From the Introduction:

“Iran, known as Persia from ancient history, is located in the center of the Middle East. With 1,648,185km² (636,372 square miles) of territory, it borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan in the north, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the east, and Turkey and Iraq in the west. It has coasts on the Caspian Sea in the north and the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman in the south. The warm waters of the latter provide direct access to the world via the Indian Ocean.

From ancient times, Persia possessed a strong army and navy. It has been considered as one of the world’s major military powers with major victories against the Romans, Ottomans, Greeks, and Arabs. The armed forces, however, went into a steady decline starting in medieval times until the nineteenth century.

During the First World War, the Qajar dynasty ruled Persia. The federal government was weak, unorganized and corrupt. While the Qajar kings were spending national wealth on their year-round lavish lifestyle in European countries, most of Persia’s population lived in poverty.”

The time was ripe for civil war with foreign governments backing various tribes and warlords in different parts of the country. From this messy background rose Persian Colonel Reza Khan, “a true nationalist. Vigorous and unrelenting on forgiving mistakes, he overthrew the Qajar-appointed government in a bloodless coup d’etat in 1921 and established a military government, becoming commander-in-chief of the Army and minister of war.” He further consolidated power and on 26 October 1923, was appointed as prime minister by the last king of the Qajar dynasty. On 14 December 1925, the Persian Parliament abolished the Qajar dynasty and announced the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty. The following day Reza Khan was coronated as the first king of Pahlavi, dubbed “His Imperial Majesty Reza Shah Pahlavi the Great”. The establishment of the Persian Army Air Corps (PAAC), among many other transformations, were the results of this visionary man’s efforts, and is largely the focus of this first volume on the Iranian Air Force.

This 76-page book is part of Helion & Company’s Middel East@War Series (No. 69) Iranian Air Power Volume 1 - The History of Military Aviation in Iran, 1924-1946 (Helion No. HEL2171) is outlined in the familiar @War format with 162 black and white photographs, 18 color profiles, three color illustrations, three color maps, two black and white maps, two diagrams, and 19 tables. The book is composed of the following sections:

• Abbreviations and Acronyms
• Acknowledgments
• Preface

1. On the Path to Progress
2. The Origins of Persian Power
3. Training Programmes
4. The Golden 1930s
5. Prelude to the Second World War
6. The Second World War
7. Hurricanes at Last!

• Bibliography
• Endnotes
• About the Authors

The PAAC was born during turbulent times after the First World War. As such, it looked to the major powers for assistance with aircraft. England didn’t want to assist as they didn’t want any competition with their power in Mesopotamia (Iraq), the US didn’t believe armament was in line with its policy of disarmament, so Persia turned to France, the Soviet Union and Germany. The Germans responded, and soon Junkers F-13 aircraft and the Persian Junkers Company began operations and constructing the fledgling air routes, infrastructure, and groundwork for the PAAC.

What follows is a wonderfully told, and thoroughly researched, evolution of the PAAC as different countries vied for lucrative aircraft contracts. While the Germans held the lead, France, the Soviet Union, and finally the British gained footholds. During this time, Reza Shah was using the fledging airpower to help quell the tribes revolting against his government. The Germans lost influence in 1933 when their promised Junkers training and technical schools failed to materialize as promised. Britain and France were trying to get footholds to receive oil concessions. Reza Shah also realized he needed Persians to fly and maintain the aircraft and established flying and training programs, using foreign experts, including a Swedish captain, followed by a Belgian major (promoted to colonel by Reza Shaw) as the first chiefs of staff of the PAAC, who established the air headquarters. The authors deftly explain the systems and airframes as the PAAC grew and matured.

As a part of Reza Shah’s modernization program, Persia formally became Iran on 21 March 1935. “The Greeks had named the country Persia and the Shah wanted to emphasize the Aryan roots of Iran.” As such, the PAAC became the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF). This timeframe also began the British period in the IIAF with several Hawker aircraft. With the success of the Hawker Audus, Fury, and Hind biplanes, there was keen interest in the introduction of the Hurricane. A single Hurricane was provided to the IIAF for testing, and it was determined the aircraft needed a tropical filter. Events leading up to the Second World War stymied further developments or acquisitions. Ten Curtiss H-75 Hawks were purchased from the US, with one delivered and flown, the other nine still in crates when the Russians and United Kingdom invaded Iran. The British shipped the aircraft off to India to help bolster their defenses.

The Germans still maintained a cordial relationship with Iran and is described as follows:

“The first king of the Pahlavi dynast, Reza Shah, was openly pro-German, partially because of his passion for German discipline and punctuality, but mostly due to his dislike of the British and mistrust of the Soviets as foreign powers with an Imperialistic history in the region. As a result, he was determined to minimize the influence of the latter two in Iranian internal affairs. The Germans on the other hand greatly emphasized the two countries’ common interests and racial ties as ‘pure Aryans.’”

Iran maintained neutrality as World War II erupted. Despite this, both the Soviet Union and Britain issued ultimatums for Iran to expel the Germans. When the Iranians did not comply, both countries invaded Iran as Operation Countenance on 25 August 1941 under the auspices of protecting Iranian oil and providing the Persian Corridor to help move Lend-Lease supplies to the Soviet Union from Britain and the United States. The Persian Corridor was later reinforced with American forces and assistance and proved of great worth to the Soviet Union, to include the Douglas Aircraft Company establishing operations in Iran to assemble Lend-Lease aircraft for further movement to the Soviet Union.

On 9 September 1943, Iran declared war on Germany. As such, Britain again was providing aircraft to Iran, to include Avro Ansons, and eventually, after the war, receiving the long-awaited and promised Hurricanes. Even then, the cannons were plugged and left in the wings for balance. Among the more unusual aircraft, three two-seat Hurricanes were produced – one for the Soviet Union and two for Iran.

During the war, Reza Shah was convinced to hand power to his son, Mohammad Reza. On 16 September 1941, the 22-year-old Mohammad Reza was sworn in as the new King of Pahlavi. After the war, Mohammed Reza soon earned his pilot wings and embarked on growing the IIAF. Also, after the war, Britain and US abided by the treaty signed after the Allied invasion to leave Iran. The Soviet Union stayed and instigated two related crisis by propping up the Kurdish Republic of Mahaad and the Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan (not to be confused with the Soviet satellite Azerbaijan) in the northwest part of Iran. The young king led the airpower to remove the upstarts, including using the Hurricanes as ground support, despite not being able to use their cannons. Both territories were restored to Iran by 1947.

After the Azerbaijan and Kurdistan crisis, the Shah requested 120 aircraft during his 1949 visit with President Harry Truman, who approved the request. The era of American influence had begun, and this is where Volume 1 ends.

Modelers will find a lot of inspiration in this volume with its black and white and color profiles of aircraft including: Polikarpov R-1, Polikarpov U-1, Polikarpov R-3, Polikarpov R-5, Polikarpov R-5K (with skis), Breguet 19A.2, Hawker Fury, Hawker Fury Mk II, Hawker Audax, Hawker Hind, Curtiss N2C-1, Airspeed AS.10 Oxford, Avro Anson Mk I, DeHavilland DH.82 Tiger Moths (interestingly enough, many Iranian pilots who flew the F-4s, F-5s and F-14s learned to fly with these Tiger Moths), Hawker Hurricane MkI, MkIIIC, and the TMkIIC two-seat trainer).

The authors did a fantastic job presenting information on a little-known air force. Their work ensures Iran’s air history is not lost to the annals of time. Despite its very detailed and well researched information, it is an easy-to-read account of the Iranian Air Force. I look forward to the second volume.

Profuse thanks to Casemate and IPMS-USA for providing the review sample.