<p>A U.S. Navy McDonnell F-4J <i>Phantom II</i> of Fighter Squadron VF-74 <i>Be-Devilers</i> escorting a Libyan Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 over Gulf of Sidra in August 1981. VF-74 was assigned to Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17) aboard the aircraft carrier USS <i>Forrestal</i> (CV-59) for a deployment to the Mediterranean Sea from 2 March to 15 September 1981. <br></p>
On 19 August 1981, two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 attack aircraft fired upon and were subsequently shot down by two U.S. Navy Grumman F-14A <i>Tomcat</i>s of VF-41, assigned to CVW-8 aboard the USS <i>Nimitz</i> (CVN-68).
U.S. Navy
1981-08
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://collections.naval.aviation.museum/emuwebdoncoms/pages/doncoms/AdvQuery.php">U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation</a> photo No. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://collections.naval.aviation.museum/emuwebdoncoms/pages/doncoms/Display.php?irn=26581&amp;QueryPage=%2Femuwebdoncoms%2Fpages%2Fdoncoms%2FAdvQuery.php">1996.253.7268.023</a>