Iranian Americans

Exercise Delawar: U.S. Airborne Brigade in Iran - American and Iranian Armed Forces (1964)

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• published: 10 Dec 2011
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http://thefilmarchive.org/ 31 March 1964 -- Exercise Delawar, a CENTO sponsored joint training exercise with the Imperial Iranian Air Force. The 481st TFS and the 429th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed to Vahdati Air Base at Dezful Iran, with 36 aircraft and over 500 personnel. The Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) was a branch of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces and was established by Reza Shah, the Shah of Iran, in 1920. It became operational with its first fully trained pilots on February 25, 1925. Iran's first attempt to procure aircraft from the United States in the 1920s failed due to Washington's refusal to supply equipment because of a World War I treaty. Until World War II, the IIAF's aircraft inventory consisted entirely of European (mainly British and German) aircraft. However, following a co-ordinated British and Soviet invasion of Iran during World War II in retaliation for Reza Shah's declaration of neurality, the IIAF's bases were occupied by the allies and all existing IIAF aircraft were either destroyed or dismantled by the invading British. After World War II, the IIAF began to slowly rebuild its inventory, with mainly American and British supplied aircraft. In the 1960s, the IIAF acquired 90 Canadair Sabre fighters from the RCAF, but they were flipped over to the Pakistan Air Force. Later, in the 1970s, the IIAF became the only military force other than the USN, to be equipped with the F-14 Tomcat. Although after the Iranian revolution, some of these planes were not in working order due to a lack of necessary spare parts, because of an American arms embargo and damage sustained on the aircraft during the Iraqi invasion (Iran--Iraq War). Some were brought back in to service, due to localised production of reverse-engineered, Iranian-made, spare parts as well as "cannibalism" (the process of taking parts from damaged aircraft and using them to repair others). The IIAF had also placed an order for over 150 F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft in 1976, but deliveries were never made, due to the overthrow of the Shah by Ayatollah Khomeni in the revolution . These aircraft would go on to serve in the Israeli Air Force. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/481st_Tactical_Fighter_Squadron http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Iranian_Air_Force