Issue No 21 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN 25D
ESPITE REGULAR threats to their
funding and frequent attempts
to subject them to sequestration,
many of the world’s air arms
continue to maintain a formation
aerobatic display team, seeing it as a projection of
their nation’s air-combat capability and a means
to garner prestige on the world stage. Naturally,
only the best pilots are chosen to represent their
country in such teams.
Nearly 40 years ago the Imperial Iranian Air
Force (IIAF) also had its own formation aerobatic
display team, named Taje Talaiee (Golden Crown),
made up of eight Northrop F-5Es tasked with
demonstrating the prowess and capability of what
was at the time the most powerful and modern
air arm in the Middle East. Its disbandment in the
wake of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 became a
symbol of the decline of the IIAF and the nation’s
aviation industry. This article takes a look at the
comparatively short but proud 21-year existence
of Iran’s Golden Crown.early displays
The history of aerobatic demonstrations in Iran
goes back to the establishment of the nation’s
first air arm, the Air Office of the Imperial Army
(AOIA), in the early 1920s, when young Iranian
pilots performed aerobatic displays at various
public and official events, including anniversary
celebrations of the 1921 “3rd Esfand (February
21) Liberation”, which led to the establishment
of the Pahlavi government. These aerobatic
demonstrations were usually performed with
the AOIA’s Hawker Audaxes, Furies, Hinds
and de Havilland Tiger Moths, which would
be used in massive 20-aircraft, or in one case
90-aircraft, formation flights during parades.
Usually, two or five of the aircraft would separate
from the formation to perform simulated combat
manœuvres, such as mock aerial interceptions.
In 1932 the Air Office of the Imperial Army
was reorganised and the Imperial Iranian Air
Force was established, all flying training being
completed in Iran from that point.
By the middle of the 1950s Iran was receiving
considerable economic and military support
from the USA, owing to the latter’s desire to pre-
vent Iran becoming a vassal state of the Soviet
Union. His Imperial Majesty Mohammad Reza
Shah Pahlavi had initially explored acquiring
jet fighters from the UK, USA and France in the
late 1940s — but it was not until after an Anglo-
American covert operation to depose the Iranian
Prime Minister, Mohammed Mosaddegh, givingthe Shah absolute power, had been completed in
1953 that the USA agreed to deliver fighter jets to
Iran. Before the jets could be delivered, however,
it was necessary to train Iranian pilots and
groundcrew to maintain the IIAF’s new arrivals.
Accordingly, in 1955 Iranian technicians were
sent to France and West Germany for training,
and in January the following year the first group
of Iranian pilots was sent to Fürstenfeldbruck in
West Germany to convert to the Lockheed T-33A
jet trainer. This group comprised 14 Republic
F-47D Thunderbolt pilots of the 1st Independent
Fighter Brigade, based at Ghale-Morghi Air
Base near Tehran. Nine returned to Iran several
months later, but the other five remained with the
USAF’s 7330th Flying Training Wing to complete
an instructor course, and ultimately trained
several Luftwaffe pilots during their assignment
at Fürstenfeldbruck.
It was during this stay that, while relaxing
at the base on a sunny day, the IIAF pilots saw
the resident formation aerobatic display team
practising manœuvres, prompting them to think
about establishing a similar team back in Iran.
And so, after their return, the five shared their
idea with the Shah, himself a keen aviator, who
lent his support to the establishment of an IIAF
formation aerobatic display team.the first golden crown
In the summer of 1957 the IIAF’s first eight
Republic F-84G Thunderjets were delivered as
part of the USA’s Mutual Defence Assistance
Program (MDAP). Between June and December
that year Iranian pilots accrued 42 flying hours
with the Thunderjets at the 1st Tactical Fighter
Base (TFB) at Mehrabad in Tehran. By June
30, 1958, the number of F-84Gs in IIAF service
had risen to 57, the number of flying hours for
that year leaping to 4,251, by which time the
Thunderjet pilots and their instructors had gained
sufficient flying experience to perform even the
most complex formation aerobatic manœuvres.
The five most accomplished pilots were selec-
ted to be founder members of the IIAF’s first
Golden Crown formation aerobatic display team
(see panel on page 27); and, on October 30, 1958,
following the completion of some 147 training
flights, the Golden Crown team performed its
first display during an official IIAF ceremony
in front of government officials, military
commanders and some civilian spectators at
Mehrabad International Airport, home to the 1st
Independent Fighter Brigade (IFB).
The display began with five F-84Gs of the 1stOPPOSITE PAGE RAF Canberra pilot Colin Tavner poses beside a Golden Crown North American F-86F Sabre at
Mehrabad Airport during an official visit by No 249 Sqn in November 1962. The following year the IIAF participated
in its first overseas deployment, when four F-86Fs joined United Nations forces in Congo. TOMMY CULLEN VIA AUTHOR