Gulf of Sidra incident (1981)

The first Gulf of Sidra incident, August 19, 1981, was an incident in which two Libyan Sukoi Su-22 Fitter fighter jets engaged two US F-14 Tomcats off of the Libyan coast.

In 1973 Libya had claimed much of the Gulf of Sidra as its territorial waters and subsequently declared a "line of death", the crossing of which would invite a military response. As part of its ongoing freedom of navigation activities in support of 12 mile territorial waters practices the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) was operating near the line of death.

On the morning of the 19th, two VF-41 Black Aces F-14As, Fast Eagle 102 (CDR "Hank" Kleeman/LT D. Venlet) and Fast Eagle 107 (LT "Music" Muczynski/LTJG "Amos" Anderson), were flying combat air patrol to cover aircraft engaged in a missile exercise. An E-2A Hawkeye gained radar contact with two Fitters which had left Wheelus Air Base near Tripoli. The Fitters were heading towards the Tomcats and the lead Fitter fired an AA-2 Atoll short range heat seeking missile at the Tomcats. The Tomcats evaded and were cleared to return fire.

Muczynski engaged the lead Fitter and shot it down with an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. Kleeman engaged the wingman and shot it down with another Sidewinder. The official United States Navy report states that both Libyan pilots ejected and were safely recovered.

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