H-3 airstrike
H-3 airstrike عملیات اچ۳ (Persian) | |
---|---|
Part of Iran–Iraq War | |
Operational scope | Strategic |
Location | H-3 Air Base, western Iraq 32°44′56″N 39°35′29″E / 32.74889°N 39.59139°E |
Planned | Mid-March 1981[1] |
Planned by | Col. Ghasem Golchin Col. Javad Fakoori Col. Bahram Hooshyar Col. Fereidoon Izadseta |
Commanded by | Col. Ghasem Golchin |
Objective | Destruction of the Iraqi Air Force aircraft |
Date | 4 April 1981 10:30am – 03:30pm (UTC+03:30) |
Executed by | Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force |
Outcome | Iranian victory |
Casualties | 20 killed |
The H-3 airstrike (Persian: عملیات اچ۳) was a surprise air attack by the Iranian Air Force during the Iran–Iraq War on 4 April 1981 against the airbases of the Iraqi Air Force at the H-3 Air Base in western Iraq. The Iranians destroyed at least 48 Iraqi aircraft on the ground with no losses of their own.[2][3] Based on the results achieved, it is considered one of the most successful raids in the history of aerial warfare.[4]
Operation
The target
The
According to Iraqi sources, during the Iran–Iraq War, it was used as a support airbase for the Iraqi Air Force and housed no more than a few transportation squadrons and a squadron of Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s, as well as retired Hawker Hunters.[5]
The IRIAF had received "credible" reports that Iraq – reinforced by the arrival of large amounts of ammunition and spare parts from
As part of
The attack
Being almost 1,500 kilometres from the Iranian fighters at Shahrokhi Air Base, H-3 was out of range and if choosing a direct route, the Iranian aircraft would have had to fly over Baghdad and perform aerial refueling twice in Iraqi airspace, including once near Baghdad, which was heavily fortified by Iraqi air defence sites.[6]
A team of IRIAF commanders (including Col. Ghasem Golchin, Col.
The 31st and 32nd Tactical Fighter Wings (TFW) employed eight McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantoms, four Grumman F-14A Tomcats, one Lockheed C-130H Khofaash, a Boeing 747 airborne command post (which was to monitor Iraqi radio communications, and also act as a communication relay between the raiders and the IRIAF HQ), and two tankers (a Boeing 707 and a Boeing 747) for aerial refueling for the attack.[1][9]
The operation began at 10:30am of 4 April 1981. A formation of eight F-4 Phantoms (including six F-4Es and two F-4Ds), accompanied by two airborne reserves, departed from
While approaching the airbases, the Phantoms split their formation into two groups, Alvand and Alborz. This allowed attacks to come from several directions on the H3 complex. They bombed all three airfields within the H-3 complex.
After the attack, the Iranian formation turned back towards its own bases. Iranian military officials stated that none of the Iranian Phantoms was damaged during the attack.[10]
Casualties
The IRIAF claimed it destroyed a total of three Antonov An-12BP transports, a Tupolev Tu-16 bomber, four Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s, five Sukhoi Su-20/22s, eight Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23s, two Dassault Mirage F1EQs (delivered only weeks earlier) and four helicopters,[8] as well as damaging eleven others beyond repair, including two Tu-16 bombers. Two Iraqi pilots and fourteen personnel were killed, together with three Egyptian and an East German officer, while 19 Iraqis, four Egyptians, and two Jordanians were badly injured. This strike degraded Iraq's capability to retaliate.[11]
According to Iranian intelligence, prior to the attack there were at least two squadrons equipped with ten Tupolev Tu-22B and at least six Tupolev Tu-16 heavy bombers, as well as two other units with MiG-23BNs and Su-20s, which were hidden in the hangars. This has been disputed by Iraqi officials. Iraqi sources claimed that only a single MiG-21 was damaged in the attack; that the damaged hangars were empty at the time of the attack; and that its Tu-22s and Tu-16s were stationed at Tammuz Airbase due to the ongoing war with Iran. Iraq claimed that the bombers were stationed at Tammuz until they were retired from the Iraqi Air Force in the late 1980s, and then were bombed in 1991 during the Gulf War.[12][13] Iraq denied losses of any Mirage F1s, claiming that all were located in an airbase built specially for them at the request of the French government. The Mirage airbase, called Saddam Airbase, was located approximately 300 kilometers north of Baghdad.[14]
Iraqi air defense command later claimed to have detected the formation coming from the direction of Syria en route to the target, and their radar followed Phantoms for some 67 minutes,[15] although the Iranians achieved total surprise.[8]
In popular culture
The Attack on H3 (حمله به اچ۳), directed by Shahriar Bahrani in 1994, is an Iranian movie depicting the operation.[16]
References
- ^ ISBN 9780764316692.
- ^ a b c Mehrnia, Brigadier General Ahmad (2014). "Air strike on Al-Walid". IRIA's official website. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
طبق گفته خود عراقيها در اين عمليات 48 فروند هواپيماهاي عراقي و بنا به برخي منابع ديگر تا 80 فروند هواپيما در اين عمليات منهدم شد و بخش زيادي از تجهيزات هوايي دشمن در اين عمليات از بين رفت.
- ISBN 9780764316692.
- ^ "چهل سال بعد از عملیات اچ-سه در خاک عراق؛ سرنوشت خلبانان ایرانی چه شد؟". BBC News فارسی (in Persian). 3 April 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ISBN 978-0615214146
- ^ a b c "عملیات اچ-3 یکی از پیچیده ترین نقشه های حمله هوایی جهان است".
- ISBN 978-0674915718.
- ^ ISBN 9781782007081.
- ^ "H3 airstrike". MEMIM Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
- ^ Cooper and Bishop Air Enthusiast March/April 2004, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Fire in the Hills: Iranian and Iraqi Battles of Autumn 1982, by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, 9 Sept. 2003
- ^ The Power and the Strategic Role of the Iraqi Air Force 1931-2003 Lt. General Alwan Alubosi {Chapter Three}
- ISBN 978-9953029047
- ISBN 978-0615214146Page 95 and on
- ^ Assault on Al-Wallid, Historical Iranian attack against H-3 base in 1981.
- ^ "The Attack on H3". IMDb. 20 August 1995.
External links
- روایت بزرگترین حمله هوایی جهان in Ettela'at (in Persian)
- Operation H-3[permanent dead link] in the official website of the Iranian Air Force