Desert Warriors: Iranian Army Aviation at War

By Babak Taghvaee

Under the leadership of a sagacious and patriotic ruler, who wasn't only cautious about the security of his state but was acting to stabilize worldwide peace by means of keeping the Middle East secure from the danger of Communism, the third most powerful Army Aviation in the world was born and flourished, its efficiency proven during its role defending Iran during the war with Iraq, 1980-88.

One of the weaknesses of NATO's combat strength set against the Warsaw Pact was its armored force. Following 1945 the armored forces of the Soviet Union had quickly surpassed the West. Before the development of powerful new tanks such as the Shir 2 (Lion 2), Challenger 1, M1 Abrams in services with the Iranian, British and US armies, the only solution for confrontation with Soviet armor was the establishment of powerful Army Aviation forces. From the late 1960s His Imperial Majesty Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and many other commanders had realized the weakness of the Iranian Army compared to the powerful armored forces of the Soviet Union and Iraq, two historical enemies of Iran, states who dreamed of reaching the waters of the Persian Gulf and the oil fields of Khuzestan province respectively. By following such a strategy, Iran possessed the third-largest Army Aviation Power in the world in just ten years, not only by being equipped with 800 of the latest and most advanced AB.205, AB.206, Bell 214, AH-1J and CH-47C helicopters but thanks to thousands of skillful and knowledgeable personnel. Iranian Army Aviation was used to provide for the security of Iran as well as helping to establish peace in Pakistan and Oman in the wars against terrorism and communism in 1970s.

After the Revolution, and even after the execution, arrest and dismissal of the architects of the force, it was effectively used to defend Iran during eight years of war with Iraq, 1980-88. Its AH-1Js hunted hundreds of Iraqi tanks and armored carriers and its Bell 214As saved lives of thousands of wounded civilians and soldiers while the CH-47Cs were airlifting ammunition and soldiers to the frontline under the threat of direct fire from Iraqi AA guns and SAMs.

Based on the recently declassified official records of the Iranian Joint Chiefs of Staff, Ground Force and Army Aviation, this book provides details of the Iranian Army Aviation missions and roles during 97 major operations in the war with Iraq, including details on logged flying hours, performed sorties, launched missiles, carried cargos, wounded troops and soldiers beside the unheard history of the force since its foundation.

The author's detailed text is fully supported by an extensive selection of previous unseen photographs and color profiles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Helion and Company
• Release date: Aug 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781913118327

Babak Taghvaee

Starting his career in 2005 by the means of anonymously writing articles about the history of the Iranian Air Force for Iranian websites, Babak Taghvaee soon became an aviation journalist, book author, historian and photojournalist by publishing his articles in English and German aviation magazines such as AirForces Monthly and Combat Aircraft in 2008 and 2009 respectively. He then co-authored his first book about the Iranian Air Force in 2010. In 2011, he became one of two supervisors of the Iranian Air Force’s historical research project 'Historical Identity of IRIAF' to document the history of the force and to write books about the subject. In the same year, he was invited by one of the Iranian defence companies to work as civilian innovator and advisor of the Iranian Air Force’s aircraft upgrade projects while he was a student in two Iranian universities (as well as a journalist for several Iranian aviation magazines). Since 2013, he has written almost 100 articles, news reports and three books about the Iranian civil and military aviation industries and the Russian and Ukrainian Air Forces, as well as the air war against the ISIL in the British, French, Greek and Russian world’s leading military aviation magazines while he was living in exile.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

What will happen if Iraq attacks us tomorrow? Will the US and CENTO support us in case of such attack? During the India-Pakistan War, the Pakistanis accepted [the] ceasefire perforce while the Indian Forces had a few distance with Lahore. Did the US, a country which had a security treaty with Pakistan, help the country? No, therefore we can’t rely on other countries for protection of our borders against the threats and this is why I’m persisting on reinforcement of our Armed Forces.

Shah’s statement during interview with The Times, London, June 1969.

Iran – the land of Pars, the land of Persian kings, one of the world’s ancient civilizations and oldest continuously existing countries – has played a prominent role on the international scene throughout history.

Ancient empires of the Achaemenids, Parthians and Sassanids were dominating powers in Western Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and South-Eastern Europe through the centuries. Arab and Mongol invasions gradually destroyed this image, and thus the restoration of the country’s former power and glory became a primary issue for many subsequent Persian kings, including Reza Shah Pahlavi and his son, Mohammad-Reza Shah Pahlavi, probably the last royal rulers of the country.

While attempting to reunite their country and nation, move Iran towards modernism and introduce the rule of law, they found themselves under threats from north and south, east and west. Indeed, Reza Shah was removed by a combined, British-Soviet invasion in 1941, and his son subsequently found himself facing further threats in various forms.

State security therefore became a paramount issue for the young ruler. Bolstered by nationalisation of Iranian oil and gas resources, he began investing ever larger sums of money – first for acquiring and establishing military forces that became a powerful deterrent against foreign and domestic enemies, and then for acquiring the technology and know-how that were to turn his country into a major industrial power in the Middle East.

It took 16 years for the Shah to form the third most powerful Army Aviation force in the world between 1963 and 1979. No less than 806 helicopters and almost 40 airplanes were in service with five Combat and General Support Groups of the Imperial Iranian Army Aviation (IIAA) in 1979.

Bringing peace and establishing security not only in Iran but around the Middle East had become the responsibility of the IIAA, as it played a key role in the war against Dhofar militias in Oman between 1972 and 1977, and collaborated with Pakistani Army Aviation during the Baluchistan crisis in 1972.

Despite the significant progress of the country, and its industrialisation under the leadership of the Shah, its people preferred their religion and beliefs as well as their individual status rather than Iran’s territorial integrity, national interest and security, and this internal stress finally ended with the Islamic Revolution, which ended the Persian dream of having a democratic, free and developed country.

This catastrophe subsequently affected IIAA plans for the establishment of further air bases and the acquisition of more helicopters. Its competent commander was executed under a direct order of the Islamists, with its high-ranking and experienced officers dismissed or arrested.

The father and architect of Iranian Army Aviation, His Imperial Majesty Mohammad-Reza Shah Pahlavi, right, and Major-General Manuchehr Khosrodad. (Author’s archive)

Not only the Army Aviation, but also the ground, air and naval forces were faced with widespread political and ideological purges which lead the country into chaos.

The remnants of the Iranian Armed Forces, including the Army Aviation, found themselves in a war with Soviet and Iraqi-supported separatists in the west and north-west of Iran, and then an Iraqi invasion.

The Ground Force had become heavily weakened and the country was defenceless in front of thousands of Iraqi armored tanks and carriers which were advancing through the plains of Khuzestan; the only hope came from the air and the Army Aviation.

Hundreds of Cobras and their brave aircrews hunted Iraqi tanks one after another, while the Bell 214As acted as ‘rescue angels’, saving the lives of civilians and military personnel wounded or displaced by war. CH-47Cs were used for mobilisation of the Army and its supply from the plains of Khuzestan to the impassable mountains of Kermanshah and Kurdistan.

Without any leave and with eight years of continuous presence in all battle zones from the Persian Gulf to Khuzestan and Kurdistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Aviation (IRIAA) and its personnel were an inseparable part of the war. Without them, no success or victory could possibly be gained by the Iranians.

As one of Iran’s strengths and a winning card in the war, the IRIAA participated in 96 offensive and defensive operations of the Iranian Armed Forces during the war, losing dozens of helicopters as well as aircrews and ground crews.

The IRIAA has continued its heroic role in the establishment of security in the country after the war, despite being weakened by the mismanagement of the authorities as well as sanctions. It has participated in the war against terrorism, including the Taliban, in the east of the country in the 1990s; fought drug traffickers in the south-east and centre of the country; and faced the PEJAK in the west Azerbaijan and Kurdistan provinces in the 2000s, Jundullah and Jaish-al-Nasr Jihadist and extremist groups in Sistan-Baluchistan province in the south-east of Iran between 2009 and 2015, and ISIL in Kermanshah province in 2014 and 2015.

PART 1

HOW IT BEGAN

First need for airplanes in the IIGF

In the years before 1945, the Iranian Armed Forces, including the air force, Ground Force and navy, were all under command of the Army Staff and were not independent as they are now. But on 11 February 1958, the forces were officially separated, with independent command centres. After the complete independence of the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF), Imperial Iranian Ground Force (IIGF) and Imperial Iranian Navy (IIN), significantly greater amounts of weapons and military assets were purchased for them than before.

In those years, for the first time a military commander of the IIGF realised the value of airplanes in wartime; he was the commander of the Kerman Division, and he and his forces were trying to arrest the famous brigand Morad-Ali and his allies, who were committing acts of piracy in the remote roads of the Kerman deserts and plains.

Bandits were always hiding and fleeing in the mountains, and despite the efforts of Kerman Division forces they weren’t enable to catch him in such an impassable area. Finally, following a request of the local IIGF commander, an IIAF L-20B was used to track the bandits.

The L-20Bs had been delivered by the US under the Military Aid Program (MAP) for the formation of an aviation unit in the IIGF organisation, but most IIGF commanders had neglected plans for using airplanes in their forces and these airplanes were later delivered to the IIAF.

Birth of Army Aviation

The first two helicopters for Iran were a pair of Westland Sikorsky WS.55 Whirlwind IIs which were purchased by the Iran Helicopter Company for the Iranian Department of Security from Westland, UK, in 1959. Both helicopters, which were EP-BSK (c/n wa268) and EPCSK (c/n wa269), had been operated by British pilots and technicians from Bristow for a short while before the Shah was interested in them and decided to become a pilot of the helicopter. Then both of them were entered in the service of Royal Hangar and re-registered as EPPAB and EP-BAC in 1960 and also received 4-301 and 4-302 serial numbers.

In the same year in the Gendarmerie, Sergeant Ali-Asghar Rahbarian became the first Iranian helicopter pilot. Later, the Imperial Iranian Gendarmerie Aviation (IIGA) was formed and obtained its first helicopters, five piston-engined Cessna CH-1C/UH-41As, in 1962, while the Iranian Imperial Army still hadn’t any Army Aviation unit or any airplane or helicopter because of the Army commanders’ resistance!

While the Iranian Army was progressing in the late 1950s, the first studies for the formation of an aviation unit in its organisation were performed. In the beginning, IIGF HQ demanded a fixed wing aircraft unit for liaison, observation, artillery control and radio relaying missions.

For this purpose, the US MAAG (Military Assistance Advisory Group) helped IIGF commanders to design an early structure of their proposed aviation unit, and based on extensive studies, ARMISH/MAAG and the Imperial Iranian Joint Chiefs of Staff defined the roles of the Army Aviation unit as reconnaissance, artillery fire adjustment, observation, aerial photography and air mobile capabilities for the Ground Forces. It was also planned to obtain the necessary aircraft under the US MAP. The study also provided for MAP aviation training of IIGF personnel.

The architect of the IIAA, Major General Khosrowdad, standing in the middle of the front row (in flight suit), with Colonel Shahnaz on his right and Colonel Sharifkhani first from right in the front row, together with graduated student pilots of the IIAA Training Center in 1977. (Babak Taghvaee archive)

Two Cessna products were considered as suitable light utility and observation airplane candidates for the planned Army Aviation unit, Cessna O-1 and Cessna U-17. Subsequently, in January 1960, the first nucleus of the Army Aviation unit was formed and Colonel Vahdani was selected as commander, with Colonel Taheri as his deputy. They also tasked Sergeant. Afandi to be in charge as recruitment officer.

After a while Colonel Mousavi from the IIAF replaced Colonel Vahdani. These three individuals had a small office in the IIGF’s HQ at 3 Esfand Street in Tehran. The recruitment process was started and from 300 volunteers, who were all young officers of the IIGF’s divisions, six officers were employed as pilots and a further four selected to be future IIAA mechanics.

The pilot applicants were Layansaref, Geran-mayeh, Haghi, Tabesh, Mastour and Nowroozi, and the maintenance officers were Farrokh-Seresht, Emadi, Nowzar and Kikhazadeh. As well as these 10 officers, Kousha, Kaka-Salimi, Sultanlou and Jamshidi were hired as airmen. The student pilots started their primary flight training course in 1961 at the Imperial Aero Club branch at Dowshan-Tappeh airfield onboard Auster J/5L Aiglet trainers. Their instructors, who were IIAF Second World War era IPs (Instructor Pilots), were Hashemi, Vaseghi, Amir-Fazli and Nowrooz-Naser.

After completion of the mechanics’ and pilots’ primary training courses in Iran, they were sent to the US in January 1962 in order to pass supplementary training courses at the USAF’s Leckland Training Base.

Upon completion of this training in the US, they returned to Iran and, because of the unavailability of any airplanes for the IIGF Aviation unit, they flew the IIAF’s LT-6Gs until delivery of the first airplanes of the IIAA unit.

Unfortunately, IIAF personnel humiliated the IIAA pilots, believing the IIGF’s officers were of a lesser ability than them and not allowing them to have any airplanes. On the other side, the IIGF cut these six pilots’ incomes.

An IIAA Cessna U-17A Skywagon with 4-121 serial number at Shiraz airport in May 1972. (John Wegg via Barry J Collman)

The small IIAA unit and its 17 staff were under pressure from both the IIGF and IIAF, and had no budget to survive. Eventually, a small budget was allocated to the force and they expanded their facility, renting four rooms on the third floor of an old IIGF building in ‘Ghavam al-Saltaneh’ street in Tehran in order to establish their first HQ there.

One of the rooms was specified for the commander and three others became the staff officers’ including the operations staff. For transportation of the HQ officers, the IIAA had just one Jeep in Tehran.

The IIAA’s HQ later attempted to be more independent from the IIGF by renting a small apartment nearby, hiring several typists there in order to type their telegrams and official letters. Because of the difficulties of telegraph usage, they purchased a radio transmitter and transceiver unit and installed it inside the apartment.

Several months later, in July 1962, the United States Government (USG) delivered six Cessna U-17A Skywagons to the Iranian Army under the MAP. The airplanes were delivered to Ghaleh Morghi airport, where the IIAA’s first air base had a small apron and a maintenance hangar to the south-east.

The plan for the formation of the IIAA was approved by Mohammad-Reza Shah Pahlavi, the King of Iran, on 14 February 1963. Major General Abbas Ghandehari, former commander of the IIAF’s High Commands Training Centre, was officially selected as the first commander of the IIAA; however, he had been commander of the IIGF’s Aviation Unit HQ since 1962.

At that time, the independent IIAA commanders decided to expand the aviation unit to an aviation battalion by procuring at least 12 more U-17s and 17 Kaman HH-43F Husky helicopters. To fly these, several groups of cadets were sent to the US for pilot training in 1963.

The Hoor-Aseman Aviation Services Company, owned by the Palandjian brothers (two famous Iranian businessmen at the time), was the sales representative of Cessna in Iran. The Iranian Ministry of War ordered the dozen more U-17As via the company.

They were delivered in two six-ship batches and carried by DC- 4s and DC-6s to Isfahan, where they were assembled by Cessna representatives Jack and Bob in 1963, and while the ordered HH-43F helicopters had not been ready for delivery, the first helicopter pilots flew on-board U-17s for a while after completion of their training course.

Move to Isfahan

On 6 November 1963, following an unexpected 24-hour deadline from the IIGF, all personnel, equipment and six Cessna U-17As of the IIAA were sent to Isfahan. Leader of the six-ship formation flight of U-17As was Major Reza Mohebbi. After establishing all IIAA aircraft, equipment and personnel in the northern corner of Isfahan airport, regular IIAA flights started.

The number of IIAA airplanes later reached 30, but three of their U-17As were withdrawn from use due to various accidents, including hard braking and subsequent tipping etc. in 1963 and 1964. The serial number of at least one of these is known to have been 4-125.

On 4 July 1964, an agreement was signed between the Government of Iran (GOI) and the USG, according to which Iran was provided with credit of $20 million repayable over a 10-year period, along with an authorisation of approximately $50 million for cash purchases of primary spare parts. One of the agreement’s goals was the formation of an aviation battalion with 18 U-17s which had already been delivered and 17 HH-43F which were on order.

Delivery of the first six of 17 helicopters was performed during a formal ceremony at Ghaleh Morghi airport in July 1965. After several months, most of the helicopters were transferred Isfahan airport and two former hangars of the Imperial Aero Club were allocated to their maintenance. The IIAA’s HQ was then also moved to Isfahan, but eight U-17s were kept at Ghaleh Morghi airport to support the IIGF HQ.

The IIGF now had an Army Aviation Battalion located at Isfahan, with the majority of its aircraft and equipment on hand. The battalion had made outstanding progress over the past two years, but it was still in the training phase and wasn’t ready for front line duty until its training was completed and all of its aircraft and equipment were received. The morale of the battalion was good and through the leadership of its commander, Major General Ghandehari, as well as junior officers, it had developed a high esprit de corps. The Aviation Battalion was well on its way to becoming one of the finest units in the IIGF.

In 1965, the battalion suffered from a critical shortage of shop maintenance tool sets, which arrived in the country by 30 June. The major activity of the IIGF Aviation Battalion was flight training of future IIAA helicopter pilots, who were flying U-17s before being sent to the US for helicopter pilot training courses. The development of a Fixed Wing Flight School was in progress in 1965, with the aim of meeting the IIGF’s future fixed wing pilot requirements. This formed the nucleus of an eventual Joint Fixed Wing School run by the IIAF for all services at Ghaleh Morghi airport.

In 1965, when the IIAA’s HH-43F operations had been widened and flight readiness of their pilots had been increased, they were being detached all over the country to support IIGF divisions, especially in operations against rioters in Fars at Shiraz, as well as many other missions such as mercy flights during natural disasters.

In case of emergency, the U-17s were ready to carry HH-43 spare parts and mechanics to anywhere a Husky was grounded. During exercises and wargames, the Cessna U-17s also acted effectively as artillery fire adjustment and observation air assets, beside being VIP and liaison aircraft.

HH-43F in service

While the 17 HH-43Fs were not in service with the IIAA for long, they created many stories. The first six of them arrived in Iran in several boxes, and after assembly were delivered to the IIAA during an official ceremony at Ghaleh Morghi airport.

Two USAF HH-43 instructor pilots, Captain Bert E. Cowden and Captain Bruce Purvine, instructed the IIAA pilots during a three-month course, on temporary duty with ARMISH/MAAG (the American Military Mission with the Iranian Army/Military Advisory Assistant Group). Huskies were relocated to the IIAA’s mother base at Isfahan airport. They were then regularly being detached to the IIGF’s Army Divisions HQs in Kermanshah, Shiraz, Kerman and Tehran.

Some of the Iranian Huskie aircrews worked in conjunction with the Gendarmerie to locate and capture outlaw tribal groups, especially in Kerman and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces, while others flew mercy missions to isolated villages.

During 1967, army HH-43s began assisting the Army Communication Command in establishing mountaintop radio relay stations at approximately 11,000ft. During one such mission in June 1967, the HH-43F serialled 4-511, which was airlifting supplies to a mountain station, made a heavy landing at 7,500ft close to the Iraqi border.

The pilot, Lieutenant Kamrani, thought he was making a normal approach. However, for that altitude and power setting he ran off the chart at 18ft and stalled. The resultant loss of lift ruptured both tail booms and the right rear landing gear was pushed up into the attaching frame. The aircraft was left alone after they had put stones under the tail assembly.

Three weeks later the airframe was flown out by Lieutenant Goljahani and Kaman representative Abraham Thomas, after the tailpipe extension, vertical fin outriggers and clamshell doors were removed for stress reduction.

The booms were splinted with rope and boards to minimise lateral movement, and ropes were tied from the tail to the pylons interbrace to minimise sag. It was then flown to nearby Bonneh village, where it was temporarily repaired with steel plates. Kaman experts later confirmed that pilot Goljahani flew the damaged aircraft very well, with an extreme forward centre of gravity.

4-511 after its heavy landing at the Iran-Iraq border mountains in 1967. (Adrian Balch via Leon Manuchehrian – Iranian Aviation Review)

Memories of Hossein Iranmanesh, one of the first five of the IIAA’s HH-43F pilots:

I was an IIGF field artillery officer when I participated in the IIAA’s recruitment exam in 1963. I, together with four other volunteers named Lieutenant Afsahi, Lieutenant Ali Khavari, Lieutenant Saburi and Lieutenant Hashem Kambakhsh, were [successful in] the exams for [the] helicopter pilot training course. Then I moved to IIAA on 21 July 1963. After a while I was sent to [the] US and passed my primary flight training course at Lackland AB.

I completed the course and then my supplementary flight training course started at Fort Worth, Texas, on 20 March 1964. Then I passed the final training course at Fort Rucker AB until 11 August. Then our HH-43 Transition & Familiarization course began on 13 October and lasted for several weeks. I and Lieutenant Afsahi completed the course and received our wings.

On 20 September 1964, I got a promotion and received [the rank of] Captain after completion of my pilot training course. Then I was transferred to Isfahan where the IIAA’s HQ was located. At the time the IIAA’s Squadron had been formed and Major Reza Mohebbi was its commander. I became commander of the squadron’s helicopter unit while Captain Akbar Reza-niya was the airplane unit commander and Captain Farrokh-seresht was commander of the maintenance unit. Gradually, several other helicopter pilots passed their training course in the US and arrived [at] the helicopter unit.

At the time, because we still hadn’t any helicopter[s], we were flying onboard U-17s. Major Mohebbi was sending helicopter pilots together with airplane pilots [on] a variety of missions to be familiar with different areas of Iran. After a while, four HH-43s [were] granted to us and we were flying with them under supervision of our American instructors. Then I, Captain Afsahi and Lieutenant Ghiasvand were trained to be IPs. We trained several IIAA helicopter pilots until the UH-1 helicopters [were] delivered and we were moved on [to] the new type.

During [the] service life of [the] IIAA’s HH-43s, I had [the] opportunity to carry Queen Shahbanoo Farah during several missions at Bandar-Abbas and several other areas all around the country. One day, when the helicopter unit was promoted and became a group and I was its commander, I was flying during a training mission as the IP of Captain Julaiee over [the] Karkas heights of Kerman. I decided to practice take-off [and] landing in unpaved places and during take-off our helicopter crashed [-] this was [the] first helicopter crash in Iran[ian] and IIAA history.

Delivery of the first of the IIAA’s HH-43F during a ceremony at Ghaleh Morghi airport, while the IIAA markings of the helicopter were still covered with US markings from prior to the handover. (Retired General Hossein Iran-manesh archive)

HH-43F with 4-509 serial number while hovering at Shiraz airport during the Fars Insurgency in the late 1960s. (Havapeima Bimonthly Magazine via Masoud Habibi)

HH-43 mercy flights

In January 1968, two IIAA HH-43Fs and a team of Iranian and American aircrews participated in a mercy mission to bring medical assistance to Gerdu and three other villages isolated by heavy snow.

The two HH-43Fs were dispatched with doctors and two assistants when Gerdu, located at 11,000ft, had been cut off from the outside world for seven months and had also been swept by whooping cough and dysentery.

Members of the mercy team were: Captain Hossein Iranmanesh, IIAA rotary wing company commander at Isfahan, and 1st Lieutenant Ali Noordad, both helicopter pilots; Captains Bert E. Cowden and Bruce M. Purvine, on TDY (temporary duty) to the ARMISH/MAAG as instructor pilots; 1st Lieutenant Homayoun Bayat, commanding officer of the Shahrekord Gendarmerie Post; Joseph P. Lorenz, the American consul in Isfahan; Dr Hossein Akhavan of the Isfahan Department of Health and his two assistants, Hassan Atabi and Reza Mortazavi.

The HH-43F with 4-505 serial number at Shiraz airport during the COIN operation against Fars Insurgents and bandits in 1967. (Peter Russell Smith via Adrian Balch – Iranian Aviation Review)

IIAA breaks the record with HH-43!

The most spectacular example of Iranian utilisation of the HH-43Fs was shown during a record-setting mission when 18 men were rescued at one time from a mountain top.

On 24 January 1967, Lieutenant Kamrani and Lieutenant Goljahani were flying HH-43F with 4-514 s/n, on a routine mission to transport from Mt Taraj to Bonneh 30 army engineers, who had been working on a relay station for several days. Their equipment had already been sent out and they were due to be flown to Bonneh in four flights.

After landing in 2ftof snow at 9,390ft, the first two sorties carried 12 men and supplies. They returned again to carry the rest of the engineers. They decided to carry all 18 remaining engineers in one sortie because the weather conditions were so harsh. In -20˚C temperatures and 45 knots of gusting wind, ice formed on the engineers’ faces and their lips were cracked and bleeding. With the freezing conditions, it was certain that some would die if they had to wait another half hour.

Without wasting time, the pilots decided to jam all 18 men into the Huskie. Lieutenants Goljahani and Kamrani used maximum power to hover and flew down the valley to gain forward speed. Winds were gusting at 45 knots, and despite the extreme overload, severe weather conditions and rugged terrain, a roll-on landing was performed at Bonneh, where the weather was calm, and thankfully all men survived. The HH-43 with troop seats installed was designed to carry 10 soldiers plus the pilot and co-pilot. While operating under extreme conditions, Lieutenants Goljahani and Kamrani almost doubled this figure and established a record for the number of people flown in a Huskie.

HH-43F maintenance

IIAF and IIAA mechanics received their initial training at the 3750th technical school at Sheppard AFB, Texas. However, after their return to Iran they received further on-the-job training from Abraham Thomas, Kaman service representatives in Iran and Captain Bert Cowden.

With the increased number of HH-43Fs in Iranian service, it was essential to develop complete maintenance and overhaul capabilities in Iran. Kaman established a well-equipped maintenance school at Isfahan Army Air Base, to train both army and air force technicians.

The first of two classes in an HH-43F Maintenance Training School, with 27 students, 23 from the army and four from the air force, graduated their courses. The instructors, Edward Noe, Horace Field and Willian Baar, were provided by Kaman Aircraft Corporation under a contract with the Iranian government. The programme called for each class to last 15 weeks, with the first five weeks being devoted to fundamentals; the next eight to actual work on the aircraft and the last fortnight to the T53-L-11A engine.

Through the co-operation of the base commander, Lieutenant Colonel Abbas Bahrami, two operational HH-43Fs were made available to the class for on-the-job training.

Through their training, the class averaged a score of 81 percent despite the fact that nine of the students spoke little English. Four of those attending the class had averages in the 90s, a score