1981 — The Gulf of Sidra Dogfight

On August 19, 1981, two US Navy F-14 Tomcats from the USS Nimitz shot down two Libyan Su-22 fighters over the Gulf of Sidra in a dogfight that lasted under a minute. Colonel Gaddafi had drawn a "Line of Death" across the gulf in 1973, claiming it as sovereign water, and the jets met over that disputed line.

When the Libyan jets fired first, the Tomcats answered with Sidewinder missiles. The clash set the tone for a decade of US-Libya confrontation — from the 1986 bombing of Tripoli to the Lockerbie bombing — a rivalry in which one brief dogfight announced years of danger ahead.