Burying some planes might potentially give the enemy the idea that many more are buried in desert. Probably, it is an old trick. Let them find few useless planes and let them believe the rest of the planes are in sand too. Probably the majority were in safer locations and even Saddam knows that sand is not very good for engines. As far as I know only 12 war planes have been found in sand.
Source: Truthorfiction
Back during the first Gulf War, the Iraqi Air Force flew the bulk of their air force to Iran before hostilities began. This caught America by surprise as Iran was Iraq’s traditional geo-political enemy. Iraq knew that its air force, made up of predominately older Soviet-designed aircraft, wouldn’t stand a chance against the combined might of America and its allies who had superior planes and pilots. The plan worked great except for the fact that Iran didn’t give Iraq back all of its aircraft after the war.
In 2003, The U.S. Military discovered a number of Mig-25 Foxbat fighters and SU-25 Frog Foot fighter-bombers buried in the desert next to the to the Al-Taqqadum airfield near Baghdad, Iraq. The aircraft had been stripped of their wings and completely covered with sand. Despite their time under the desert, the aircraft were in decent shape and could have been returned to service with minimal maintenance.
Source: Truthorfiction
Saddam hid its aircraft in the hopes that it could recover the Mig’s and Sukhoi’s later and rebuild its air force once coalition forces left. Only this time was different. Coalition forces toppled the Iraqi government and when the Iraqi air force was reconstituted, it was equipped with surplus American aircraft and the older Russian designs were no longer needed. The Mig-25’s and SU-25’s that were pulled from the desert are an interesting footnote to Iraq’s history and reminiscent of a time when Iraq was a Middle Eastern power to be reckoned with, not a country overtaken with civil war. Source: Byronhartshorn
As only a dozen aircraft were pulled from the desert, it can be expected there are more buried and yet to be found if they are really ! buried in desert of course…
