1981 жылғы Ливия мен АҚШ арасындағы Жерорта теңізіндегі әуе шайқасы

1981 air battle between Libya and the US in the Mediterranean

In the first Gulf of Sidra incident, 19 August 1981, two Libyan Su 22 Fitters fired upon two U. S. F 14 Tomcats and were subsequently shot down off the Libyan coast. Libya had claimed that the entire Gulf was their territory, at 32° 30′ N, with an exclusive fishing zone, which Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi asserted as "The Line of Death" in 1973. Two further incidents occurred in the area in 1986 and in 1989.

In 1973, Libya claimed the Gulf of Sidra as a closed bay and part of its territorial waters. This prompted the United States to conduct Freedom of Navigation (FON) operations in the area since the claim did not meet the criteria established by international law. Libya often confronted U. S. forces in and near the gulf, and on two occasions its fighter jets opened fire on U. S. reconnaissance flights off the Libyan coast; once in early 1973 and again in late 1980. FON operations intensified when Ronald Reagan became president. In August 1981, Reagan authorized a large naval force led by a pair of U. S. Navy aircraft carriers, Forrestal and Nimitz, to deploy to the disputed area. The two carriers had embarked a total of four interceptor squadrons: VF 74 "Be Devilers" and VMFA 115 "Silver Eagles", flying F 4 Phantoms from Forrestal, and the VF 41 "Black Aces" and VF 84 "Jolly Rogers", flying F 14 Tomcats from Nimitz. The Libyan Air Force responded by deploying a high number of interceptors and fighter bombers. Early in the morning of 18 August, when the U. S. exercise began, at least three MiG 25 'Foxbats' approached the U. S. carrier groups, and were escorted away by American interceptors. The Libyans tried to establish the exact location of the U. S. naval force. Thirty five pairs of MiG 23 'Floggers', MiG 25s, Sukhoi Su 20 'Fitter Cs', Su 22M 'Fitter Js' and Mirage F1s flew into the area, and were soon intercepted by seven pairs of F 14s and F 4s. U. S. Naval Intelligence later assessed that a MiG 25 may have fired a missile from 18 mile (29 km) away at U. S. fighter aircraft that day.

On the morning of 19 August, after having diverted a number of Libyan "mock" attacks on the battle group the previous day, two F 14s from VF 41 "Black Aces", Fast Eagle 102 (CDR Henry 'Hank' Kleemann/LT David 'DJ' Venlet) (flying BuNo 160403) and Fast Eagle 107 (LT Lawrence 'Music' Muczynski/LTJG James 'Luca' Anderson) (in BuNo 160390), However, U. S. Navy Commander Thompson S. Sanders wrote in Air & Space/Smithsonian that his S 3A Viking's mission was the real precursor to this incident. Sanders was ordered to fly his Viking in a "racetrack" orbit (oval pattern) inside Gaddafi's claimed zone but outside the internationally recognized 12 mile (19 km) territorial water limit to try to provoke the Libyans to react. An E 2C Hawkeye alerted Sanders that two Sukhoi Su 22 fighters had taken off from Ghurdabiyah Air Base near the city of Sirte. The Hawkeye directed the F 14s to intercept. Sanders dove to an altitude of 500 feet (152 m) and flew north to evade the Libyan aircraft, an experience Sanders found stressful because the S 3A was not equipped with a threat warning receiver, nor with any countermeasures, a deficiency later remedied on the S 3B. The two F 14s set up for an intercept as the contacts headed north towards them. Only a few seconds before the crossing, at an estimated distance of 300 m, one of the Libyans fired an AA 2 "Atoll" at one of the F 14s, but missed. The Tomcats evaded the missile and were cleared to return fire by their rules of engagement, which mandated self defense on the initiation of hostile action. The Tomcats turned hard port and came behind the Libyan jets. Both Libyan pilots ejected. Prior to the ejections, a U. S. electronic surveillance plane monitoring the event recorded the lead Libyan pilot reporting to his ground controller that he had fired a missile at one of the U. S. fighters and gave no indication that the missile shot was unintended. The official U. S. Navy report states that both Libyan pilots ejected and were safely recovered, but in the official audio recording of the incident taken from Biddle, one of the F 14 pilots states that he saw a Libyan pilot eject, but his parachute failed to open. Less than an hour later, while the Libyans were conducting a search and rescue operation for their downed pilots, two MiG 25s entered the airspace over the Gulf. They headed towards the U. S. carriers at Mach 1.5 and conducted a mock attack in the direction of USS Nimitz. Two VF 41 Tomcats headed towards the Libyans, which then turned around. The Tomcats turned home, but had to turn around again when the Libyans headed towards the U. S. carriers once more.

Fast Eagle 102 (BuNo 160403) is now on display at the Commemorative Air Force Museum in Midland, Texas. The restored F 14 was unveiled in a ceremony in August 2016. Vice Admiral Dave Venlet cut the first tape. Fast Eagle 107 (BuNo 160390) was destroyed in an accident on 25 October 1994.