The featured photo shows US Air Force F-15s and F-16s flying over burning Kuwaiti oil wells that were set ablaze as Saddam Hussein’s invading Iraqi Army retreated in the closing days of Operation Desert Storm.
Below are additional images from Operation Desert Storm
US Navy (USN) F-14A Tomcat, Fighter Squadron 211 (VF-211), Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA), in flight over burning Kuwaiti oil wells during Operation DESERT STORM.
A close-up view of the tail section of a 23rd Tactical Fighter Wing A-10A Thunderbolt II aircraft. The plane sustained damage when an SA-16 missile exploded near it during Operation Desert Storm by Master Sgt. Kit Thompson
Watch Actual Footage of US Army Apache Helicopter Strikes During Desert Storm
A U.S. Navy A-7E Corsair II aircraft of attack squadron VA-72 Blue Hawks, assigned to Carrier Air Wing Three (CVW-3) aboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), passes over a ruined fort in the Saudi desert during low-level training during the lead up to Operation Desert Storm.
A view of the ordnance load (two 227 kg Mk 82 bombs) of a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornet aircraft of U.S. Marine Corps fighter-bomber squadron VMFA-235 Death Angels at Al Jubail airfield, Saudi Arabia, during Operation “Desert Storm” on 1 February 1991.
Operation Desert Storm was the combat phase of the effort to drive Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Army out of Kuwait after they had unexpected invaded the small oil rich country that shares a border with Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
The United States led a coalition of 34 countries in a war that began with a massive aerial bombardment on 17 January 1991 and ended with a rapidly moving ground invasion on 24 February. The ground campaign was so successful in forcing the Iraqi Army out of Kuwait it achieved victory in only 100 hours.
These photos are a tribute to all military members and civilian contractors who served and fought in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm in the air and on the ground. Fighter Sweep salutes you!
Featured Image by US Air Force