicopters at Haaj-Omran
• A Brawl of Strategic Proportions
• Counterattack at Mehran
• Tomcat to the Rescue
• Long-Range Raiders
• Fortress of Steel
• Iraqi Eyes and Ears in the Persian Gulf
• Can They or Can’t They?
• The Cauldron
• Brethren in Word and Deed
• The Larak Raid
• The Blundered “Final” Offensive
• Notes

Chapter 11: Phase VIII: The Mess in the Gulf

• Karbala-5
• Touchable
• Bad Times for Iran
• Make or Break
• The Oil Interdiction War
• The Last Concerted Push Against Khark
• Deadly Showstopper in the South
• Western Intervention
• Fulcrum on the Horizon
• Iraqi Wild Weasels
• Project Super Base
• The Mess in the Gulf
• Convoys for Kuwait
• Dead or Alive?
• New Anti-Shipping Strikes
• The Mini-war in October
• Crawling Silkworm
• Counter-air over Khuzestan
• The Terror of Soviet Wild Weasels
• The Chaos
• Notes

Chapter 12: Phase IX: The Final Air Battle

• Forgotten Warriors
• Tanker Killers
• Three kills in Two Hours
• Hunters being Hunted
• The Last War of the Cities
• The Final Blow Against the Tanker Shuttle
• Turning the Tide
• Baghdad Revisited
• Operation Ramadhan al-Mubarak: the Beginning of the End
• Praying Mantis
• Rock and Roll
• The Main Target
• In God We Trust
• To Have is to Hold
• The End of the War—at Sea...
• ...in the Air and on the Ground
• The Dirty Game of the NLA
• Notes

Summary

• Air-to-Air Warfare
• Aircraft Performance
• Air-to-Air Weapons Performance
• Air-to-Ground and Anti-Ship Operations
• Helicopters in Combat
• The Experiences About Which Nobody Cares?
• Notes

Aircraft Markings

• Iran - IIAF/IRIAF
  • IIAA/IRIAA
  • IINA/IRINA
• Iraq - RIrAF/IrAF
• Notes

Glossary

 

Original pages of the book are in Black & White