Airforces

Togo

C

AFM

reated on February 1, 1964, the
embryonic Air Section of the future
Force Aérienne Togolaise (Togolese
Air Force) – equipped with four MH1521M
Broussards – initially formed part of the
1st Togolese Infantry Battalion. One of the
aircraft was lost a month later in Atakpamé.
Two C-47s joined the service in 1968 (one
was shot down on January 24, 1974), followed
by two Cessna 337 Skymasters in 1969, two
SA318C Alouette IIs the year after and two
Dornier Do 27s in 1972. Both Alouettes were
lost in 1979 – 5V-MAF was written off on March
6 and 5V-MAJ crashed near Lomé on December

18. The reassembled wreckage of the pair
    produced two SA315B Lama helicopters, c/n
    2250/‘25’ (F-ODLE) and c/n 2179/‘30’ (LN-OCE).
    With the creation of the Escadrille Nationale
    Togolaise (ENT) on July 1, 1973, the Air
    Section transferred from the army and later
    grew with the acquisition of a Fokker F28, a
    Gulfstream II and an SA330G Puma in 1975;

the helicopter crashed in Dakar on April

3, 1989. In 1977 the ENT took on 13 more

aircraft: six ex-German Fouga Magisters, two

DHC-5 Buffalos and six EMB-326 Xavantes.

The Xavantes have been stored outside at

Niamtougou since at least 2003. The service

became the Groupement Aérien Togolais

(GAT) on December 1, 1980 and acquired

five Alpha Jet Es the following year.

Meanwhile two air bases were

created – at Niamtougou, for fighters,

and at Lomé, for transports.

The GAT later lost two Alpha Jets. On

August 28, 1985, Capts Ayeva and

Tagba ejected from 5V-MBB, but the

latter died of his injuries. On October 6,

1989, Lt Col Roland Le Toulec crashed

while landing in 5V-MBA. These aircraft

were replaced in 1987 and 1991.

During the 1980s the GAT also received a

Dassault Falcon 10 (1982), two Beechcraft

Baron 58s (1985), four TB-30 Epsilons ordered

in June 1984 and delivered in 1986, and an

AS332 Super Puma and two King Air 200s in

1990. Last September 26, Epsilon 5V-MAS
      crashed after a technical malfunction in
      Wanda Kagbanda, Bassar, northern Togo,
      but both pilots survived with minor injuries.
      On April 16, 1997, the GAT became the
      Force Aérienne Togolaise. It acquired two
      SE3160 Alouette IIIs the following year.
      Togo’s presidential Boeing 707 – which
      was purchased from Singapore Airlines
      by the Togolese government in 1986 –
      made an emergency landing at Niamey,
      Niger, on September 21, 2000 after a
      fire broke out in the cockpit. Destroyed
      in the blaze, the jet was replaced the
      following year by a new example, which
      was superseded in 2006 by a DC-8-62H.
      In 2004, the Togolese government
      acquired a former Serbian SA365N Dauphin
      2, used alongside the F28 and the now
      withdrawn DC-8 for VIP transport.

Right: Alpha Jet E 5V-MBI was one of the two
examples delivered in 1987 and 1991 as attrition
replacements. It was photographed alongside
5V-MBE (which has a 30mm DEFA cannon pod
fi tted) inside a hangar at Niamtougou, but both
aircraft are apparently in a poor state of repair.

Above: This 1987-built CN235M, formerly operated by the Botswana Defence Force, was reportedly sold to the Force Aérienne Togolaise via a US-based broker
in mid-2012. The aircraft was overhauled by the Paramount Group, but the sale fell through and the aircraft was never delivered. Szabó Gábor

Force Aérienne Togolaise

Serial Type c/n Unit Delivery

date

5V-MAR TB-30 51 1986

5V-MAT TB-30 59 1986

5V-MAU TB-30 151 1986

5V-MBC Alpha Jet E 1981

5V-MBE Alpha Jet E 1981

5V-MBH Alpha Jet E 1987

5V-MBI Alpha Jet E 1991

5V-MCG King Air 200 BB-857 1990

5V-MCH King Air 200 BB-858 1990

5V-MCO Mi-8T 2013?

5V-TAI F28-1000 11079 VIP 1975

5V-TTN SA365N

Dauphin 2

6112 VIP 2004

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #362 MAY 2018 // 47