Operation Eagle Claw

Operation Eagle Claw (or Operation Evening Light) was a United States military operation to rescue the 53 hostages from the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran on April 24 1980. The operation was a failure, and had a severe impact on U.S. President Jimmy Carter's re-election prospects; on a military level, it led to the creation of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and the U.S. Army 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (the Night Stalkers).

The hostages were eventually released via diplomatic negotiations on January 20 1981, Carter's last day in office, after 444 days of captivity.

Overview

Planned as Operation Rice Bowl, the operation was designed as a complex two-night mission. The first stage of the mission involved establishing a small staging site inside Iran itself, near the Tabas in the Yazd Province (formerly in the south of the Khorasan province) of Iran. The site, known as Desert One, was to be used as a temporary airstrip for the C-130 Hercules transport planes and RH-53D Sea Stallion minesweeper helicopters which would undertake the actual rescue operation. After refuelling the helicopters, the plan was for the ground troops to board the helicopter and fly to Desert Two near Tehran. After locating and extracting the hostages from Tehran, the rescuers and rescued would be transported by helicopter to Manzariyeh Air Base outside of Tehran, where C-130 transports would take them out of the country under the protection of fighter aircraft.

An unforeseen low-level sandstorm caused two of eight helicopters to lose their way en route to Desert One, but only after men and equipment had been assembled there. A third helicopter suffered a mechanical failure and was incapable of continuing with the mission. Without enough helicopters to transport men and equipment to Desert Two, the mission was aborted. After the decision to abort the mission was made, one of the helicopters lost control while taking off and crashed into a C-130. In the ensuing explosion and fire, eight US servicemen were killed: five USAF aircrew in the C-130, and three USMC aircrew in the RH-53. During the evacuation, six RH-53 helicopters were left behind intact (5 of their serial numbers are 158686, 158744, 158750, 158753, and 158758). These six helicopters now serve with the Iranian Navy. In their haste to quickly evacuate the RH-53s, the aircrews inadvertently left behind classified plans that identified CIA agents within Iran. Wounded personnel, mostly with serious burns, returned with the rest of the Joint Task Force (JTF) to the launch base in Oman. Two C-141 Medevac aircraft from the rear staging base at Wadi Kena, Egypt, picked up the injured personnel, helicopter crews, and Delta forces. The C-141s then returned to Wadi Kena. The injured personnel were then transported to Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

Aftermath

The failure of the various services to work together with cohesion forced the establishment of a new multi-service organization. The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) was born and finally established, and became operational in 1988/1989. Each service subsequently now has its own Special Operations Forces under the overall control of USSOCOM. For example, the Army has its own Army Special Operations Command (ASOC) that controls the Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF).

The lack of highly trained helicopter pilots that were capable of the low-level night flying needed for modern special forces missions prompted the creation of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) (Night Stalkers).

A second rescue mission was planned under the name Operation Credible Sport (a.k.a. Operation Honey Badger), but was never put into action. This second rescue attempt was planned using highly modified YMC-130H Hercules aircraft. Outfitted with rocket thrusters fore and aft to allow an extremely short landing and take-off in a soccer stadium, three aircraft were modified under a rushed super-secret program known as Credible Sport. One aircraft crashed during a demonstration at Duke Field, Fl, at Eglin Air Force Base Auxiliary Field 3 on October 29, 1980, when its landing braking rockets were fired too soon. The misfire caused a hard touchdown that tore off the starboard wing and started a fire. All on board survived. The impending change in the White House led to an abandonment of this project. The two surviving airframes were returned to regular duty with the rocket packages removed. One is now on display at the Museum of Aviation located next to Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.^[1]

Not long after the failure of the mission, on the 6th of May 1980, the Iranian Embassy Siege occurred in London.

As for the situation in Iran, the hostages were released after 444 days of captivity on January 20 1981, the day that Ronald Reagan succeeded Carter as president.

Retired Chief of Naval Operations Admiral James L. Holloway III led the official investigation in 1980 into the causes of the failure of the operation on behest of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Holloway Report primarily cited deficiencies in mission planning, command and control, and inter-service operability, and provided a catalyst to reorganize the Department of Defense, and the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986.^[2]

Units involved in the operation

These units are known to have participated:

• USS Nimitz (CVN-68) & MarDet (Marine Detachment); and Battle Group [USS California (CGN-36)USS South Carolina (CGN-37) and USS Texas (CGN-39)]
• USS Coral Sea (CV-43) & MarDet; and Battle Group
• 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Delta Force), including mission commander Charlie Beckwith and subsequent notables Major Peter Schoomaker (later Army Chief of Staff) and Major William G. Boykin (later Lieutenant General)
• 75th Ranger Regiment
• United States Army Special Forces
• USS Okinawa (LPH-3), 31st Marine Amphibious Unit, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, and HMM-165 (see numerous Navy and Marine Corps deployment reports)
• USAF 1st Special Operations Wing, 8th and 16th Special Operations Squadrons (AC-130/MC-130), USAF RED HORSE and numerous support organizations
• USAF 1st Combat Communication Group

Depictions of Operation Eagle Claw in Fiction

The Desert One phase of the operation is depicted in the 1986 film The Delta Force. The sequence in the film shows the explosion of a Sea Stallion helicopter and the subsequent rescue of an injured soldier by a character played by Chuck Norris. The film also depicts the escape from Desert One in a Hercules C-130 aircraft.

Notes

References

• USAF College of Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education. Air & Power Course: Operation Eagle Claw. United States of America: US Air Force.
• Olausson, Lars, Lockheed Hercules Production List 1954-2005, Såtenäs, Sweden, annually.
• Kyle, Col. James H., USAF (Ret.) (1990). The Guts to Try. New York: Orion Books. ISBN 0-517-57714-3. 
• Beckwith, Col. Charlie A., US Army (Ret.) (2000). Delta Force: The Army's Elite Counter terrorist Unit. Avon. ISBN 0-380-80939-7. 
• Mark, Bowden (May 2006). The Desert One Debacle. The Atlantic.

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