30 years ago today your Editor was sitting out on the berm between Saudi Arabia and Iraq waiting for the ground campaign of Operation Desert Storm to kick off.
The Air war had just started. As you can see in the chart below, the Coalition flew more sorties the first day than some of the largest raids during WWII.
Of all aircraft types used in the opening day of Desert Storm, the F15 flew the most sorties, at a combined 394. The USAF was flying two types, C and E models and the RSAF flew C models.
The Navy and Marine F18’s were next at 303 sorties.
And we can’t revisit Desert Storm without some BRRRRRTTTT. The A10 was third on the list for sorties at 294.
Some of the Coalition members had some of the most difficult missions on the opening day of the air war. Notably, the British flying their Tornado GR1 attack jets. They were tasked with destroying Iraqi airports. The WarZone blog has a good article about that particular mission.
