THE AVIATION HISTORIAN THE AVIATION HISTORIAN84 Issue No 34Issue No 34 85

their troops and heavy equipment to the front line in wartime. The largest item of military equipment the IIAF’s Hercules could airlift in support of the IIGF’s armoured divisions was the Scorpion light tank. Thus Iranian government officials entered into negotiations with their American counterparts and Lockheed to explore the procurement of 12 examples of the C-5A Galaxy in September 1974.

Galaxy production, however, had been com-pleted a few months before and the production line converted for construction of the L-1011 TriStar airliner. The cost of re-converting the production line back to Galaxy construction would be significant, resulting in an enormous increase in the cost of Iran’s prospective C-5A purchase. As a result, the American government declined Iran’s request, forcing General Hassan Toufanian, head of the Iranian Army’s procure-ment office, to find another solution to the IIAF’s transport requirements.

At that time several airlines in the USA were on the verge of bankruptcy owing to the Arab-imposed oil embargo and subsequent rise in price of aviation fuels. In order to survive, some of these airlines, including TWA and Continental Airlines, sought to divest part of their fleets of young 747s at competitive prices, thus presenting Iran with an opportunity to buy them as an alternative to the C-5A. Initially, the IIAF put forward a plan to acquire six ex-TWA 747-131s at a cost of $99m (USD) in February 1975, but the order was ultimately increased to nine. These were:n N93101 (c/n 19667/5);n N93102 (c/n 19668/8); n N93103 (c/n 19669/9); n N53111 (c/n 19677/73); n N53112 (c/n 19678/78);n N93113 (c/n 20080/80); n N93114 (c/n 20081/85); n N93118 (c/n 20082/151);

ELEPHANTSpersia’s

the boeing 747 in iranian military serviceWhen plans for the Imperial Iranian Air Force to acquire 12 Lockheed C-5A Galaxies in the mid-1970s fell through, the Iranian government took advantage of the ready availability of Boeing 747s being sold off by cash-strapped American airlines hit by the global oil crisis. BABAK TAGHVAEE profiles the career of the Jumbo as a military transport and tanker in Iran

THE IRANIAN MILITARY air arm has been the sole operator of the world’s largest tanker aircraft since 1976. Three former TWA Boeing 747-131Fs, converted by the manufacturer during

1975–76, remain in service with the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) as heavy tankers in 2021. The Iranian military has also operated 747 freighters, including the first hinge-nosed 747-2J9Fs, since 1975.

The IRIAF’s Jumbos played a key role during the nation’s 1980–88 war with Iraq — from airlifting soldiers to the front line and evacuating wounded troops, to airlifting military equipment (including Chengdu F-7N/FT-7N fighters from China and Scud ballistic missiles from Syria, Libya and North Korea) and refuelling McDonnell Douglas F-4Es and Grumman F-14As during operations.

In 1974 the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) was equipped with a fleet of 48 Lockheed C-130E/H Hercules, with two more C-130Hs to be delivered in May 1975. In addition to these, the IIAF received its final two of 20 Fokker F-27-400M/600s on September 11, 1974. To transport an Imperial Iranian Army Ground Force (IIGF) infantry battalion of nearly 800 soldiers and their weapons, a total of nine C-130s would be needed; to transport an entire infantry brigade to the front line would require the use of 36 Hercules, which could put unsustainable pressure on the IIAF’s C-130 fleet during wartime. Therefore, the IIAF’s generals planned to increase the fleet of C-130s from the projected 50 in 1975 to 150 by 1985.

Covering an area of more than 636,000 square miles (1,647,000km²), Iran is a large country, and armoured divisions could take days to deploy

n N93119 (c/n 20083/153). The IIAF also procured three Continental

Airlines 747-124s: n N26861 (c/n 19733/42); n N26862 (c/n 19734/58);n N26863 (c/n 19735/64).

Following the successful conclusion of nego-tiations, all were sent to Boeing at Seattle, where they were converted into freighters with a large cargo door in the port side of their fuselages.

The IIAF’s tankersBack in 1971 the Iranian government had ordered six Boeing 707-3J9Cs, officially designated KC-707 tankers, from the USA, which were delivered during 1973–75. Later in 1975 six more were procured and another two were ordered in 1976. Of this total of 14, two were later converted into electronic intelligence and signals intelligence (ELINT/SIGINT) aircraft as part of Project IBEX, leaving 12 KC-707 tankers in IIAF service by 1979.

In 1975 the IIAF commanders decided to have three of the 747-131Fs converted to the tanker role, and also had the entire IIAF 747 fleet fitted with nose-mounted refuelling receptacles, which would enable them to receive fuel from each other and the KC-707s. Accordingly, Boeing was contracted to convert three of the ex-TWA 747-131s into KC-747s, the first of which was serial 5-282 (formerly N93113). The first test flights of 5-282 were performed in 1976, with an IIAF F-4 receiving fuel. Before the conversion of 5-282, the 747 prototype, N7470, had been equipped with a refuelling boom and operator’s window for trials, although it was not capable of fuel transfer. Almost all aircraft types in USAF service, including the Lockheed SR-71A, completed dry-contact trials with N7470 as part of the USAF’s Advanced Cargo Tanker Aircraft (ACTA) programme.

Following the conversion of 5-282, re-serialled 5-8103 in 1976, Boeing converted 5-8105 (formerly

Seen here at McGuire AFB, New Jersey, in October 1975, 747-131F serial 5-280 wears its original Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) colour scheme of white upper surfaces and

silver undersides separated by a dark green cheatline, with roundels on the fuselage aft of the wings and Iranian flag on the fin. It was re-serialled 5-8101 in 1976.

Formerly N93102 with TWA, 747-131F serial 5-285 takes on fuel from an IIAF KC-707 via its nose-mounted receptacle. The 747 was re-serialled

8-5106 in 1976 and was destroyed during an Iraqi Air Force bombing raid at Lake Urmia in northern Iran in November 1986.

AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

TAH ARCHIVE