‘Meanwhile, my wingman had engaged another MiG-21 and shot it down using two Sidewinders. He later reported that after seeing my F-14 exiting on the other side of the
explosion, he was sure that it was badly burned and the crew dead.Retired by the U.S. Navy on Sep. 22, 2006 the iconic F-14 Tomcat remains the backbone of Islamic Republic of
Iran Air Force (IRIAF) interceptor fleet.However, as told by Tom Cooper and Farzad Bishop in their book Iranian F-14 Tomcat units in combat, the F-14’s service in Iran is characterised by an implausible series of controversies and ‘educated guesstimates’ that are completely wrong.(This article by Dario Leone originally appeared on The Aviation Geek Club in 2019.)