The F-11 Tiger was a carrier-based jet fighter aircraft used by the US Navy during the Cold War years, from 1956 to 1967. It was designed and manufactured by the American firm Grumman. The first prototype, the XF9F-9, flew on July 30, 1954. Although the aircraft originally received the designation F11F-1 in April 1955, it was redesignated as F-11 Tiger under the 1962 United States Tri-Service aircraft designation system. The F-11 was used by the Blue Angels flight team from 1957 to 1969. Grumman Aircraft Corporation built about 250 units, with the last one being delivered on January 23, 1959.
In addition to the F-11A fighter, Grumman also proposed a more advanced version of the airframe known as the F11F-1F Super Tiger. This was the result of a 1955 study to fit the new General Electric J79 engine into the F-11 airframe. The Navy was sufficiently interested to authorize modification of two production F11F-1s with enlarged air intakes and YJ79-GE-3 turbojets, with the result being designated the F11F-1F, indicating a production F11F-1 with a special engine fit. The aircraft first flew on May 25, 1956, reaching Mach 1.44 in one of the flights.
Specifications (F-11A)
Engine: one Wright J65-W-18 turbojet.
Maximum speed: Mach 1.1 (727 mph, 1,170 km/h) at 35,000 ft.
Range: 1,275 mi (2,050 km).
Length: 46 ft 11 in (14.3 m).
Wingspan: 31 ft 7.5 in (9.6 m).
Crew: one.
Weapons: four 20mm (.79 in) Colt Mk 12 cannons, with 125 rounds per gun; Aero 6A or Aero 7A "Rocket Package" rockets; four AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.
The Gulf of Sidra incident was a naval engagement in which two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter attack aircraft were shot down by two American F-14 Tomcats from the USS Nimitz. The first Gulf of Sidra incident took place off the Libyan coast on August 19, 1981, during the Cold War. At the time, Republican President Ronald Reagan was in Office, and Omar Kadafi was ruling Lybia.
Libya had claimed a 12 mile extension zone of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Sidra, declaring the territorial waters of the gulf as their own. This prompted US naval forces to conduct Freedom of Navigation operations in the area, the so-called "line of death". These operations intensified when Ronald Reagan came to office on January 20, 1981. In August 1981, he authorized the deployment of a large naval force, led by USS Forrestal and Nimitz, off the Libyan coast.
The Libyan Air Force responded by deploying a high number of interceptors and fighter-bombers. Early on the morning of August 18, when the US exercise began, at least three MiG-25 ‘Foxbats’ approached the US carrier groups, but were escorted away by F-4 Phantom IIs from Forrestal and F-14s of VF-41 and VF-84 from Nimitz. The Libyans tried to establish the exact location of the US naval force. Thirty-five pairs of MiG-23 ‘Floggers’, MiG-25s, Sukhoi Su-20 ‘Fitter-Cs’, Su-22M ‘Fitter-Js’ and Mirage F.1s flew into the area, and were soon intercepted by seven pairs of F-14s and F-4s. The situation was tense, but neither side fired any weapons, even in at least two cases when MiG-25s tried to breach through the American fighters by flying high and fast.
On August 19, 1981, two F-14 fighters were flying combat air patrol to cover aircraft engaged in a missile exercise. An E-2B Hawkeye from Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron VAW-124 made radar contact with two Soviet-built Sukhoi Su-22 Fitters aircraft which had left Okba Ben Nafi Air Base near Tripoli. The two F-14s were ordered to intercept. Only a few seconds before the crossing, one of the Libyan fighters fired an AA-2 "Atoll" missile at one of the F-14s, but missed. Then the two Sukhois flew past the Americans and tried to escape.
According to the rules of engagement, the Tomcats were cleared to return, which mandated self defense on the initiation of hostile action. The Americans pilots fired AIM-9L Sidewinders, shooting down the two Libyan aircraft. Less than an hour later, while the Libyans were conducting a search and rescue operation of their downed pilots, two fully-armed MiG-25s entered the airspace over the Gulf and headed towards the US carriers at Mach 1.5 and conducted a mock attack in the direction of USS Nimitz. Three F-14s headed towards the Libyans, who then turned around and headed home.
