Sixty Seconds Over Tripoli

Sixty Seconds over TripoliAt 1:55 A.M., Libyan time, the first of the small fleet of F-111 bombers that had taken off from England six and a half hours earlier was still 50 miles from Tripoli, racing over the dark sea at 600 miles an hour. At an altitude of 200 feet, the 40-ton plane was still under the enemy's radar horizon, invisible except for the flaming exhausts of its twin engines. Inside the cramped cockpit, side by side, sat the pilot and a weapons-systems officer. Only a few stars could...