Early in Operation Desert Storm, a U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot named Maj. Emmett Tullia made one of the great escapes, flying his aircraft out of the path of six surface-to-air missiles during an attack over Baghdad. This harrowing incident, which took place on January 19, 1991, has become one of the enduring images of the Gulf War.
Operation Desert Storm, initiated on 16 January 1991 by President George H.W. Bush, was an attempt to evict Iraqi forces from their invasion of Kuwait. As far as airpower contribution is concerned, the U.S. and its allies fielded some 2,430 aircraft, of which 1,300 belonged to the United States. The coalition launched an air campaign with five weeks of sustained air strikes and combat air patrols that were intended to break the back of Iraq’s formidable air defense systems and clear the way for ground forces.
Baghdad at that time was one of the most heavily defended cities in the world, surrounded by a Soviet-style air defense network. The coalition opened the fight with initial airstrikes of the hardest-hitting and most elusive aircraft: the stealthy F-117 Nighthawk. However, on the third day of the conflict, the largest F-16 strike mission in history, Package Q, was launched.
Package Q included 72 F-16 Fighting Falcons, carrying two 2,000-pound Mk 84 bombs each, targeting government buildings and the Tuwaitha nuclear reactor. It was escorted by eight F-15s for air cover, eight F-4G Wild Weasels for SAM suppression, and two EF-111s for radar jamming. This mission, from the start, quickly developed as a nightmare.
Bad weather confused refueling efforts. Some aircraft returned to base, thereby dooming the attack from the start. It meant that the Wild Weasels would not be able to destroy the SAM sites, and the F-16s were exposed to heavy anti-aircraft artillery. Another problem was the ineffectiveness of the EF-111s in jamming the myriad enemy radar systems that also exposed the strike force to Iraqi missiles.
The sky lighted up with enemy fire as the F-16s reached their targets. Maj. Emmett Tullia was dodging a hail of SAMs flying one of the F-16s. His flares and chaff would not deploy; still, with a series of sharp turns and other evasive maneuvers, he dodged six missiles. He said, “They knew we were coming, and as we were getting closer to the target area, the triple-A came up the 35 mm stuff.”
It was through Tullia’s training and experience that he made it through the deadly skies over Baghdad. He remembered thinking, “When the thing moved, I could see that then the missile corrected – and then on top of that, you could see that the missile is pointing at me, the missile is pointing in front of me. It was like: Wow, all this textbook knowledge comes right back into focus.”
Over the next seven punishing minutes, he made a series of hard turns to avoid missiles, blood pressure skyrocketing, but he did not lose focus. He jettisoned his external fuel tanks to gain speed so he could outmaneuver the SAMs. Even under such relentless attacks, he managed to drop his bombs on the oil refinery target and start his escape.
As he descended to lower altitudes, he also had to contend with anti-aircraft artillery. He just missed a Soviet-made SA-6 missile, recalling, “I turned and this thing is right on me. Every time I turn, the response is really quick. I was getting a fairly strong RAW [Radar Warning Receiver] indication on this thing. I was just turning as best I could. I go: Well, I’m just going to do what I can do on this thing. That thing came so close, I could hear the rocket motor as it went by – that was a little unnerving.”
The skill and determination of Tullia enabled him to dodge all six missiles and land safely at the base. Not all pilots were so lucky, though. Capt. Mike Roberts and Maj. Jeffrey Tice were both shot down and taken prisoner by Iraqi forces, tortured, and then released in March of 1991.
He remembered well the commanders who had led them into such a life-and-death situation and whose training had prepared him. “In the Air Force, we get all this leadership stuff jammed down our throats, and until I saw it in action, I was just another one of that ‘ Good grief, we have to listen to this crap again’-type of guys,” he said. “When I saw actual leadership in action, it made a huge difference. It was amazing.”
The incredible evasion of six SAMs in the ongoing Operation Desert Storm by Maj. Emmett Tullia has become the most convincing case for the bravery and professionalism of U.S. fighter pilots when working under the most unfavorable conditions.