{"id":59788,"date":"2025-06-03T23:08:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T21:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=59788"},"modified":"2026-06-03T01:56:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:56:02","slug":"the-ambush-by-several-mig-29-fulcrum-fighters-against-two-f-15-eagles-over-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2025\/06\/03\/the-ambush-by-several-mig-29-fulcrum-fighters-against-two-f-15-eagles-over-iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"The ambush by several MiG-29 'Fulcrum' fighters against two F-15 Eagles over Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an excellent fighter aircraft that made its first flight on July 27, 1972 in the United States.<\/p>\n

The spectacular 'zoom climb' of a USAF F-15EX Eagle II fighter at Eglin AFB<\/a><\/rel>
\nThe features of the new F-15IA Eagle II fighters that the US has approved for sale to Israel<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

Introduced into service with the United States Air Force (USAF) in January 1976,<\/strong> the F-15 is also operated by Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, and Qatar. This fighter has the record of never having been defeated in aerial combat<\/strong> in nearly half a century.<\/p>\n

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An F-15C armed with AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles flying during Operation Desert Storm (Photo: Eglin Air Force Base<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Of course, the F-15 faced extremely difficult missions where that record could have been lost<\/strong>. Some of those missions took place between 1990 and 1991, when the first war involving this aircraft on a large scale took place. In the Gulf War, the USAF shot down 39 Iraqi aircraft in dogfights: 36 of those victories were achieved by F-15 fighters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Four USAF F-15Cs flying over Iraq during the Gulf War (Photo: Air Education and Training Command<\/a>).<\/div>\n

In those engagements, USAF F-15s defeated various types of Iraqi fighters, including eight MiG-23s, six Mirage F1s, five MiG-29s<\/strong>, four Su-22s, two MiG-25s, two MiG-21s, two Su-25s, and one Su-7. The F-15, its pilots, and its integrated defense systems (which included E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft) demonstrated their overwhelming superiority over their rivals<\/strong>. It was an opportunity to fight with what was then the most modern Soviet-made fighter, the MiG-29, nicknamed \"Fulcrum\" by NATO, designed to counter the F-15 and F-16<\/strong>, the most modern American fighters at that time.<\/p>\n

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Captain Craig \"Mole\" Underhill, of the USAF 58th Fighter Squadron, with his F-15C 85-122, with which he starred in the combat covered in this article with his partner Captain C\u00e9sar \"Rico\" Rodr\u00edguez (Photo: skytrailer.nl<\/a>).<\/div>\n

One such F-15 engagement against Iraqi fighters took place on January 19, 1991<\/strong>, when two F-15Cs from the 58th Fighter Squadron, a famous unit based at Eglin AFB, Florida, were protecting a strike force of F-16 fighters. The two F-15Cs were piloted by Captain Craig \"Mole\" Underhill and Captain Cesar \"Rico\" Rodriguez<\/strong>, and were ambushed by Iraqi MiG-29 fighters that lured them into an area planted with surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). Last Saturday, the excellent channel Yarnhub<\/a> published a video recreating the story of that engagement on computer:<\/strong><\/p>\n