Yadollah Javadpour

Yadollah Javadpour
Allegiance Islamic Republic of Iran
Service/branch Air Forces
Rank Major
Battles/wars Iran–Iraq War

Major Yadollah Javadpour (Persian: یدالله جوادپور‎‎) was a fighter pilot in the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, serving for the duration of the Iran–Iraq War. His record qualifies him as an ace and one of the most successful pilots of that conflict.[1]

Career

He began his service as a pilot in the IIAF and was a member of the elite Iranian Air Force flying team, the Golden Crown, from 1975 to 1978.[2] He continued to serve with the IRIAF after the revolution, at a time when it was dangerous for pilots to do so.

Iran–Iraq War

Javadpour's notoriety came while flying the Northrop F-5. He claimed 5 air victories, which makes him an ace, but only two have been reliably confirmed by western sources.[3][4] His greatest fame came on August 6, 1983 when he claimed (later to be reliably confirmed) to have shot down an Iraqi MiG-25.[N 1] This was a significant achievement for an F-5 pilot as the MiG-25 is a much bigger and faster aircraft with a substantial altitude advantage. His other confirmed kill was an Su-20 on October 17, 1980.

These results make Javadpour one of the most successful F-5 fighter pilots ever.[1]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Aviation journalist Tom Cooper recounts this combat, taken from his research, on Iraqi Armed Forces Forum retrieved November 3, 2010:
    "I do not "think", but know that the MiG-25 in question was already damaged by an AIM-54A Phoenix missile fired by an IRIAF F-14A. That was the reason the Foxbat in question found itself flying deep inside the Iranian airspace at "only" 11000m (approx 33000ft) and less than Mach 1. A pair of F-5Es underway on a CAS sortie were ordered to jettison their bombs and vectored to intercept. Only the lead of these two Tigers, flown by Javadpour, managed to catch with the MiG-25; both of his Sidewinders failed to fire, so he selected cannons and fired two long bursts in front of the MiG, spending all of his ammo in the process. The last string of rounds hit the MiG, knocking out one engine and setting it afire. The pilot made an emergency landing at an airfield in northern Iraq. Brig Gen Sadik saw that plane with his own eyes after the landing, and confirmed that it was subsequently shot down.
    BTW, only a few months later, the Iranian F-5E pilot that scored this kill was shot down over Iraq and became a POW. That way the IrAF was able to cross-examine his version of how that MiG-25 was lost"

References


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