F-14 Tomcat — Imperial Iranian Air Force

Imperial Iranian Air Force, F-14A Tomcat force (TFB.8 Khatami, Isfahan / TFB.7 Shiraz) · Allied · 1976-1979

Iran selected the F-14 in August 1973 and signed for 80 Tomcats in 1974 — an order so large it effectively rescued Grumman's struggling program — with the first two aircraft touching down in January 1976. Crews trained at Miramar and Oceana before standing up squadrons at Khatami Air Base near Isfahan, and in August 1977 an IIAF crew used the AWG-9 and an AIM-54 Phoenix to kill a BQM-34E drone at 50,000 feet, a demonstration aimed squarely at the Soviet MiG-25s overflying Iranian airspace. The patch carries the pre-revolutionary tricolor with the Lion and Sun at its center, dating it to the imperial era: 79 of the 80 jets had been delivered by the time the monarchy fell in February 1979, after which the survivors flew on under the Islamic Republic's colors.