ETHIOPIAN AIR FORCE

The 'Ethiopian Air Force' is the air force of Ethiopia. Its origins date to 1929, when the Ethiopian government received its first military airplanes, which included two German and one French bombers. Despite these beginnings, at the opening of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War Ethiopia had a total of only 13 planes, according to Richard Pankhurst, "but only eight, according to Steer, were airworthy and at the outbreak of war, one of them being allocated to the Red Cross ... the Italians had therefore unopposed control of the air, dropping, for example, no less than 100 tons of high explosive bombs on Amba Alagi on February 16 and 17, 1936, as well as large quantities of poison gas, which had a terrible effect on Ethiopian morale."^[1]
SU-27s which form the backbone of the 1st Wing of EAF complemented the SU-25 fighters and scored most of the kills against EPLF's MIG-29s. SU-27s were effective as bombers and their complete annihilation of the heavily guarded Sawa Camp of EPLF was the biggest surprise

Contents

Aircraft inventory

References

External links

Aircraft inventory

! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Aircraft
! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Origin
! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Type
! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Versions
! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|In service^[2]
! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Notes
|-----
| Aermacchi SF-260 || || trainer || SF.260TP || 4 ||
|-----
| Aero L-39 || || trainer || || 17 ||
|-----
| Aérospatiale Alouette III || || utility helicopter || SA 316A || 8 ||
|-----
| Antonov An-12 || || tactical transport || || 9 ||
|-----
| Antonov An-24 || || tactical transport || || 1 ||
|-----
| Antonov An-26 || || tactical transport || || 1 ||
|-----
| Bell 204 || || utility helicopter || AB 204 || 5 || built by Agusta
|-----
| de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo || || tactical transport || || 1 ||
|-----
| Lockheed C-130 Hercules || || tactical transport || C-130B

---

L-100-30 || 2

---

1 ||
|-----
| Mikoyan MiG-21 || || fighter || MiG-21
MiG-21U || 18
3 ||
|-----
| Mikoyan MiG-23 || || fighter || MiG-23
MiG-23UM || 8
4 ||
|-----
| Mil Mi-6 || || transport helicopter || || 10 ||
|-----
| Mil Mi-8 || || transport helicopter || || 12 ||
|-----
| Mil Mi-14 || || antisubmarine helicopter || Mi-14PL || 2 ||
|-----
| Mil Mi-24 || || attack helicopter || Mi-24
Mi-35 || 15
3 ||
|-----
| Sukhoi Su-25 || || attack || || 6 ||
|-----
| Sukhoi Su-27 || || fighter || Su-27
Su-27SK || 7
8 ||
|-----
| Yakovlev Yak-40 || || VIP || || 1 ||
|}
In addition to the Air Force inventory, the Army operates 2 DHC-6 transports and 5 Bell 205 helicopters.
Aircraft which have been recently operated by the Air Force include:

★ 1 Aérospatiale Puma

★ 1 Antonov An-32

★ 4 Cessna T-41

★ 13 Douglas C-47 Dakota

★ 2 Douglas C-54 Skymaster

★ 4 English Electric Canberra

★ 10 Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar

★ 2 Harbin Y-12

★ 1 Ilyushin Il-14

★ 2 Kamov Ka-50

★ 16 Lockheed T-33

★ 20 Mikoyan MiG-17

★ 2 Mil Mi-2

★ 8 North American F-86 Sabre

★ 30 North American T-28 Trojan

★ 26 Northrop F-5

★ 6 Saab 91

★ 1 Tupolev Tu-154

References

1. Richard Pankhurst, ''Economic History of Ethiopia'' (Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie I University, 1968), p. 606
2. "World Military Aircraft Inventory", Aerospace Source Book 2007, ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', January 15 2007.

External links

★ A history of the Ethiopian Air Force (dehai-news)