Word: libyans
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...outcome was far from perfect: the U.S. lost one F-111 fighter-bomber along with its two-man crew and unintentionally caused some civilian casualties and damage. But El Dorado also produced more than a few nuggets of military gold, including severe damage to at least eight Soviet-built Libyan planes and Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi's personal headquarters. "We didn't do everything right," says Admiral William Crowe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But on balance, he maintains, the operation "was very successful...
Plans for a strike of some sort against Libya began late in March when U.S. intelligence learned of Libyan intentions to conduct future terrorist acts like the West Berlin disco bombing on April 4. At a National Security Council meeting on April 7, the President clearly decided that the time for action had arrived. His command: "Try to make the world smaller for the terrorists...
...order up an air strike then and there, it was clear to military planners that such an action was inevitable. The Pentagon brass was concerned, however, that it lacked the firepower to hit Gaddafi with sufficient force. Since the Sixth Fleet's skirmish only three weeks earlier with Libyan forces in the Gulf of Sidra, the fleet's strength had considerably diminished with the departure of the aircraft carrier Saratoga for its home base in Mayport, Fla. There was not sufficient time to order the flattop back to the central Mediterranean to join the carriers Coral Sea and America...
...were 28 tankers from Royal Air Force bases in Fairford and Mildenhall. Minutes later a squadron of 24 two-seater khaki-and-brown F-111 attack bombers began streaking off runways at Lakenheath and were joined by five EF-111 electronic jamming planes whose mission was to disable Libyan radar capabilities. Flying at 30,000 ft., the force rendezvoused over southern England and refueled four times during its seven-hour flight through darkened skies. After the first refueling, seven planes, brought along as a reserve in case of airborne malfunctions in the others, broke out of formation and returned...
Over their targets, U.S. pilots were confronted with an astonishing barrage of Libyan defensive fire. The night sky over Tripoli was stitched with orange streaks as tracers and missiles arced up toward the attackers. "They fired everything they had," said a senior Pentagon official, including Soviet-built SAM-2, -3, -6 and -8 missiles and ZSU-23-4 antiaircraft guns. Said Vice Admiral Frank Kelso, commander of the Sixth Fleet, who was in overall command of El Dorado Canyon: "I don't think anybody has ever flown a mission in any more dense SAM environment than they were in today...