Mostafa Roustaei

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Mostafa Roustaei
Born1951 (age 72–73)
AllegianceIran
Service/branch
Years of service1970–2000
RankColonel
Battles/warsIran–Iraq War

Mostafa Roustaei (Persian: مصطفی روستایی) is an Iranian amateur astronomer and retired fighter pilot who flew with Grumman F-14 Tomcat during the Iran–Iraq War. French military historian Pierre Razoux has credited him with 5 aerial victories, a record that qualifies him as a flying ace.[1]

Career[edit]

Roustaei was hired by the IIAF in 1970 and after 30 years of service, he was retired with the rank of colonel.[2] He served for some time as the chief operations officer of the 6th Tactical Fighter Base.[2] A U.S. trained pilot, he graduated from the AETC course at Laughlin Air Force Base in 1974.[2] He was subsequently certified with F-4D/E Phantom II, an aircraft he flew for 2200 hours before switching to F-14 Tomcat.[2] He flew a further 2086 hours with the latter.[2]

Aerial victories[edit]

According to aviation author Kash Ryan, Roustaei's aerial victories verified by his logbooks and corroborated with other accounts include four using AIM-54 Phoenix missiles and one maneuver kill, against two MiG-23s, a MiG-21 and a pair of Dassault Mirage F1s. The details are as follows:[2]

# Date Aircraft serial RIO Weapon Victim
1 15 January 1981 3-6027 Capt. A. Jalal-Abadi AIM-54A MiG-23
2 5 October 1981 3-6036 1Lt. Ahmad R. Fereydouni AIM-54A MiG-23
3 26 October 1982 3-6078 1Lt. Reza Tahmasbi None MiG-21
4 7 August 1984 3-6055 Capt. Hossein Sayyari AIM-54A Mirage F-1EQ
5 7 August 1984 3-6055 Capt. Hossein Sayyari AIM-54A Mirage F-1EQ

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Razoux, Pierre (2019), Le siècle des As (1915-1988): Une autre histoire de l'aviation (in French), Place des éditeurs, Section 31, p. 15, ISBN 978-2-262-04827-3
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Flying & fighting in the F-14 Tomcat: Interview with an Iranian fighter ace" (Interview). Interviewed by Kash Ryan. Hush-Kit. 28 February 2020.