This calmness and silence of Shahid Babaei were very praiseworthy because if someone else were in his place, he would have started yelling at the technical staff about why the plane was broken, but he just watched patiently and without saying a word. I followed them and sat next to them. I saw them doing something with an object on my flight cap. I got curious. I asked: What happened, Mr. Colonel? They said with a sweet Qazvini accent, “Balam, dear, you have become a zhigul too!” A picture of an eagle was pasted on my flight helmet, and Shahid Babaei was tearing this picture. He said, What are you wearing? You are one of us!
General Abbas Babaei was killed on 6 August 1987, while in the rear seat of an F-5B while over Iraqi air space. He was hit by a 23 mm round of an air defense system on Sardasht air space, a city located in west Azerbaijan. It turned out an Persian’ defense system, operated by Sepah, had hit Babaei’s aircraft in error. The pilot, Major Ali Mohammad Naderi managed to land the jet, but Babaei died within 10 minutes. Sepah used the ZSU-23 self-propelled, radar guided anti-aircraft weapon system (SPAAG) at the time.
