Jalil Zandi ( fa, جلیل زندی; 1951–2001) was a

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

in the

Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force , patron = , motto = , "Skyhigh is my place" , colours = Ultramarine blue , colours_label = , march = , mascot ...

(IRIAF) who served during all of the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...

. His combat record qualifies him as one of the most successful pilots of that conflict in air-to-air combat,Fire in the Hills: Iranian and Iraqi Battles of Autumn 1982, by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, Sept. 9, 2003
/ref>''Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat'' by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, 2004, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, p. 79, as well as one of the best Iranian aces ever. It also made him the highest-scoring pilot in the history of the

F-14 Tomcat The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic aircraft, supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experi ...

Career

Jalil Zandi began in the

Imperial Iranian Air Force The history of the Iranian Air Force, currently known as the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, can be divided into two phases—before the Islamic Revolution, and after it. Imperial era The Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) was a branch ...

and after the 1979

Islamic revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

stayed on to serve in the IRIAF when it was somewhat dangerous for pilots to continue their military service. While a

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

, he often clashed with his superior

Lt. Col. Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

Abbas Babaei Abbas Babaei ( fa, عباس بابایی) (5 December 1950 – 6 August 1987) was an Iranian Air Force pilot who served as Brigadier-General during the Iran-Iraq War. Education He was born in a middle class religious family in Qazvin in 1950. ...

. Abbas Babaei was "notorious for his merciless treatment of the pilots and

officers An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

" considered disloyal to the new regime''Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat'' by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, 2004, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, p. 23, and because of this Jalil Zandi was condemned to ten years of imprisonment. When he was in prison, he was threatened to be sentenced to death, but by demand of the then-air force commander and many other air force pilots, he was released after six months.''Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat'' by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, 2004, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, pp. 23-24,

Iran–Iraq War

He earned his fame as an

pilot during the

. He has been reliably credited with shooting down 11 Iraqi aircraft (eight confirmed victories through examination with US intelligence documents released according to FOIA inquiry and three probable victories). The victories include four

MiG-23 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-23; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generatio ...

s, two

Su-22 The Sukhoi Su-17 (''izdeliye'' S-32) is a variable-sweep wing fighter-bomber developed for the Soviet military. Its NATO reporting name is "Fitter". Developed from the Sukhoi Su-7, the Su-17 was the first variable-sweep wing aircraft to enter ...

s, two

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nickna ...

s, and three

Mirage F1 The Dassault Mirage F1 is a French fighter and attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was developed as a successor to the popular Mirage III family. During the 1960s, Dassault commenced development of what would b ...

s.''Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat'' by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, 2004, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, pp. 85–88, This makes him one of the most successful Iranian fighter aces and the most successful F-14 Tomcat pilot worldwide.

Post-war

His last official post, before his death, was deputy for planning and organization of the Iranian Air Force. He died with his wife Zahra Moheb Shahedin in 2001 in a car accident near

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. He is buried in

Behesht-e Zahra Behesht-e Zahra ( fa, بهشت زهرا, lit. ''The Paradise of Zahra'', from Fatima az-Zahra) is the largest cemetery in Iran. Located in the southern part of metropolitan Tehran, it is connected to the city by Tehran Metro Line 1. History In ...

cemetery in the south of Tehran. He had three sons: Vahid, Amir, and Nader.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zandi, Jalil Iranian aviators Islamic Republic of Iran Army personnel of the Iran–Iraq War Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force personnel 2001 deaths Iranian flying aces Iran–Iraq War flying aces 1951 births Road incident deaths in Iran

Career

Iran–Iraq War

Post-war

See also

References