316th Review Operation Eldorado Canyon: The 1986 US Bombing Raid on Libya- Major Jim Rotramel (USAG, ret)

It was an ‘interesting time’ in the eighties of the last century with respect to terrorism. The Americans also were a regular target of terrorism and Libya was one of the countries that was actively and provably involved by the attacks. President Gaddafi was strongly anti-Israel and supported terroristic organisations. One was even afraid that Libya would become a nuclear power. For this review it goes too far to highlight the whole political situation and all the attacks. There were attacks at the end of 1985 at the airport of Vienna and Rome with lots of victims. Next to that Libya took over the Gulf of Sidra, north of Libya. That was not acknowledged internationally, especially not by the Americans – who only accepted the international acknowledged 12 miles – and therefor sent aircraft carriers to the Mediterranean Sea. Libya responded with ‘aggression’ towards the US ships, and this led to a confrontation on March 24^th 1986: read: the US brought some Libyan ships down and destroyed some SAM-locations. Not much later – on the 5^th of April – a bombing followed on a nightclub in Berlin by which 3 people did not survive and 229 got wounded, under which 79 Americans. On April 14^th 1986 Ronald Reagan officially gave the order for an attack on Libya, which was executed in the night of April 15tht. In the deepest confidentiality the mission was prepared in the previous months by the aviation sections that would also be directly involved.

And then the book! The writer has, next to the Operation Eldorado Canyon (OEC), also given attention to the Operation Prairy Firing (OPF) of the Navy, which took place a month before the OEC on the 24^th of March. I think that was a good choice because it reveals an important part of the OEC context. The book is divided in 10 chapters and an appendix. The 10 chapters tell very well how the attacks were prepared and executed. You will find a lot of details in the book, like the electronics and bombs that were used in that time. I find it particularly interesting how the author has given attention to all the preparations of all those Airforce- and  Navy- squadrons and sections, who were also necessary for the execution of the OEC. I can still remember how the information about the attack came on the news in The Netherlands; quite superficial, hardly any details and mainly aimed on the F-111’s who had performed the attack. Various F-111’s I would later encounter on aviation shows. That was interesting of course for my spotting book!

This book of OEC makes clear what an enormous job it must have been to let those F-111’s execute that attack. And let’s not forget the part of the Navy in that time and that the Navy, perhaps in terms of efficiency, had a much greater part.

Interesting also are the pictures and charts in the book. One of the charts that I found very informative is one in which the various ‘waves’ of the F-111’s are displayed in combination with the targets, registration numbers of the tankers and airtankers, squadrons, used bombs and even – last but not least- the result of the deploy. It becomes clear that it – in my own words and from my opinion– certainly was not an efficient mission; various F-111’s had to abort their mission or where otherwise not efficient due to technical problems; bombs that could not be released because the target could not be locked properly. Therefore a lot of targets were missed or not even bombed (I suddenly have to think about the Vulcans operation on the Falklands! Sorry!). One F-111 was shot down with two deaths as a result. We do also need to see these outcomes in the context of development of electronics and computers of that time. GPS and elaborate pc systems, information systems etc. as we know them today were not there yet. It is good to see that the author gives attention to that also.

What really got me going is the details of the infographics, which show the flight patterns of the planes above Libya. As we know from Harpia, these are again particularly good. The author shows that he is more than well informed about all the details of the operation and uses it excellent and documented. The paper and other pictures are perfect as well. To be short, it is a hell of a book, a must have, a page turner!