{{Short description|Iraqi fighter pilot and flying ace}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = Colonel | name = Mohammed Rayyan | image = Mohommed_Rayyan.jpg | caption = | birth_date = 1955 | death_date = 1986 | burial_label = | birth_place = Baiji (city), Kingdom of Iraq | death_place = Iran/Iraq Border region | burial_place = | nickname = Sky Falcon | allegiance = {{flagicon|Iraq|1963}} Iraq | branch = 20px Iraqi Air Force | service_years = 1977–1986 | rank = 20px Colonel | unit = 47th Squadron | commands = | battles = Iran–Iraq War{{KIA}} | awards = | relations = | other_work = }}
Colonel '''Mohammed Rayyan''' (1955–1986) was an Iraqi fighter pilot and flying ace during the Iran–Iraq War. He scored 5 air combat kills and was the most successful MiG-25 pilot.<ref name= "Fire">''Arab MiG-19 and MiG-21 Units in Combat'', by David Nicolle and Tom Cooper, (2004) Osprey Publishing, p.82</ref><ref name=":0" />
Rayyan, while only a Flight Lieutenant and flying a MiG-21MF, claimed two (later confirmed) kills against Iranian F-5 Freedom Fighters in 1980.<ref name= "Fire"/> Later a Captain, he qualified on the MiG-25P in 1981 and claimed 5 more victories (3 verified by western sources). Most of his victories were F-4 Phantoms.<ref name= "Fire"/> Having flown the MiG-25 was evidence of his considerable skill, as Soviet "advisers" were stationed in Iraq specifically to limit access to this advanced jet, and only the best pilots flew them.<ref name=":0">[http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_247.shtml ''Exhumating the Dead Iraqi Air Force: Short History of MiG-25 in service with the Iraqi Air Force, since 1980'', by Tom Cooper, Air Combat Information Group, Sept. 25, 2003]</ref><ref>[http://www.acig.info/CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=47 Iraqi Air-to-Air Victories since 1967]</ref>
In 1986, having attained the rank of Colonel, Rayyan was shot down and killed by Iranian Air Force (IRIAF) Grumman F-14 Tomcats.<ref name= "Fire"/>
==See also== *Jalil Zandi *Hossein Khalatbari
== References == {{Reflist|2}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rayyan, Mohommed}} Category:1955 births Category:1986 deaths Category:Iraqi Air Force officers Category:Iraqi flying aces Category:Iran–Iraq War flying aces Category:Iraqi military personnel of the Iran–Iraq War Category:Aviators killed by being shot down
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