It’s August 18th, 1981.
Off the coast of Libya.
Two MiG-25s from the Libyan Air Force race out to sea.
An American carrier group
has just entered their national waters and launched dozens of fighter jets into the sky.
War, it seems, has dawned upon these waters.
The Libyan pilot steels himself,
laser focused on the battle ahead
when he sees something out of the corner of his eye.
He turns his head in shock;
to his left is an American F-14 Tomcat flying alongside him.
He stares at the enemy pilot in complete disbelief
as he gives him back a mocking wave
and, to add further insult, the man on the back seat takes a picture.
The Libyan pilot finds himself completely outclassed.
He knows the Americans operate in pairs;
the second jet must be already behind him with his missiles at the ready.
Pilot Lawrence Muczynski and Radio Intercept Officer James Anderson
watch amused as the Libyan MiG-25s turn back to base.
They joke and laugh,
joined by their Commander Henry Kleeman
and his RIO David Venlet as they return back to the Nimitz.
In reality the American forces have no intention of war or bloodshed,
even if they know they’re flirting with the possibility.
The Libyan government had declared the Gulf of Sidra to be part of their territory,
while the United States and many others considered it to be international waters.
Because of this disagreement,
the US has decided to sail through the disputed territory, challenging the Libyan claim.
The first day had gone swimmingly for the Americans,
with their fighters turning away 70 Libyan aircraft without a single shot being fired.
Kleeman particularly enjoyed interacting with the Libyan pilots,
later describing the day as “all fun and games.”
Little did he know that things would become much more serious.
Kleeman and Muczynski are back in the sky very early in the morning the following day.
Call-sign Fast Eagle 102 and 107 respectively,
they’ve been patrolling for over an hour
when an unidentified contact headed straight towards them appears on their screens.
The experience of the prior day has them quiet comfortable,
so Kleeman in Fast Eagle 102
calmly reports the contact before heading to meet it.
The two planes adopt an intercept formation,
with Muczynski in Fast Eagle 107 putting some distance from his flight leader.
Kleeman is the first to get visual with the enemy,
spotting not one but two Libyan Su-22 “Fitters”
flying wingtip to wingtip straight towards him.
At that very moment Muczynski’s radar malfunctions and he loses the ping of the enemy fighters,
but he’s undeterred, he can intercept with visual only.
But then the maneuver turns from routine to horror
when he sees an orange flash from under one of the Su-22’s wings
and a smoke trail streaking out towards Kleeman.
They’ve just fired a missile.
In a state of disbelief, he reports
“Two fitters have shot at my leader.”
Kleeman sees the missile coming and instantly pulls hard to the left.
The missile flies right past him followed moments later by the pair of enemy fighters.
“This is 102, we've been fired on!”
Thinking on his feet he orders 107 to get after the one who shot.
Muczynski instantly races into the fray,
turning around 180 degrees and ending up right on the 6 of the two Libyans.
The enemy pilots scatter in separate directions,
but Muczynski has his eyes locked on the lead Fitter.
He chases him across the sky, matching the Libyan through every twist and turn.
He selects his Aim-9L Sidewinder Missiles and pulls the trigger...
But nothing happens.
An alert flashes on his screen, the missile is faulty and won't fire.
Meanwhile, Kleeman has already turned around and is catching up to the second enemy.
He’s about to fire when the Libyan fighter makes a turn towards the sunrise.
Kleeman realizes in a split second that the heat-seeking Sidewinder could lock onto the heat of the sun,
so he patiently waits for the enemy fighter to change direction.
Its 10 long seconds until the Libyan pilot finally makes a turn
and his fate is sealed.
The missile lights up and rockets off from under 102’s wing,
he can see the smoke trail as it tracks to perfection and slams straight into the engine of the SU-22,
shredding its tail and starting a fire.
The burning wreckage falls from the sky and the pilot ejects.
On board Muczynski’s Tomcat,
the Radar Intercept Officer spots Kleeman’s target
falling in the distance and shouts
“Someone’s been hit, someone’s been shot!”
Muczynski turns his head to see the column of black smoke
falling into the sea below.
Worry fills him for a second as he cannot tell who it is,
but to his immediate relief he hears the voice of Kleeman over the radio reporting his victory.
“Affimative. …shot one of them down”
With the Su-22 still ahead and with the gravity of their actions heavy in his mind
Muczynski asks on the radio,
“want me to shoot my guy down?”
“That's affirm, shoot him... shoot him down!”
Muczynski doesn’t need to be told twice,
he’s chasing the Libyan through a right hand turn when he pulls the trigger.
His second and last Sidewinder rockets away,
but goes dead straight,
exiting stage left from Muczynski’s field of view.
Frustrated but without time to think,
he switches to guns and resolves to shoot the Fitter out of the sky,
but before he can even try,
the missile zips past his field of view and it chases down the Libyan jet
and detonates into its fuselage.
Fire and shrapnel fill the sky ahead and Muczynski yanks back on the stick,
he’s squished into his seat as he pulls an enormous 10Gs,
barely avoiding the cloud of debris.
Both pilots are recovering from the adrenaline
when the news of their peril finally reaches command at the Nimitz,
they hear through the radio.
“102 107, you are clear to defend yourself.”
Kleeman proudly responds
“And this is 102 107, two enemy kills”
Fortunately, both Libyan pilots,
Captain Belkacem Emsik al-Zintani and 1st Lieutenant Mokhtar el-Arabi al-Jaafari,
ejected and survived the encounter.
They were picked up by Libyan rescue helicopters an hour after the events.
Further escalation was avoided and the takedown of the two SU-22’s
remained the only combat in the entirety of the operation,
which remained bloodless.
Kleeman and Muczynski returned to much fanfare among their peers but received no awards.
The incident would go on to have little political impact,
it further strained the already terrible US-Libyan relations
but brought about little action from either government.
The events of that day would be studied by the writers of Top Gun,
who used that and other engagements as inspiration for the movie’s combat scenes.
Fast Eagle 102 went on to be restored by a group of veterans in 2016,
its now on display in the Midland Army Air Field Museum where you can visit it in Texas.
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