he former French colony of
Upper Volta became fully
independent on August
5, 1960 and changed its name to
Burkina Faso on August 4, 1984.
It’s bordered by Niger to the east,
Mali to the north and northwest,
Ghana to the south, Côte d’Ivoire
to the southwest and by Benin
and Togo to the southeast.
Formed in 1964 with French
assistance, its military air arm,
the Escadrille de la République
de Haute-Volta (EHV, Republic
of Upper Volta Air Squadron),
was originally attached to an
army support regiment.The fleet initially comprised
former French Air Force utility and
transport aircraft: a pair of C-47s
and three MH.1521M Broussards.
Two Cessna 337Ds entered
service from 1965, and five years
later the EHV became the Force
Aérienne de Haute-Volta (FAHV)
but remained part of the army.
Two SA316B Alouette IIIs
acquired in 1974 were assigned
to a new helicopter squadron
(they were both lost in accidents,
on September 14, 1976 and
January 18, 1986) – followed by
an Aero Commander 500, two
Hawker Siddeley 748 Series2As and two Nord 262s. Along
with a new training squadron, all
the units were located at Base
Aérienne 511 Ouagadougou.First Agacher
Strip War
Upper Volta/Burkina Faso and Mali
have had a long-standing dispute
over the Agacher Strip border
area, a 100 mile-long (161km)
region in northeast Burkina Faso
thought to be rich in manganese,
gas, titanium and uranium.
Unrest began on November
25, 1974 with border skirmishes,
which continued on DecemberBurkina Faso
The air arm of
Burkina Faso has had
different titles over
several years, gaining
combat experience
in the process.
To day it’s part of the
multinational ‘G5
Sahel Joint Fo r c e’, as
Arnaud Delalande
explains.T
Right: Mi-24V
BF-0504, coded
‘04’, is the last of
two former Russian
‘Hinds’ that remains
operational. The gunship
was apparently converted from
a Soviet-era Mi-24K ‘Hind-G2’
artillery observation helicopter.
Paul Morley30 // DECEMBER 2018 #369 http://www.airforcesmonthly.comFlashpoint