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The political background of the Islamic Revolution in Iran
0s The oil crisis in the triggered Iran Economy overheating and severe Inflation , coupled with the corruption of the Pahlavi regime and the suppression of the religious community, ultimately led to the outbreak of the Islamic Revolution in 1978. On January 16, 1979, King Pahlavi fled Egyptian , and on February 1, the religious and revolutionary leader who had been exiled overseas for 15 years, Khomeini returned from France and gradually took power. He established the Islamic Republic on April 1, and in December, Khomeini became the supreme leader.
On February 4, 1979, Khomeini, who returned to Tehran, met his fanatical supporters in a school
The Islamic Revolution completely changed Iran's political system and turned a pro-Western and secular monarchical country into a country with a strong religious color, a country with a strong Islamic religion and politics. The sudden revolutionary order of Iran was unexpectedly expected by the outside world. The United States expected in advance that the Pahlavi regime could control the domestic situation and continue to rule for more than ten years. As a result, after Khomeini came to power, he brought radical religious ideas and resisted Western cultural aggression and American hegemony, which made Iran, the largest ally of the Middle East, , which had been operating for decades in the United States, quickly stood on the opposite side.
Street comparison of Tehran before and after the Islamic Revolution
On November 4, 1979, about 400 enthusiastic radical college students climbed over the wall to occupy the US Embassy in Iran, and hijacked 52 American diplomats and citizens. Afterwards, Khomeini admitted that he had gained a lot of political benefits through the hostage crisis, used seized embassy documents to suppress the interim government and his political enemies, and successfully passed a new religious constitution under the banner of resisting foreign enemies, elected a parliament with the majority of Islamic parties, and reached the legality of regime change.
In this context, the Carter administration hopes to resolve the hostage crisis through diplomatic negotiations, and the United States has very little influence on the new Iranian regime and there is almost no room for bargaining. On April 7, 1980, the United States and Iran broke off diplomatic relations. National Security Advisor Brzezinski (Polish-born, born in Warsaw) advocates for a resolution by force, but Secretary of State Vance opposes, believing that armed rescue will lead to more Americans in Iraq and are more dangerous to the hostages themselves, and can only be used as the last choice.
On Thursday, April 10, Vance left Washington for a vacation in Florida . On Friday, Brzezinski presided over a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss military intervention issues. At the meeting, Carter said, "It's time for us to take the hostages home" and confirmed that the US military has been authorized to launch a rescue operation. Retaliatory air strikes were also considered, but the air strike plan was finally cancelled the day before the mission began.
Brzezinski, Carter and Vance were taken on August 14, 1977 at the White House
This time, the rescue mission of the Shipotian was code-named "Operation Eagle Claw", which was also called "Evening Light" in the past.
Action preparation
As early as November 6, 1979, the third day after the hostage incident broke out, Brzezinsky asked the Joint Commission to formulate a rescue plan, pointing out that this involves both national honor and obligation to hostages. He also hopes to launch a wider range of military operations, including air strikes on Iran's refining facilities and/or other strategic objectives. On November 22, the Joint Conference reported the action plan to the National Security Council and President Carter. Carter directed two plans to rescue hostages and retaliatory air strikes in to prepare in parallel, and other options including military blockades are also under consideration.
At that time, the US Navy had only the "Midway" combat group on duty in the Indian Ocean. On November 18, he went north to Arabian Sea to respond to the crisis. On November 21, the "Kitty Hawk" who was reinforced from the South China Sea arrived to form a dual aircraft carrier formation.
Given the strong military strength of the United States' equipment and is very familiar with the US military, the US Navy also urgently dispatched the "Nimitz" battle group affiliated with the Atlantic Fleet to participate in the war. The Nimitz was resting in Naples, Italy at that time, and detoured the Cape of Good Hope to the Middle East ( Suez Canal could not pass through the Nimitz class before the completion of the widening project at the end of 1980. See the Suez Canal and the aircraft carrier ). The voyage was 20,000 kilometers. It arrived in the Gulf of Oman on January 23, 1980 and merged with the first two aircraft carriers.
A intensive formation of three aircraft carriers captured by the F-14 carrying a tactical reconnaissance pod. From left to right, the Kitty Eagle, the Midway and the Nimitz
On February 5, the "Coral Sea" arrived and replaced the "Midway" which extended the combat deployment period for two and a half months. According to traditions during the Vietnam War, the aircraft carrier responsibility area of the Gulf of Oman was named "Gonzo Station" - the abbreviation of the Gulf of Oman Naval Operations Zone.
Special Operations veteran Army Major General James Watt, who participated in the Pegasus Operation in the Vietnam War Creek Mountains Battle, was appointed as the commander of the Joint Task Force and reported directly to the president. He has two field commanders under him, Air Force Colonel James Kyle commands the aircraft group; Army Colonel Charlie Beckvis commands ground operations.
Watt did not use conventional military intelligence channels, but appointed his own intelligence officers to establish contacts and collect intelligence with various intelligence agencies; nor did he follow the crisis response procedures formulated by the Joint Conference to minimize the scope of the participants in the operation and avoid leaks. The US military has quite limited intelligence information and even has to use a large number of ordinary tourist maps for planning.
Before the war, Wat (left) and Beckvis (right) discussed combat plans in Oman
Air Force Major General Philip Gast, who served as the head of the military advisory regiment in Iran for two years, participated in the operation planning as a special adviser and was responsible for training pilots. On March 1 he was promoted to Lieutenant General and to Deputy Commander of the Tactical Air Force Command. He was appointed Deputy Commander of the Task Force 12 days before the operation began in April, although his rank was already higher than that of Watt.
Marine Corps Colonel Charles Pittman also participated in the operation as the special assistant to the Joint Chairman and became the de facto helicopter training commander (also flew the plane in person), because most of the helicopter pilots came from the Marine Corps. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Edward Sheford was appointed helicopter leader but became unknown due to Colonel Pittman's personal involvement. The entire operational force's command chain has similar abnormal arrangements, which seems quite chaotic.
Watt will establish the headquarters in Kner, Egypt, and maintain contact with the President and the Joint Conference through Defense Minister Harold Brown. The participating troops were secretly deployed to Egypt and Oman without notifying their countries.
Wearing casual clothes, boarding C-141, ready to go to the Middle East, Delta Force
Action planning
Given the large number of hostages, the pilot rescue experience accumulated in the Vietnam War is completely inapplicable. The plan of the Joint Conference is to send transport aircraft and helicopters to approach Tehran, and land a motorized army delta detachment into the embassy from the ground to evacuate the hostages, and then evacuate all personnel from a captured airport to Egypt. This bold plan is based on a relatively unreliable judgment: Tehran is also 620 kilometers away from the nearest Persian Gulf coast, and Iran believes that the US military is completely impossible to launch a rescue operation in the hinterland, and the guards of Tehran and the embassy are very relaxed.
Initial Action Planning Group (OPG) considered dispatching the army's CH-47 "Chinnukan" helicopter from Turkey , Kuwait , Bahrain or Saudi bases, but it was not possible due to political and security reasons.Since March 1979, the US Air Force Special Operations Squadron has begun to receive the MH-53J "Low Altitude Paver" heavy assault helicopter. It is equipped with advanced equipment such as GPS, inertial navigation system, front-view infrared thermal imager, terrain tracking radar, etc., and can perform special operations missions at low altitudes and all-weather at night. However, these new technologies have not been verified in practice, and the rotor and tail beam cannot be folded and cannot be put on the ship, which limits the scope of combat use.
The Air Force's MH-53J
Finally, OPG chose the RH-53D "sea stallion" with similar fuselage. It is the Navy's twin-engine heavy minesweeping helicopter. It has a suitable load and range, and can also be folded and stored in the aircraft carrier hangar. Strait of Hormuz has been threatened by mines , and sending minesweeping helicopters carried by aircraft carriers to the area is a good cover. It happens that the Iranian Navy also has 6 same type aircraft, so the RH-53D that appears in Iranian airspace will not cause suspicion.
The specific plan for the Navy's RH-53D
rescue operation is as follows: On the night of the first night of the assault embassy, three US Air Force EC-130E (Callad Republic 4-6) and three MC-130E "Fighting Claw" (Callad Dragon 1-3) special transport aircraft departed from Masila Island, Oman. The former carried oil and other logistics supplies, and the latter transported 132 Delta troops and Ranger troops special combat officers and soldiers.
The Republic No. 5 (floor number 62-1857) participated in the war, taken on February 29, 1992 at Nelis Air Force Base
On December 1, 1980, an MC-130E
aircraft group flying over the base in Davis Monson, Arizona, flew 1,600 kilometers after refueling in the air through the Air Force KC-135 refueling aircraft and landed on a road near Tabas, South Khorasan Province 510 kilometers southeast of Tehran, and established the "Desert One" field airport on the next saline-alkali beach (33°04’23 North latitude, 55°53’33 East longitude). After the landing,
landed, 12 Rangers established a defense line to block the highway to avoid leaking news. This area is remote and uninhabited, with very few vehicles passing through.
"Desert One" terrain
"Nimitz" will release 8 Navy RH-53Ds (call sign Bluebeard 1-8) driven by Marine Pilots at 96 kilometers from the coast of Iran. After flying 970 kilometers, the airplane will meet at the Desert One airport and plan to arrive within 30 minutes after the last C-130 lands.
The folding soft fuel tanks carried by each EC-130E in the cargo hold are loaded with 6,000 gallons (22,700 liters) of fuel. After landing and refueling, the helicopter will be loaded with the assault team to take off and fly 420 kilometers to the "Desert 2" field airport 80 kilometers east of Tehran (35°14’ north latitude, 52°09’ east longitude).
It will be dawn at this time. After the helicopter group unloads the assault team, they will fly to the mountainous area 24 kilometers north of "Desert 2" for standby.
"Desert 2" terrain
The ground forces heading to "Desert 2" include 2 parts: the main force is 93 Delta troops, which will raid the embassy; a 13-man special combat assault team from the Berlin Brigade A task force attacked the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and rescued the other three hostages.
CIA's Tehran Special Operations Department has established an operational team composed of 15 Iranians and American agents who infiltrate Iran and speak Persian. They will obtain information on the situation of the embassy and hostages and respond to the landing assault forces.
CIA agents will join forces in Desert II and lead them to march on the ground for 8 kilometers to a dry riverbed 104 kilometers southeast of Tehran. The helicopter group and the ground forces each spent the day in seclusion and attacked again at night. The C-130 group returned to Masilla Island from Desert One to stand by.
After the night, two agents left the team and drove a pickup truck and a van in advance to pick up 6 drivers and 6 translators to a warehouse in Tehran where 6 Mercedes-Benz trucks were parked. The driver and interpreters drove to the dry riverbed to pick up the Delta troops, secretly drove into the city of Tehran and headed straight for the embassy; the 13-man special operations team took a van to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building. Local agents will also cut off the power grid to create chaos and delay Iran's response.
After arriving at the embassy, the Delta troops will be divided into three parts, clearing out the outer guards, climbing over the wall and entering the courtyard to eliminate internal enemies, and then searching for and rescue hostages. They will decide whether the helicopter can land in the embassy yard according to the circumstances. If there are no obstacles to block it, an RH-53 will land and take hostages, and the remaining helicopters will land in turn and carry assault forces.
If there are obstacles in the yard and cannot be removed, the commando will blow up a hole in the yard wall and escort the hostages to the Amjadiye Stadium across the road, where the helicopters will meet. During the operation, the Air Force's AC-130 gunboat aircraft will volley to provide fire support.
The former site of the US Embassy, 150 meters northeast is the Amjadiye Stadium
After the assault began, another company-level Rangers will take the MC-130 aircraft to land and occupy the abandoned Manzariye Air Base 96 kilometers southwest of Tehran (34°58’58” north latitude and 50°48’20” east longitude), and hold on here until the helicopter group arrives.
C-141 transport aircraft (a single-aircraft can carry 154 people) from Saudi Arabia landed and loaded all evacuated personnel, including hostages, drivers, translators, helicopters, CIA agents and Delta troops, and then flew directly to Egypt. Before evacuation, the Rangers will blow up all the remaining US military supplies, including 8 RH-53Ds.
Manzariye Air Force Base
This plan is extremely bold and unprecedentedly complex. The four branches of the US Army, Navy, Air and Marine Corps have participated and will open three airports in Iran, which has become a hostile country, and stay for two days. For this purpose, all parties in the United States have made a lot of preparations.
On March 31, Major John Carney, Jr., landed on Desert One by a "Twin Otter" light passenger plane piloted by two CIA agents. He conducted a detailed survey of the landing area, collected soil samples to determine the load-bearing capacity of the desert surface, and also installed a remote-controlled simple landing system composed of multiple infrared landing lights and an infrared beacon to outline the runway range of the landing field for the pilot. When he conducted his investigation, the surface of the saline-alkali beach was a hard shell, but in the following three weeks, the dust storm of brought deep and quicksand to the ankle. The air wings of the Nimitz and the Coral Sea will provide air support for the entire operation, because Iran has a large number of F-14 and F-4. In order to distinguish between fighter jets from both sides, the US military carrier-based aircraft specially painted the right wing with the "Invasion Stripe" logo similar to the Battle of Normandy. The Marine F-4N squadron of the "Coral Sea" has red and black (VMFA-323 Squadron) and yellow and black (VMFA-531 Squadron) stripes, while the A-6 and A-7 squadrons have orange and black stripes.
The crew of the "Coral Sea" are spraying the Marine F-4N with red stripes
The F-14 squadron of the "Nimitz" is also red and black (VF-41) and yellow and black stripes (VF-84).
all belong to the 16th minesweeping squadron at Norfolk base. Six of them were airlifted to Digo Garcia by C-5A within two weeks after the outbreak of the crisis. When the "Kitty Hawk" passed the island, it flew on its own and then flew to the "Nimitz" that arrived later; the other two were originally carried on the "Nimitz".
Transformers are generally folded and stuffed into the C-5A cargo hold RH-53D
when planning it. When planning, helicopters from the same squadron can cooperate with each other to complete the task smoothly, but it was soon discovered that the pilots of the Navy Minesweeping Squadron did not have any assault flight experience and had only conducted Minesweeping and maritime supply training, and were completely incompetent.
RH-53D aircraft fleet tested in the Arabian Sea, the Marine Corps' CH-53 crew was quickly transported to the aircraft carrier to help naval peers train, but the results were not great and still did not meet the requirements of mission planning. Since the rescue mission may be launched at any time, all eight helicopters were finally equipped with crews from the Marine Corps' 461 Heavy Helicopter Squadron.
Despite a lot of preparation and training, there are still many errors. Colonel Pitman, who was in charge of helicopter missions, was ordered to go to the Nimitz to explain the operation plan to Major General Robert Kirkish, commander of of the 7th Fleet of , but he was sent to the Coral Sea. After a while, he got on the Nimitz to meet Major General Kirkish and was told that the operation would be postponed. Because the eight RH-53Ds on the ship had removed all minesweeping equipment or the navy's blue paint, they had to be painted in desert camouflage and wiped off all the signs, and the yellow paint required at this time was still in Digo Garcia 3,500 kilometers away.
finally brought the paint. In order to keep the painting confidential, the painting work must be carried out in the hangar of the "Nimitz", and the hangar door must be closed, because the Soviet submarine and spy fishing boats are moving nearby. The huge RH-53D aircraft fleet will occupy most of the flight deck. The Nimitz, which is close to Iranian waters during its departure, actually lost other aviation operation capabilities and must rely on the Coral Sea to provide cover.
The US-Iran diplomatic negotiations failed in March. The Carter administration decided to try to participate in the military rescue plan proposed by the Joint Conference before, but the possibility of success was still judged to be quite low, because there were few successful cases of similar actions in the past, and Iran's national environment and social conditions were very special.
The US side has been unable to grasp the state of the hostages. It was not until the last moment of the operation that a CIA agent happened to meet a former embassy chef who had just been released by Iran on a flight taken off from Tehran. It was confirmed that all hostages were still being held in the embassy, which made the United States finally determined to launch an operation, but the planned retaliatory air strike was cancelled the day before the operation.
Practical combat process
On April 24, the first MC-130 took off from Masila Island, Oman. The plane was loaded with a command team for air and ground combat and a Ranger team responsible for guarding "Desert One". Another 5 C-130s will take off in one hour. The MC-130 fell to an altitude of 120 meters after flying over the coast of Iran to avoid detection of Iran's radar . When the flight was about halfway through, the random air commander Colonel Kyle received the news that eight helicopters had taken off the Nimitz.
[ Establish a landing site ]
Late at night, the heavy-loaded MC-130 Dragon 1 aircraft arrived over "Desert 1". It was pitch black outside the four sides. The pilot relied entirely on infrared night vision goggles to observe. It was only after the field was completed that there were no obstacles on the ground. It was aimed at the runway under the guidance of the infrared light and beacon installed in advance by Major Kani. It successfully landed at 22:45 local time. The heavy-duty aircraft damaged the wings when landing and had to be completely renovated afterwards, but no one was injured and the aircraft still had the ability to fly.
Dragon 1 unloaded two colonel airfield commanders, an Air Force CCT combat control team, including Major Carney, and a Rangers team equipped with jeeps, established a parallel landing area north of the highway, setting up a Takang beacon to guide the upcoming helicopter cluster.
Long 1 landed shortly after landing, a long-distance bus appeared on the road, and the Rangers shot and stopped the bus, and 45 people in the car were detained. A few minutes later, the Rangers in charge of the guard discovered another tanker . The car tried to forcibly break through the barrier despite the guard's obstruction. The Rangers were blown up with an M72 bazooka. The truck passenger died, but the driver escaped on a pickup truck that followed.
The commander of the US military determined that the tanker was secretly smuggling gasoline and would not pose a threat to the task, and ordered the task to continue. Then Long 1 took off and returned to Masilla Island. Long 2 landed immediately, unloaded the supplies and then slid to the saline-alkali land next to it and took off and returned. Long 3 and Republic 4-6 landed one after another, stopped in the pre-planned area, and the engine was idle and waiting for the arrival of the helicopter group.
[The tribulations of the helicopter group]
However, the helicopter's flight was not smooth. Two hours after takeoff, the BIM rotor detection alarm light of the cockpit of the Bluebeard 6 aircraft lit up, indicating that the rotor structure was ruptured. The unit landed in the desert for emergency repairs, and confirmed that the fault could not be repaired, so it had to abandon the aircraft. Bluebeard No. 8 landed and picked up the crew and continued to move forward. But in fact, what the Marine pilots don't know is that the working parameters of the Navy's RH-53D and the Marine's CH-53A/D are different. The BIM alarm light only needs to slow down, which does not mean that the flight must be stopped. If they know, they can continue to fly down.
An hour later, the crew found a layer of fog a few kilometers ahead. After flying in, they found that it was a sandstorm. The strong wind blew violently on the plane, and the visibility dropped sharply. The ground could not be seen at an altitude of 22 meters, nor could the location of other helicopters be seen. The helicopter group immediately disbanded the formation to avoid collision. Afterwards, the pilots who participated in the battle recalled the sandstorm and said that it was like being in a chaotic milk pot. Losing ground reference objects, pilots could only rely on night vision goggles for ultra-low-altitude instrument flights. Many people suffered from airsickness during severe bumps.
Bluebeard No. 5 also suffered an electrical failure 4 hours after takeoff. The main flight control system (especially the altimeter) and navigation system failed and could not continue to fly in a sandstorm with zero visibility. Although it was only 203 kilometers away from "Desert One" at this time, it was necessary to climb over a mountain range of up to 2,980 meters in front, and the fuel was not enough. The crew had to give up the mission and return to "Nimitz" in radio silence, and also took away the Colonel Pittman on the plane.
Bluebeard No. 7 found that the wingman had lost visual contact and conducted a fast low-altitude search. After finding no clues, it continued to fly to "Desert One". At this time, there were only 6 helicopters participating in the battle, which was the minimum number of demand planned. The redundancy originally reserved was completely exhausted. Bluebeard No. 2 then caused the main hydraulic pump to fail due to hydraulic oil leakage, leaving only one hydraulic system to operate the aircraft, but the crew insisted on flying, hoping that it could be repaired after "Desert One" landed.
When the helicopter group struggled to move forward in the sandstorm, the ground forces were anxiously waiting in "Desert One". They had to complete the helicopter refueling, loading and flying to "Desert Two" to hide before sunrise. Time is passing rapidly.
helicopters arrived 50-85 minutes later than the scheduled time. First, they were Bluebeard 3 and 4 dual aircraft, followed by Bluebeard 7. Its crew believed that the wingman Bluebeard 5 had crashed in a sandstorm. Bluebeard No. 8 arrived with Bluebeard No. 6 crew, and finally Bluebeard No. 1 and No. 2, which was already 1:00 am. Burning tankers illuminate the desert landscape several kilometers around, guiding the direction of the Trek helicopter cluster.
[Give up the operation]
, who commanded ground operations, realized that some flight missions could only be carried out during the day, but he was still determined to continue and ordered the assault troops to board the plane. The detained Iranian civilians were also transferred to the Republic 3 plane.After discussing with the pilot of the Blue Beard 2, Lieutenant Colonel Xie Ford, helicopter leader, discussed and determined that the aircraft had neither spare parts nor enough time to repair the fault in "Desert One", so he had to abandon the aircraft. The remaining five helicopters are not enough to complete the mission, as their engines need to be shut down for nearly 24 hours during the Desert II concealment, and the RH-53D has a reputation of being difficult to start cold. But Colonel Beckvis refused to reduce the size of the assault force, and at the deadlock, Colonel Kyle, the commander of the air operations, suggested to Major General Wat in Egypt to stop the operation. Water conveyed the battlefield commander's suggestion to President Carter through the satellite communication system . Two and a half hours after landing, the task force received the president's confirmation and gave up the mission.
At this time, the "Desert One" was filled with noise, smoke and chaos. The four C-130s and 5 RH-53D engines on the scene roared, and sand and dust were everywhere. The C-130 waited more than 90 minutes on the ground than the mission plan. In order to ensure that it can take off at any time, the engine idle idling consumed a lot of fuel. When Colonel Kyle learned that only six RH-53Ds could fly, he ordered the EC-130E aircraft to draw 1,000 gallons from the soft fuel tank of the cargo compartment and add them to their main fuel tank in order to fly back to Masilla Island.
However, at this time, the Republic No. 4 had already added all the fuel in the soft fuel tank to the three helicopters, and he had no oil to add. For this reason, it can no longer consume valuable fuel on the ground and must take off immediately with some of the Delta troops that have boarded the plane to refuel with the tanker standby over the Arabian Sea. Bluebeard 4 also needs to be transferred to the south side of the highway, and the Dragon 3 aircraft will be refueled with more fuel, otherwise it will not be possible to return to the "Nimitz".
To complete these two actions, Bluebeard No. 3 must be moved away from the left rear of Republic No. 4. Because of the thick sand and ankle caused by the sandstorm, the helicopter cannot slide normally and can only rise to 5 meters above the ground to hover and run at low speed. An air force combat controller was commanding in front of the helicopter, but he was immediately swallowed up by the dust from the rotor. The controller tried to retreat and get rid of the dust, and the Bluebeard 3 pilot judged that his plane was drifting backwards (he was also completely surrounded by sand and dust, and the light rod in the controller's hand was his only reference), so he pressed the pole forward to keep a distance from the controller.
A dark sky and the earth, the rotor of the Blue Beard No. 3 cut to the drooping tail of Republic 4 and hit the main wing root, and then ignited 600 gallons of air kerosene, causing a violent explosion and a fire, and both aircraft were damaged. Five of the 14 Air Force crew of Republic 4 and three of the Bluebeard cabin 3 were lost, including 2 majors and 2 captains. Among the five Marine helicopter crews, only the chief and co-pilot survived but all seriously burned , and three others were injured.
Bluebeard 1, 4 and 8, which were parked nearby, were injured by the explosion shrapnel. The commander at the scene of judged that they could no longer fly and had to give up all helicopters. All personnel immediately boarded the surviving three C-130s to evacuate.
During the crazy retreat, the helicopter crew tried to retrieve the confidential documents carried on the plane and destroy the plane, but none of them succeeded, and the bodies of the eight dead crews did not have time to take them away. Because the helicopter was loaded with fuel and ammunition at that time, it was likely that the C-130 would be jeopardized and everyone would not be able to leave if it was detonated.
The prospect is that the bombed Bluebeard No. 3
C-130 brought the remaining personnel back to Masilla Island. Two C-141 medical transport aircraft from Egypt sent them to Kner base, and the injured were then transferred to the Landstuer Army Regional Medical Center, Germany. The massive Eagle Claw Operation came to an end in a messy retreat before it officially started.
[End]
The White House announced the failure of the rescue operation in the early morning of the next day. The CIA agent team on standby in Tehran quietly withdrew from Iran after learning about the incident of "Desert One" from local news. Iran did not even notice their existence.
Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Kaim led a team to the "Desert One" site to investigate and found nine bodies, including passengers of tankers. The Iranian passengers on the bus had been released when the US troops evacuated. The corpses of the US military were later returned to the United States and buried all over the country. A monument was also erected in Arlington National Cemetery .
At the same time, the Iranian Air Force , which was unaware of the investigation activities of the Revolutionary Guards, also carried out air reconnaissance in the "Desert One" area. After two F-14s flew over the scene, they requested to open fire on the remaining US helicopters, but the command refused the request. The F-4 fighter jet patrolling the area the next day thought that the US helicopter was about to take off, and then opened fire, but did not cause any more damage.
days later, the Iranian Air Force recovered Bluebeard No. 2 and 8 and joined the Iranian Navy to serve. The remaining two aircraft were used to provide spare parts to maintain the operation of the Iranian RH-54D fleet, which was suffering from the arms embargo.
The Iranian Navy's RH-54D and Neptune
The empty casing and the stopped bus are still in the desert.
Republic No. 5 was retired in June 2013 and is now on display at the Carolina Air Museum in Charlotte.
The crew of that year reunited in front of Republic 5 many years later
The only return-returning Bluebeard No. 5 was exhibited at the McGuire-Dix-Lackhurst Joint Base. After the failure of the Eagle Claw Operation, President Carter continued to work hard to release the hostages before the end of his term. Iran has scattered hostages across the country to prevent the United States from carrying out a second rescue. Secretary of State Vance firmly believed that the rescue operation would not succeed and would only endanger the lives of the hostages, so he chose to resign and take effect in a few days.
Komeni condemned Carter's actions and claimed that Allah threw the sand and destroyed Mr. Carter's helicopter. Finally, a few minutes after Reagan was sworn in as the new president on January 20, 1981, 52 American hostages were all released, ending the 444-day Iran hostage crisis.
Now displayed at the U.S. Embassy
[Second Rescue Plan]
Shortly after the failure of the first mission, the US military was authorized to organize the second rescue, codenamed " Honey Badger Operation". Through planning and exercises, it was found that nearly one battalion of troops and more than 50 aircraft were needed, and rich plans were made to deal with various emergencies, and a bulldozer weighing up to 12 tons was even carried to clean up the blocked runway.
Although many drills have been successful, the failure of the helicopter during the first rehearsal made the senior US military determined to change the direction of its operations. It will only use the fixed-wing aircraft with short-range take-off and landing capabilities to fly directly from the United States through five air refueling, and escape Iran's air defense system to enter the sky above Tehran with ultra-low altitude, and take away the delta troops and hostages at the Amjadiye Stadium. After completing the mission, it will land on the aircraft carrier in order to promptly rescue the 50 wounded people who are expected to be generated. The bolder idea of
is called "Operation Creditible Sport". At Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, three standard C-130s were modified into XFC-130H configuration in a top secret state. The first two were operation hosts and backup machines, the third was used as a test platform, and the fourth EC-130 was used as a ground training simulator. The XFC-130H is equipped with booster rockets in the front and rear fuselages, which can theoretically take off and land within a small range of a standard sports field, so that the weakest link in the first rescue - a heavy helicopter.
Lockheed received a modification request on June 27, 1980. After feasibility study, it reported to the US Air Force on July 16 that 58 booster rockets were needed (more than 7 times the usage of ordinary short-range take-off and landing special C-130), and the landing distance could not meet the requirements.The U.S. Navy China Lake Navy Aviation Weapons Test Center then joined the project to provide a more powerful active missile with rocket engine . Lockheed enhanced the fuselage structure of the C-130 to withstand rocket power and developed a safety constraint system for the 150 passengers on board.
The C-130T "Albert Fat" of the Blue Angels Performance Team has the ability to take off at a short distance. It has installed 8 rocket boosters
Finally, XFC-130H has installed 5 sets of 30 booster rockets:
- The front fuselage is equipped with 8 Aslok Anti-Submarine Rocket engines for slowing down
- The landing gear fairing is installed 8 mockingbird anti-radiation missiles on the landing gear fairing is used to reduce the descent rate
- The MK-56 rocket engine with standard ship-air missiles is installed at the bottom of the fuselage. Help short-range takeoff
- Install 1 pair of mockingbird engines under each wing for correction of yaw during takeoff
- Install 2 Aslok engines below the vertical tail to prevent excessive elevation angle from rubbing the ground
Other modifications include the addition of 1 dorsal fin and 2 ventral fins on the rear fuselage to enhance heading stability, install double-slit flaps and extended ailerons, replace the nose cone fairing, install ship hooks to block landing on the aircraft carrier, install terrain tracking/terrain avoidance radar, self-defense electronic warfare kit and other avionics equipment, and add Doppler radar/GPS functions in the inertial navigation system. On September 18, three weeks after the launch of the
project, aircraft No. 74-2065 was modified as a test platform. The execution ability of the US aviation industry to modify the active aircraft for a special mission and quickly form combat effectiveness is indeed amazing. Host 74-1683 was delivered to the U.S. Air Force on October 17, and conducted multiple test flight tests between October 19 and 28. Its double-slit flap system can enable the C-130 to approach at a steep slope angle of 8 degrees and a low speed of 85 knots. All modifications are perfect, creating multiple short-range takeoff records.
Braking down to reduce the descent rate
Forward braking slow down
Promoting ultra-short takeoff
In the final test of the whole system conducted on October 29, due to the misoperation of the random engineer and the abnormal start of the bottom brake rocket, the No. 74-1683 aircraft was slowed to 0 in 2 meters of air, stalled and hit the runway heavily, and the right wing broke and caught fire. Fortunately, the rescue helicopters and fire brigades on the scene quickly put out the fire and all crew members evacuated safely. Due to safety reasons, the machine was dismantled and buried on the spot after the special equipment was removed.
At the crash site, you can see the extended dorsal fin in front of the vertical tail and the lowered double-slit flap
Backup No. 74-1686 has also been modified, but with the Reagan administration coming to power and the hostage crisis is quickly resolved, the subsequent rescue plan has been cancelled.
[Reflection]
After the failure of the Eagle Claw Operation, all aspects of the US military have been severely criticized, from unexpected sandstorms and lack of backup helicopters. But the US military has very realistic difficulties in both aspects: the United States cannot send meteorological experts to Iran's inland desert areas to predict or alert the dust storm; the Nimitz hangar cannot carry more RH-53D, nor can it be parked open on the flight deck to prevent it from being discovered by Soviet reconnaissance satellites and reporting to Iran.
Retired Navy Operations Secretary General James Holloway chaired an official investigation into the reasons for the failure of the Eagle Claw Operation on behalf of the Joint Conference. The rescue mission report he submitted listed 23 shortcomings in mission planning, command and control, and cross-service cooperation. The most important points are: the excessive division of planning functions restricts the participation of experts; the lack of other experts to conduct a comprehensive review of combat plans; the extremely limited information exchange between different services; and the lack of a comprehensive preview of the operation.
In other words, excessive focus on security effectively excludes experts who may find the problem from the task planning team. At best, this action is a risk at best, but failure to use all available resources is doomed to fail. There are more options not fully considered and the rescue operation should not have been approved for implementation. All four branches of the US military have raised questions about the political pressure of using force. The military expects that both sides will suffer great casualties after the operation. The US may lose 30 assault troops and 15 hostages, and Iran has hundreds of them.
Hollowway's team also agreed that although there are many very risky factors in the operation, such as intelligence, fuel, weather, and local transportation, these situations are basically controllable, and the contingent led by Watt planned and carried out the rescue operation quite perfectly. The final conclusion of the Joint Conference was: "bad luck" - or a common accident led to the failure of the action. The
report avoids one of the biggest management issues, that is, the contingent commander who directs the operation is located in Egypt and must accept direct surveillance and even instructions from the political leadership of Washington. When the commander on the scene decided to suspend the operation, President Carter must be approved, and at this time, Brzezinski proposed whether the mission could be completed by only five helicopters. This issue was passed on to Colonel Beckvis through Major General Wat, and the direct interference in combat decision-making at the political level and the principle of unified command conflicted. The biggest achievement of the Eagle Claw Operation was to prompt the US military to establish the Special Operations Command on April 16, 1987, to unified command of the special operations forces under various branches of the military, coordinate the planning and joint training of special operations, and fundamentally solve the various problems exposed in the Eagle Claw Operation.
In addition, the Army has severely lacked helicopter pilots who can conduct low-altitude and high-speed flights at night. In May 1990, the 160th Aviation Battalion was upgraded to the famous 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, providing confidential transportation and attack support to elite special operations units such as the SEALs and Deltas.
Even today, 41 years later, the lessons of the Eagle Claw Operation are still of great reference significance for the special operations operations of countries around the world. It is rare to achieve such an army that spans more than 2,000 kilometers of sea and air and coordinates joint operations of various services.
If the US military had a CV-22 Osprey tilt wing aircraft at that time, it could fly directly from the Nimitz airport and return, cancel the two takeoffs and landing sites in the front and rear, and reduce the operation time by 77%, reduce the complexity of the operation and improve the success rate.
