1989 air battle near Tobruk
Videos
On 4 January 1989, two Grumman F-14A Tomcats of the United States Navy shot down two Libyan-operated Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23ML Flogger-G which the American aircrews believed were attempting to engage
Gun camera still of the lead F-14A showing the second MiG-23ML exploding after being hit by an AIM-9L Sidewinder missile
A simplified depiction of the incident
A MiG-23 silhouette was painted onto Gypsy 202 after the engagement; it was removed prior to returning from cruise.
159610 on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23
Videos
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 is a single-engined, supersonic, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generation jet figh
1989 air battle near Tobruk
…On 4 January 1989, two Grumman F-14A Tomcats of the United States Navy shot down two Libyan-operated Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23ML Flogger-G which the American aircrews believed were attempting to engage and attack them, as had happened eight years prior during the 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident…
A Soviet Air Force MiG-23MLD
A Polish MiG-23MF
MiG-23 parked
MiG-23M "Flogger-B" armed with R-23 and R-60 missiles