Mostafa Roustaei

Mostafa Roustaei
Born1951 (age 73–74)
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

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

See also: List of Iranian aerial victories during the Iran–Iraq war

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

References

  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.
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