F-4E Phantom, IRIAF, H-3 raid

 

One of the most impressive raids of the First Gulf War, between Iraq and Iran, was the one carried out on April 4, 1981, on the Iraqi air base of H-3, located to the north, as far as possible from Iran, and where, in a safe place, the new elements, the planes in training and the reserves of the Iraqi Air Force were concentrated.

In March 1981, Iranian Intelligence learned that new F-1 and Tu-22 heavy bombers were going to arrive at that Base, in addition to a large amount of supplies for the Iraqi Air Force, so a risky operation was planned. The distance in a straight line from the border was more than 1500 kilometers.

The base was beyond the reach of the Iranian planes, they would have to cross all the Iraqi territory and the best defended areas, the planning was excellent and very daring, they would surround the road, in a route of 3500 km, which would require several resupplies in flight, 8 Phantoms would carry out the attack, supplied by 2 KC-135, all, including the tankers, would fly at 100 m, do those maneuvers at that height, would require extraordinary skill.
 
At the same time, several F-5s would carry out diversionary attacks, a C-130 would attract radars and a pair of F-14s would provide protection at high altitude.
 
And they achieved the surprise, the F-4s, arrived suddenly, damaged the runways with bombs, attacked the parked planes with other clusters, making several passes with their cannons, the anti-aircraft defense was slow to react and did not hit even a Phantom; Iraqi casualties were never revealed, but it is believed that there could have been up to 48 aircraft. 

Boeing 707
The attack was so far away that it required aerial refueling, so a KC-135 was used, which had to fly at 100 m, a very dangerous and unthinkable height for a plane of that size. My model is from Necomisa Lindberg, everything. by brush

 

The F-4 used in the raid are not known, so I assembled a generic F-4E from the IRIAF, I planned to correct its numbers when more information was available, but the new break in relations with Iran made it
 to do very difficult.

The model is the old Snap Tite from Monogram, in 1/72, to which I added the cabin, I assembled it on a work trip, everything is by brush, using paint El Viejo Marino.