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A
Brief Biography of Late:
Lieutenant General Mohammed
Hady Esfandiari
Gen.
Esfandiari was born in Yoush, a village in the heart of Alborz
Mountains, in the North of Iran, on May 25, 1915 and died
at 2 a.m., November 30, 1994 in a hospital in southern England,
near London, at the age of 79. He is buried in a small parish
cemetery in southern England. He requested his remains be
transferred to Yoush and placed to rest next to those of his
forefathers.
Gen. Esfandiari’s
primary and high school education were carried out in Tehran
and Mazandaran. He obtained his high school diploma in Mazandaran
in 1935 while winning the top place among all high school
12th grade students in that province. By that time, he also
managed to become fluent in French. In autumn of that year,
he entered the University of Tehran and commenced his higher
education in English language studies. However, in February
of 1936, he decided to join the newly formed Imperial Iranian
Air Force Technical Offices
Academy and in 1938 graduated from the academy and also received
the honor of becoming a Second Lieutenant in the IIAF.
He
began his career in IIAF at Shahbaz Aircraft factories in
the Aircraft Manufacturing Progress and Development Department.
Thenceforth, he served in the various posts in the IIAF as
listed: Liaison and Translation Officer (during the Second
World War the IIAF flying officers were sent to Habaneih in
Egypt to get certified by Royal British Air Force (RAF) on
British-made planes that were to enter into IIAF inventory.
Lt. Esfandiari, because of his fluency in the English language
and technical expertise, was tasked to accompany these officers
and participate in every flight during the entire training
and certification sessions with every IIAF pilot as a translator
and liaison officer. Lt. Esfandiari became so proficient at
mastering the art of flying that the RAF officer in charge
recommended to him that he should also participate in the
final certification flights and become a certified pilot.
He thanked the British officer for his offer and told him
that he was a technical officer and would always remain as
one.), Deputy Commander Non-commissioned Officers Technical
Training Academy, Deputy Chief of Staff Materials, Commander
Training Command, Military, Air & Naval Attaché
in the UK and Commander Air Defense Command from 1961 to 1974.
He served in the IIAF for nearly forty years; finally in December
of 1974, as a result of his personal request, he became retired.
Lt. Gen.
Esfandiari was a highly well mannered, calm and just individual.
Although he was a well-educated and intellectually gifted
person, he never forced his subordinates to follow his orders
sheepishly. He treated them in a kind but firm fatherly manner
by constantly advising and encouraging them to reason, for
themselves, toward sound judgment. In February 1959, he was
sent to Britain as the Imperial Iranian Government’s
Military, Air and Naval Attaché. His conduct in the
international diplomatic arena was so impressive that his
foreign counterparts and diplomats treated him with utmost
respect and praised him at all official and ceremonial gatherings.
In the summer of 1959, His Imperial Majesty Mohammed Reza
Shah Pahlavi made his first official visit to the UK. Naturally,
Col. Esfandiari represented the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces
in the ceremonies and, as a result, exchange of military honors
and decorations between the heads of the two countries. He
was also reciprocated by Queen Elizabeth II, and received
the CVO (Commander of the Royal Victorian Order), one of the
highest military medals given to a foreign military dignitary.
In the summer of 1960, the Shah of Iran made a similar trip
to the Scandinavian countries. Gen. Esfandiari was ordered
to represent the Imperial Government in these counties as
the Iranian Military Attaché while maintaining the
same post in the UK.
In
autumn of 1961, he was summoned from England to assume a new
post, which was to build and run the Air Defense Command from
zero. At that time the Air Defense of Iran was nothing but
a non-operational British-made mobile radar unit that sat
next to the runway in the middle of IIAF complex at Dushan
Tapeh. The early cadre of the Air Defense Command was formed
of officers and NCOs who were not well favored in other IIAF
Commands or flying officers who could no longer fly as a result
of severe injuries they sustained in plane crashes. Gen. Esfandiari,
with his unique management and leadership skills, despite
all shortages and inadequacies, managed to create an extended
nationwide Air Defense Command (ADC) consisting of 11 Fixed
Ground Radar stations (excluding Chah-Bahar) which comprised
of: Radar hardware and fighter controller’s operation
sites, ground to air missiles and anti aircraft artillery
gun sites, housing communities & BOQ’s, airports,
communication, command & control centers, etc., that were
scattered all over the country in: Tehran, Northern, Northwestern,
Eastern, Western, Southwestern, along the Persian Gulf region
and Kish Island as well as several mobile radar sites which
were mainly located in the western and southwestern parts
of Iran. By 1972, well over 65,000 ADC personnel ran the gigantic
defense system in spite of its severe (ongoing) manpower shortages.
Gen. Esfandiari had managed to build an Air Defense Command
that was commended by its CENTO counterparts at the ceremony
held every year to celebrate the conclusion of their joint
annual CENTO exercises. ADC personnel were so well trained
that even the Islamic regime deployed them in the most sensitive
and important Air Force posts. Gen. Fakouri and Gen. Satari,
late Commanders of the Iranian Air Force, in recent times,
were both ex-ADC officers.
It
may be pertinent to mention that in 1972 due to extensive
detection and coverage problems arising in most areas, particularly
the Persian Gulf region, either from inadequacies associated
with the installed foreign radar systems themselves or selection
of poor radar sites by the foreign military advisers, an extensive
radar coverage optimization study was carried out by the IIAF
with the help of USAF, FAA, US universities & industries
and Pentagon. A thorough search for more suitable radar sites
and extensive meteorological investigation of the Persian
Gulf region weather behavior pattern, from zero feet to 10,000
ft above the sea level, and interoperability and suitability
of yielding the desired interlaced-mesh radar coverage of
the Iranian airspace by various radar systems namely: ground,
mobile and HAWK missiles radar were conducted which eventually
led to further studies such as the Automation of the Iranian
Defense, deployment/purchase of AWACS, etc. I am proud to
say that at that time I worked as a civilian Electronics Engineer
at IIAF-DCS, CEM (Deputy Chief of Staff, Communication Electronics
and Meteorology), and was the project engineer for aforementioned
projects. I also, on my own initiative, worked with ITT- GILFILLAN
and jointly we succeeded in designing and developing a remotely
controlled radar gap filler system, which detected and provided
early warning against enemy aircraft intrusion through radar
blind spots and gaps in between mountain ranges and valleys.
This discovery was very important at the time because of continuous
enemy aircraft penetration in the western part of Iran.
Gen. Esfandiari
hails from a very old and noble Persian family. According
to the Esfandiari family history book, he is a direct descendent
of Jamasb, the brother of Qobad and the uncle of Anoshiravan-e
Dadgar (Sasanian emperors). His father’s (Col. Abol-Hasan
Khan, one of the top five gunnery officers during the reign
of Mozafaraldin Shah Qajar) great grandfather was Fatali Khan-e
Koh-e Noor, a contemporary and rival of Aqa Mohammed Khan
Qajar. Gen. Esfandiari inherited a great wealth in Mazandaran
including the Noor Forest (currently known as Park-e Noor)
and a giant timber mill complex that was located in it. Reza
Shah originally annexed the forest and the timber mill and
made them part of the national resources and government owned
industries; the major part of the farmland, however, was taken
over by the Pahlavi Foundation. The reminder of the land,
beaches and his other properties finally vanished as a result
of a land reform program that took place during the reign
of Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. In 1979, the Islamic regime
cut off his retirement pension, confiscated his assets and
removed all his lawful rights of ownership and overseas travel
creating such an atmosphere that compelled him to escape from
Iran. Gen. Esfandiari, despite his privileged background and
the powerful positions he held, never allowed himself to take
advantage of the circumstances to accumulate wealth, as was
a common practice among most of his contemporaries, who remorselessly
robbed the Iranians of their national wealth. Instead, he
lived with much difficulty, on meager means, until his death.
Gen. Esfandiari
and his peers graduated from the first officers training course
of the IIAF Technical Officers Academy in 1938 during the
reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi. The Iranians at that time managed
to rank themselves among the leading nations in the world
by developing the capability of assembling British- made military
aircraft and fabricating some of the critical aircraft parts
and components that were needed for their maintenance and
repair in Iran. In 1949, Major Esfandiari headed a group of
64 IIAF technical and flying personnel who were sent to England
for a period of two years to acquire in-depth aircraft related
technological and technical know-how that was needed for the
enhancement of the IIAF capabilities. Gen. Esfandiari’s
civilian academic studies were conducted at Tehran University
in its Foreign Languages and Law faculties. He was fluent
in French, English and German; he also was well versed in
Arabic. He attended Military Staff Colleges in Iran and in
the US and completed both courses with flying colors. Gen.
M.H. Esfandiari was the only general in the Imperial Iranian
Armed Forces, during the reign of Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi,
who actually resigned from service by submitting his request
for retirement. This stemmed from the fact that he reached
a point when he totally lost hope to see any improvement in
the manner in which the country was run, that is, the unfortunate
circumstance that the majority of the Iranian civilian and
military top echelon chieftains had no other motive but to
loot the nation of its wealth. Gen Esfandiari was not in the
habit of openly displaying his emotions; therefore, apart
from some of his intimate friends and close relations, the
others were not aware of his immense love for Iran. However,
hopefully the following two episodes would illustrate this:
During the Second World War, as a result of the occupation
of Iran by the allied forces, the British took charge of Shahbaz
Aircraft Industries to repair and maintain the RAF contingent
aircraft fleet in Iran. The British also had a need for the
IIAF personnel, in particular the technical personnel, to
assist them to attain their goal. The IIAF personnel, therefore,
were ordered by their supreme command to report to Col. Jenkins,
the RAF officer in charge of Shahbaz Industries. Lt. Esfandiari,
after receiving this order, wrote a letter to Maj. Gen. Firoz,
the Commander of IIAF, requesting transfer to another force
since he was not prepared to report to a foreign commander.
Gen. Firoz, after receiving his letter, summoned the young
officer to his office, kissed him on the forehead and told
him that they were very proud of him and there was no need
for a transfer since he could continue to serve his country
at Chief of Staff Head Quarters, IIAF.
Shortly after Dr. Bakhtiar’s escape from Iran and the
establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a group of
Air Force officers and Homafars, representing the Iranian
Air Force personnel, visited Gen. Esfandiari, at his home
in Farmanieh, and requested him to become the commander of
the Iranian Air Force. Naturally, Gen. Esfandiari thanked
them for their trust in him but indicated to them that he
was a General of the Shah’s regime; they had revolted
to oust the Shah, he did not see himself a supporter of it.
Since Gen. Esfandiari was not a participant in their revolution,
he, therefore, could not imagine serving the new regime nor
benefiting from it.
When
Gen. Esfandiari passed away the personnel of the Iranian Air
Force mourned his loss by participating in the memorial services
held in his honor in Tehran and other Iranian cities, and
paraded in front of his picture honoring his departure. Pictures posted on Photo album section.
Prepared
by: Keyhan Esfandiari ex-Electronics Engineer at DCS-CEM,
IIAF
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