AVIATION FANS

In the late 1928 the Egyptian parliament proposed the creation of an Egyptian air force. The Egyptian ministry of war announced that it needs volunteers to the new arm and 200 Egyptian officers volunteered for the new arm, from them only for will be chosen following strict medical tests and technical examinations and those will be the first Egyptian military pilots.

Their names was: Abd El-Minuim Miquati, Ahmed Abd El-Raziq, Fuad Abd El-Hamid. They will be sent to the RAF number 4 flying training school at Abu Suwayer near the Suez Canal in Egypt where they will be trained on variety of aircraft ranging from large ones to small ones. After graduating from the flying training school the 3 first Egyptian pilots traveled to England for specialized training. The second of November 1930 the royal decision was taken by King Fuad of Egypt to create the Egyptian air force under the name of Egyptian Army Air Force (EAAF) and in September 1931 the British De Havilland aircraft company won a contract to supply Egypt with 10 DH-60 tiger moth trainers. Although the British government wanted to ship the aircraft to Alexandria and due to Egyptian pressure an order to the ship which was carrying the aircraft to return to England where 5 aircraft will be assembled and flown by the first Egyptian pilots to Cairo. On 23 May 1932 five of the 10 Egyptian moths took off from Hatfield air field north of London flown by Abd El-Minuim Miquati, Ahmed Abd El-Raziq, Fuad Abd El-Hamid and 2 other British pilots. On 2 June these 5 aircraft arrived at Almazah airport northeast of Cairo and they were greeted by the Egyptian king a large crowed of exited Egyptians and this remarked the birth of the Egyptian air force. The first commander of the EAAF was squadron leader Victor Herbert Tait who was a Canadian, he started his working by choosing his staff, building airbases and selecting weapons himself. In 1934 the British government will agree to provide Egypt with 10 Avro-626 aircraft. Those will be the First real Egyptian military planes. During these years the Egyptian Army Air Force as was it called in these old days primary mission was fight drug smuggling beside aerial photographing. In 1937 the Egyptian Army Air Force will be separated from the army command and will be an independent branch named the Royal Egyptian Air Force (REAF). In 1938 the REAF received 2 squadrons of gloster gladiators fighters and 1 squadrons of westland lysenders reconnaissance aircraft. New bases were built in the Suez canal region and the western desert and this is the Royal Egyptian Air Force order to battle in late 1938:

The 1st squadron-using westland lysenders to support the navy and the army.

The 2nd squadron-using gloster gladiators for air defense.

The 3rd squadron-using modified Anson for royal transportation.

The 4th squadron-using Anson for transportation.

The 5th squadron- using gloster gladiators for air defense.

During the world war-II the Egyptian air force had its first experience. When the British asked the Egyptian to provide long-range patrols over the Red Sea to monitor the Axes sea movements there and it also made some air defense missions against German and Italian air raids and the REAF scored one air kill against German Henkil He-III bomber. In late 1943 the RAF transferred 6 P-40 Tomahawk fighters to the REAF. After that, discussions were made on purchasing some of these fighters to replace Gloster Gladiators MK-Is, but this never happened and instead Gloster Gladiators were upgraded to MK-II version.

It was April 1948 when the Egyptian army entered Palestine to face the Israelis. At this moment only the REAF had to face an enemy for the first time. In an offensive plane based on using the REAF extensively. But unluckily the REAF was not ready for war. There was neither training nor good weapons. It was a disaster but the REAF faced it bravely and made as much as it could to help ground and sea forces. And it achieved success despite its bad conditions. During the war Egyptian Spitfires attacked Ramat David airbase as they thought that the RAF leaved it, but in fact there were still some British fighters that took off and intercepted the Egyptian attackers and they shoot down 1 Egyptian aircraft and the other escaped. During this war the REAF used for the first time its operational bases in Sinai and for the first time it entered a real war.

In the late 1949 Egypt received its first jet fighter, it was the British Gloster Meteor F4 and shortly after it the De-Havilland Vampire FB5. But this didn’t prevent the REAF from buying weapons from Italy as the Macchi MC205V fighters. The REAF was neutral during the revelation of 1952 and after it immediately the old REAF guard retired. During the period between 1953 and 1954 there was a small cooperation with the UK for training. In 1955 the deal for the Czech arms was set up and the EAF began receiving its new advanced Russian fighters. In late 1951 there were talks about the assembly of Vampire fighters in Egypt, but these talks ended in none after the beginning of the Egyptian commando attacks on the British bases in the Suez Canal area.

The Suez war was the second experience to the EAF, It have just came after the beginning of the arrival of the new ordered Russian weapons which was ordered in 1955 when Egypt nationalized the Suez canal. Most of these new weapons were either not yet delivered or not fully trained on by the EAF crews, before the war and while making a high altitude day reconnaissance mission a British Canberra was severely damaged by Egyptian Mig-15s. The war started when Israeli paratroopers landed near Mitla pass in middle of Sinai. For the next two days it was a real war between Israel and Egypt were the EAF engaged the Israelis in a lot of battles and gained some of them proving itself also Egyptian IL-28 bombers bombed deep inside Israel and the Egyptian Mig-15/-17 fighters engaged in devastating battles with attacking aircraft and proved high standards. But in the 31st of October 1956 the British bombers attacked EAF‘s air bases and ground facilities and their for the president Nasser took a decision to stop all Egyptian military aviation activity because he didn’t want to lose the newly trained Egyptian pilots. At the end and Despite its high loses the EAF was proud of its performance, more than 200 sorties was flown by the EAF.

After the Suez war Egypt got replacements for its losses during the war and in 1958 the EAF became super sonic when it purchased Mig-19 fighters. Also in 1961 the EAF joined the mach 2 club when it ordered the Mig-21 fighters. In this period also the EAF purchased its Tu-16 bombers and As-1 kennel air to ground missiles and during this period the Yemen war took place where the EAF made a lot of transport missions and some ground attack missions using armed light prop trainers. In late 1966 Egypt received its first batch of Su-7 ground attack fighters. Also in this period Egypt started its aerospace industrial plan and Bü 181 Bestmann primary trainers and Ha-200 advanced trainers were built and entered service, although the Ha-300 fighter programme was going on the arousal of financial problems seized the project.