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 failure of the operation led to the creation of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (“The Night Stalkers”).
The hostages were eventually released after extensive diplomatic negotiations on January 20 1981, Carter's last day in office, after 444 days of captivity. Carter was determined to ensure the release under his administration, particularly as the Democratic nomination for the 1980 presidential election neared, but the release did not occur until immediately after Reagan had taken the oath of office.

Contents

Overview

Aftermath

Units involved in the operation

Fictional depictions

Notes

References

External links

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 helicopters 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-141 transports would take them out of the country under the protection of fighter aircraft.
An unforeseen low-level sandstorm caused two of eight USMC helicopters to lose their way en route to ''Desert One'', but only after men and equipment had already been assembled there by USAF C-130s. A third helicopter suffered a mechanical failure after landing and was incapable of continuing with the mission. Additionally a civilian Iranian bus came by on a road shortly after the lead C-130 landed. The driver and all 44 passengers were held captive until the Americans left.
Without enough helicopters to transport men and equipment to ''Desert Two'' as planned, Col. Beckwith took the decision to abort the mission. While maneuvering prior to departure, one of the helicopter pilots became disoriented 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, five RH-53 helicopters were left behind intact. These helicopters are said to serve with the Iranian Navy, or to have been destroyed in situ by the Iranians after pressure from the USSR. In their haste to quickly evacuate the RH-53s, the Marine aircrews inadvertently left behind classified plans that identified CIA agents within Iran. Two C-141 Medevac aircraft from the rear staging base at Wadi Kena, Egypt, picked up the injured personnel, helicopter crews, and Delta forces from the Omani staging field. The C-141s then returned to Wadi Kena. The injured personnel were then transported to Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The Teheran CIA team, led by Richard Meadows, sucessfully exfiltrated from Iran.

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 established and became operational on April 16, 1987. Each service now has its own Special Operations Forces under the overall control of USSOCOM. For example, the Army has its own Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) 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 secret program. 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 the 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 Dobbins Air Force Base in Georgia.^[1]
Not long after the failure of the mission, on 6 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 behalf 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), Marine Detachment and Battle Group (USS ''California'' (CGN-36), USS ''South Carolina'' (CGN-37) and USS ''Texas'' (CGN-39))

★ USS ''Coral Sea'' (CV-43), Marine Detachment and Battle Group

★ 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (“Delta Force”), including mission commander Col. Charlie Beckwith and subsequent notables Maj. Peter Schoomaker (later Army Chief of Staff), Maj. William G. Boykin (later Lt. Gen.), and MSG Eric L. Haney (later CSM and author of Inside Delta Force)

★ 75th Ranger Regiment

★ United States Army Special Forces

★ USS ''Okinawa'' (LPH-3), 31st M.E.U., 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' units, and numerous support organizations

★ USAF 1st Combat Communication Group

★ 16th Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Sqdn (Rh-53 Sea Stallion)

Fictional depictions

★ 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.

★ It is commonly believed that the videogame ''Choplifter'' is based on the incident, as the game came out a year after the event.

Notes

1. by James Bancroft. Accessed 31 March 2007.
2. Accessed 31 March 2007.

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, no ISBN.

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External links

★ ''Modern Warfare: Special Operations, Operation Eagle Claw'' – The first part of a series of articles on Kuro5hin

★ Pictorial overview

★ ''Airman'' magazine – Interviews with surviving participants

★ ''The Holloway Report'' – The official DoD investigation into the incident

★ THE FALLEN HEROES

★ Especial Picture