Two allied F-14 Tomcats were first to the fight, and downed two Mig-25's upon ingress to the AO. Shortly after the Mig's were downed, the known SA-3 at the target area became active and was destroyed by the Dealer flight 3. SEAD flight orbited the AO while CAP flight 1 left patrol for handoff to Cap flight 2. Dealer flight 3, unguarded, came under attack from two Mig-25 Foxbats, losing one Black Ace pilot in the encounter and subsequent downing of both Migs.
During the B-52 bombing run, the strike and CAP package came under attack from both enemy SAM and Bandit fire. Four Migs, two Mig-29's and two Mig-21's were scrambled to down the strike package. Two additional Mig-23's joined the fight and when the ensuing dogfights were finished, all six bandits were destroyed, with allied losses of two Black Ace Hornets and Two B-52's. One B-52 was shot down by a MIG and one was shot down by enemy SAM positions.
Four Black Ace pilots were lost in the mission, three shot down by MIG's and one aircraft lost to system malfunction. Primary mission was accomplished, Oil Pumping station was completely destroyed, but it came at a high cost of pilots and airframes.
Dealer 1 - Cap Flight 1
1) Ticman - Mig-23 Kill, trapped
2) Rhino - Trapped
3) Lion - Trapped
Dealer 2- CAP Flight 2
1) Trim - Mig-21 Kill, KIA
2) Iceberg - Mig-29 & Mig-21 Kill, KIA
3) Maniac - Mig-29 Kill, Mig-23 Kill, trapped
Dealer 3 - SEAD
1) HedgeHog - SAM hit, shot down
2) MadDog - SAM hit, System Failure
3) Chaos - Two Mig-25 kills, Trapped
