February 17, 1986. Across the barren North African desert, a fierce armed struggle was breaking out between neighboring states Libya and Chad, the latest flare-up in a long and complex intermittent conflict over territory and influence that stretched back over nearly twenty years.
Over the scorching sands of the Sahara soared a lone aircraft, one of many imported from much colder climes: the Tupolev Tu-22. Built in the early 1960s to go head-to-head with the best of Western technology as the Soviet Union’s first supersonic bomber, the Tu-22 had now found its way into Libya’s arsenal.
Rapidly hurtling over the seemingly endless desert towards the airfield at the Chadian capital of N’Djamena to unleash its lethal payload, the stalwart bomber maintained a low profile for more than 700 miles, skilfully avoiding detection by the radars of the Chadian government’s French allies. As the plucky pilot caught sight of his target up ahead, his fingers tensed around the throttle as he catapulted the aircraft through the sound barrier.
Climbing to 16,500 feet at speeds over Mach 1, the Tu-22 deftly maneuvered into position before dispatching its lethal cargo. Even moving at breakneck velocities and impressive altitudes, the Tu-22 found its mark with three heavy bombs, the first two destroying the airfield’s runway while the third wiped out the taxiway. Zooming over the flaming piles of rubble below, all the Tu-22 had to do now was make it home. Yet as N’Djamena’s anti-aircraft guns sprang to life, it seemed that might be easier said than done for the bomber once known as the “Supersonic Booze Carrier.”
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