one and two popped to their altitudes
despite the presence of the enemy, but
they didn’t stay up long.
‘The northernmost Raven was fired
upon by an Iraqi fighter as the crew saw
three missile flashes. The second EF-111
was flying its profile with some solid
indications in the cockpit of a ‘Slot Back’
radar on a MiG-29. Glancing over to
their right, the crew saw something that
correlated with the bearing of the radar
indications; inexplicably the Iraqi MiG had
its tail light on. Seeing the two aircraft
were on a converging course, the Raven
crews decided that it was time to exit [the
area]. They dropped down to the deck
at about 300ft to help prevent a lock-on
by the MiG. They figured that ground
clutter and the fact that the Iraqis were
not sufficiently trained to fight down thatAbove: A pair of
EF-111As climbs
out from Taif for
a ‘Desert Storm’
mission.
Warren E.
Thompson
collection
Left: Lt Col Dennis
Hardziej pre-
flights an EF-111
before a sortie at
the Saudi base.
Dennis Hardziej
Below: The 390th
ECS shared
Taif with a U-2
detachment
as well as the
Lakenheath
F-111Fs.
Fred Drummondhttp://www.combataircraft.net // July 2018 71
66-72 EF-111 Desert Storm C.indd 71 20/05/2018 11:23