The Northrop A-17 , also known as the Northrop Model 8 , a development of the Northrop Gamma 2F model, is a two-seat, single-engine, monoplane , attack bomber built in 1935 by the Northrop Corporation for the United States Army Air Corps . When in British Commonwealth service during World War II , the A-17 was called Nomad .
127-634: The Iraqi Air Force ( IQAF or IrAF ) ( Arabic : القوات الجوية العراقية , romanized : Al Quwwat al Jawwiyah al Iraqiyyah ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Iraqi Armed Forces . It is responsible for the defense of Iraqi airspace as well as the policing of its international borders. The IQAF also acts as a support force for the Iraqi Navy and the Iraqi Army , which allows Iraq to rapidly deploy its military. It
254-619: A USAF EF-111 electronic warfare aircraft, forcing them to abort their mission. In yet another incident, two MiG-25's approached a pair of F-15 Eagles, fired missiles (which were evaded by the F-15s), and then out-ran the American fighters. Two more F-15s joined the pursuit, and a total of ten air-to-air missiles were fired at the Foxbats ; none of which could reach them. In an effort to demonstrate their own air offensive capability, on 24 January
381-608: A USAF F-15C with an R-40 missile in the Samurra Air Battle. Iraq claims it was shot down (pilot ejected) and subsequently the aircraft crashed in Saudi Arabia. An Iraqi Mirage F-1 piloted by Capt. Nafie Al-Jubouri successfully downed an American EF-111 Raven through aerial maneuvering as it crashed while attempting to avoid a missile fired by Al-Jubouri. In another incident, an Iraqi Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 eluded eight USAF F-15C Eagles , firing three missiles at
508-575: A collection of related dialects that constitute the precursor of Arabic, first emerged during the Iron Age . Previously, the earliest attestation of Old Arabic was thought to be a single 1st century CE inscription in Sabaic script at Qaryat al-Faw , in southern present-day Saudi Arabia. However, this inscription does not participate in several of the key innovations of the Arabic language group, such as
635-536: A conventional fixed landing gear, was accepted by the Air Corps. A total of 110 aircraft were ordered as the A-17 in 1935. The resulting A-17 was equipped with perforated flaps, and had a fixed landing gear with partial fairings. It was fitted with an internal fuselage bomb bay, that carried fragmentation bombs, and external bomb racks. Northrop developed a new landing gear, this time completely retractable, producing
762-435: A corpus of poetic texts, in addition to Qur'an usage and Bedouin informants whom he considered to be reliable speakers of the ʿarabiyya . Arabic spread with the spread of Islam . Following the early Muslim conquests , Arabic gained vocabulary from Middle Persian and Turkish . In the early Abbasid period , many Classical Greek terms entered Arabic through translations carried out at Baghdad's House of Wisdom . By
889-1081: A dialect of Arabic and written in the Latin alphabet . The Balkan languages, including Albanian, Greek , Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian , have also acquired many words of Arabic origin, mainly through direct contact with Ottoman Turkish . Arabic has influenced languages across the globe throughout its history, especially languages where Islam is the predominant religion and in countries that were conquered by Muslims. The most markedly influenced languages are Persian , Turkish , Hindustani ( Hindi and Urdu ), Kashmiri , Kurdish , Bosnian , Kazakh , Bengali , Malay ( Indonesian and Malaysian ), Maldivian , Pashto , Punjabi , Albanian , Armenian , Azerbaijani , Sicilian, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian, Tagalog , Sindhi , Odia , Hebrew and African languages such as Hausa , Amharic , Tigrinya , Somali , Tamazight , and Swahili . Conversely, Arabic has borrowed some words (mostly nouns) from other languages, including its sister-language Aramaic, Persian, Greek, and Latin and to
1016-487: A lesser extent and more recently from Turkish, English, French, and Italian. Arabic is spoken by as many as 380 million speakers, both native and non-native, in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world, and the fourth most used language on the internet in terms of users. It also serves as the liturgical language of more than 2 billion Muslims . In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Arabic
1143-540: A licence for production of a Mercury-powered version, building 63 B 5Bs and 31 B 5Cs, production taking place from 1938 to 1941. They were replaced in service with the Swedish Air Force by SAAB 17s from 1944. The Swedish version was used as a dive bomber and as such, it featured prominently in the 1941 film Första divisionen . The Netherlands, in urgent need of modern combat aircraft, placed an order for 18 Model 8A-3Ns in 1939, with all being delivered by
1270-656: A major role in the war against Iran by striking airbases, military infrastructure, industrial infrastructure such as factories, powerplants and oil facilities, as well as systematically bombing urban areas in Tehran and other major Iranian cities (later came to be known as the War of the Cities ). At the end of the war, in conjunction with the Army and special operations forces, the IQAF played
1397-703: A millennium before the modern period . Early lexicographers ( لُغَوِيُّون lughawiyyūn ) sought to explain words in the Quran that were unfamiliar or had a particular contextual meaning, and to identify words of non-Arabic origin that appear in the Quran. They gathered shawāhid ( شَوَاهِد 'instances of attested usage') from poetry and the speech of the Arabs—particularly the Bedouin ʾaʿrāb [ ar ] {{main other| ( أَعْراب ) who were perceived to speak
SECTION 10
#17327725526201524-594: A result, many European languages have borrowed words from it. Arabic influence, mainly in vocabulary, is seen in European languages (mainly Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese , Catalan , and Sicilian ) owing to the proximity of Europe and the long-lasting Arabic cultural and linguistic presence, mainly in Southern Iberia, during the Al-Andalus era. Maltese is a Semitic language developed from
1651-462: A script derived from ASA attest to a language known as Hasaitic . On the northwestern frontier of Arabia, various languages known to scholars as Thamudic B , Thamudic D, Safaitic , and Hismaic are attested. The last two share important isoglosses with later forms of Arabic, leading scholars to theorize that Safaitic and Hismaic are early forms of Arabic and that they should be considered Old Arabic . Linguists generally believe that "Old Arabic",
1778-647: A second loss, but a further two Iraqi claims and one probable are still listed by the Allies as lost to "ground fire" rather than an Iraqi fighter. Generally at least three Iraqi pilots are relatively agreed upon to have scored victories against coalition aircraft in aerial combat. As well as the Persian Gulf war, the IQAF was also involved in the 1991 uprisings in Iraq . Alongside Army aviation, Mi-8 , Mi-24 , Gazelle, Alouette and Puma helicopters were used to counter
1905-529: A series of attacks on Arab capitals, flown by three Boeing B-17s that had been pressed into service by the Israeli Air Force , the governments of Transjordan and Syria demanded that the Iraqis replace their Ansons with Hawker Furies. However, only six Furies were sent to Damascus , and they never encountered any Israeli aircraft. Moreover, due to the limited amount of cannon ammunition supplied by
2032-489: A significant role in routing Iran's last military offensive. (by that time, the role of the once superior Iranian Air Force had been reduced to missions in desperate situations only, performing critical tasks such as defending Iran's vital oil terminals). The air force also had a successful role attacking tankers and other vessels going to and from Iran, by using Exocet missiles on their Mirage F1s. On May 17, 1987, an Iraqi F1 mistakenly launched two Exocet anti-ship missiles into
2159-470: A single language, despite mutual incomprehensibility among differing spoken versions. From a linguistic standpoint, it is often said that the various spoken varieties of Arabic differ among each other collectively about as much as the Romance languages . This is an apt comparison in a number of ways. The period of divergence from a single spoken form is similar—perhaps 1500 years for Arabic, 2000 years for
2286-525: A solid basis for the RIrAF's long-term growth. Also in 1951, the RIrAF bought its first helicopters: three Westland Dragonflies . The RIrAF's first jet fighter was the de Havilland Vampire : 12 FB.Mk.52 fighters and 10 T.Mk.55 trainers were delivered from 1953 to 1955. These were quickly supplemented by 20 de Havilland Venoms , delivered between 1954 and 1956. Following the formation of the Baghdad Pact ,
2413-583: A state that they could only be used as sources of spare parts. From 1944 to 1947, 33 Avro Ansons were acquired. Despite these hurdles, the RIrAF helped put down the 1943 Barzani revolt . In late 1946, the Iraqis reached an agreement with the British, under which they would return their surviving Avro Ansons, in exchange for the authorisation to order 30 Hawker Fury F.Mk.1 fighters and two Fury T.Mk.52 two-seat trainers. The next year, three de Havilland Doves and three Bristol Freighters were ordered. The RIrAF
2540-542: A total of 166–192 aircraft, performed surprise airstrikes on 10 airbases of the Iranian Air Force , succeeding in destroying a large of number of fighter-bomber aircraft on the ground, but not enough to knock the Iranian Air Force out. In retaliation for these aerial strikes, the Iranian Air Force launched Operation Kaman 99 a day after the war was launched. During late 1981, it was soon clear that
2667-1114: A total of 34 Hawker Audaxes (named Nisr in Iraqi service) were acquired. In the years following Iraqi independence, the Air Force was still dependent on the Royal Air Force . The Iraqi government allocated the majority of its military expenditure to the Iraqi Army and by 1936 the Royal Iraqi Air Force had only 37 pilots and 55 aircraft. The following year, the Air Force showed some growth, increasing its number of pilots to 127. This enabled it to purchase additional aircraft. In 1937, following high-level visits in Italy and Great Britain, Iraq placed orders for 4 Savoia-Marchetti SM.79s , 25 Breda Ba.65s , and 15 Gloster Gladiators . In 1939, 15 Northrop 8As were bought. The RIrAF's first combat against another conventional military
SECTION 20
#17327725526202794-507: A type of Arabic. Cypriot Arabic is recognized as a minority language in Cyprus. The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia , which is the normal use of two separate varieties of the same language, usually in different social situations. Tawleed is the process of giving a new shade of meaning to an old classical word. For example, al-hatif lexicographically means
2921-507: A variety of regional vernacular Arabic dialects , which are not necessarily mutually intelligible. Classical Arabic is the language found in the Quran , used from the period of Pre-Islamic Arabia to that of the Abbasid Caliphate . Classical Arabic is prescriptive, according to the syntactic and grammatical norms laid down by classical grammarians (such as Sibawayh ) and the vocabulary defined in classical dictionaries (such as
3048-476: A wider audience." In the wake of the industrial revolution and European hegemony and colonialism , pioneering Arabic presses, such as the Amiri Press established by Muhammad Ali (1819), dramatically changed the diffusion and consumption of Arabic literature and publications. Rifa'a al-Tahtawi proposed the establishment of Madrasat al-Alsun in 1836 and led a translation campaign that highlighted
3175-737: Is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world . The ISO assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic , including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic , which is derived from Classical Arabic . This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā ( اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ "the eloquent Arabic") or simply al-fuṣḥā ( اَلْفُصْحَىٰ ). Arabic
3302-590: Is a minimum level of comprehension between all Arabic dialects, this level can increase or decrease based on geographic proximity: for example, Levantine and Gulf speakers understand each other much better than they do speakers from the Maghreb. The issue of diglossia between spoken and written language is a complicating factor: A single written form, differing sharply from any of the spoken varieties learned natively, unites several sometimes divergent spoken forms. For political reasons, Arabs mostly assert that they all speak
3429-559: Is a sister language rather than their direct ancestor. Arabia had a wide variety of Semitic languages in antiquity. The term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living in the Arabian Peninsula , as perceived by geographers from ancient Greece . In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside the Ancient South Arabian family (e.g. Southern Thamudic) were spoken. It
3556-478: Is believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages (non-Central Semitic languages) were spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hejaz , Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages. In Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested. In eastern Arabia, inscriptions in
3683-408: Is credited with establishing the rules of Arabic prosody . Al-Jahiz (776–868) proposed to Al-Akhfash al-Akbar an overhaul of the grammar of Arabic, but it would not come to pass for two centuries. The standardization of Arabic reached completion around the end of the 8th century. The first comprehensive description of the ʿarabiyya "Arabic", Sībawayhi's al - Kitāb , is based first of all upon
3810-472: Is credited with standardizing Arabic grammar , or an-naḥw ( النَّحو "the way" ), and pioneering a system of diacritics to differentiate consonants ( نقط الإعجام nuqaṭu‿l-i'jām "pointing for non-Arabs") and indicate vocalization ( التشكيل at-tashkīl ). Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (718–786) compiled the first Arabic dictionary, Kitāb al-'Ayn ( كتاب العين "The Book of the Letter ع "), and
3937-606: Is headquartered in Baghdad ; the current commander is Lieutenant Gen. Shihab Jahid Ali. The Iraqi Air Force was founded in 1931, during the period of British control in Iraq after their defeat of the Ottomans in the First World War, with only a few pilots. The Iraqi Air Force operated mostly British aircraft until the 14 July Revolution in 1958, when the new Iraqi government began increased diplomatic relationships with
Iraqi Air Force - Misplaced Pages Continue
4064-574: Is not present in the spoken varieties, but deletes Classical words that sound obsolete in MSA. In addition, MSA has borrowed or coined many terms for concepts that did not exist in Quranic times, and MSA continues to evolve. Some words have been borrowed from other languages—notice that transliteration mainly indicates spelling and not real pronunciation (e.g., فِلْم film 'film' or ديمقراطية dīmuqrāṭiyyah 'democracy'). The current preference
4191-855: Is official in Mali and recognized as a minority language in Morocco, while the Senegalese government adopted the Latin script to write it. Maltese is official in (predominantly Catholic ) Malta and written with the Latin script . Linguists agree that it is a variety of spoken Arabic, descended from Siculo-Arabic , though it has experienced extensive changes as a result of sustained and intensive contact with Italo-Romance varieties, and more recently also with English. Due to "a mix of social, cultural, historical, political, and indeed linguistic factors", many Maltese people today consider their language Semitic but not
4318-530: Is reported to have commented: "The Iranians are even stronger than before, they now have our Air Force." These included: Mirage F1s EQ1/2/4/5/6, Su-20 and Su-22M2/3/4 Fitters, Su-24MK Fencer-Ds, Su-25K/UBK Frogfoots, MiG-23ML Floggers, MiG-29A/UB (product 9.12B) Fulcrums and a number of Il-76s, including the one-off AEW-AWACS prototype Il-76 "ADNAN 1". Also, prior to Operation Desert Storm, 19 Iraqi Mig-21s and MiG-23s were sent to Yugoslavia for servicing, but were never returned due to international sanctions. In 2009,
4445-572: Is the third most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations , and the liturgical language of Islam . Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the world and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, governments and the media. During the Middle Ages , Arabic was a major vehicle of culture and learning, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy. As
4572-590: Is the variety used in most current, printed Arabic publications, spoken by some of the Arabic media across North Africa and the Middle East, and understood by most educated Arabic speakers. "Literary Arabic" and "Standard Arabic" ( فُصْحَى fuṣḥá ) are less strictly defined terms that may refer to Modern Standard Arabic or Classical Arabic. Some of the differences between Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) are as follows: MSA uses much Classical vocabulary (e.g., dhahaba 'to go') that
4699-413: Is to avoid direct borrowings, preferring to either use loan translations (e.g., فرع farʻ 'branch', also used for the branch of a company or organization; جناح janāḥ 'wing', is also used for the wing of an airplane, building, air force, etc.), or to coin new words using forms within existing roots ( استماتة istimātah ' apoptosis ', using the root موت m/w/t 'death' put into
4826-524: Is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the industrial and post-industrial era , especially in modern times. Due to its grounding in Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic is removed over a millennium from everyday speech, which is construed as a multitude of dialects of this language. These dialects and Modern Standard Arabic are described by some scholars as not mutually comprehensible. The former are usually acquired in families, while
4953-445: The Lisān al-ʻArab ). Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) largely follows the grammatical standards of Classical Arabic and uses much of the same vocabulary. However, it has discarded some grammatical constructions and vocabulary that no longer have any counterpart in the spoken varieties and has adopted certain new constructions and vocabulary from the spoken varieties. Much of the new vocabulary
5080-476: The Algiers Treaty . Between the autumn of 1980 and the summer of 1990, the number of aircraft in the IQAF went from 332 to over 1000. Before the Iraqi invasion of Iran , the IQAF had expected 16 modern Dassault Mirage F.1 EQs from France and were also in the middle of receiving a total of 240 new aircraft and helicopters from their Eastern European allies. When Iraq invaded Iran in late September 1980,
5207-643: The I.Ae. 24 Calquin , continuing in service as trainers and reconnaissance aircraft until their last flight in 1954. Peru ordered ten Model 8A-3Ps, these being delivered from 1938 onwards. These aircraft were used in combat by Peru in the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War of July 1941. The survivors of these aircraft were supplemented by 13 Model 8A-5s from Norway (see below), delivered via the United States in 1943 (designated A-33 ). These remained in service until 1958. The Swedish government purchased
Iraqi Air Force - Misplaced Pages Continue
5334-862: The MiG-21 and the Sukhoi Su-20 , they began persuading the French to sell Mirage F1s fighters (which were bought) and later Jaguars (which were however never ordered). Before the Yom Kippur War , the IQAF sent 12 Hawker Hunters to Egypt where they stayed to fight; only 1 survived the war. The IQAF first received their Sukhoi Su-7s in 1968; they were originally stationed in Syria . Aircraft deployed to Syria suffered heavy losses due to Israeli aircraft and SAMs. In addition, they were hit with friendly fire from Syrian SAMs. A planned attack on 8 October
5461-577: The MiG-21s withdrawn due to obsolescence. During the period of sanctions that followed, the Air Force was severely restricted by no-fly zones established by the coalition and by restricted access to spare parts due to United Nations sanctions. Many aircraft were unserviceable and a few were hidden from American reconnaissance to escape potential destruction. In patrols of the no-fly zones, three Iraqi MiGs were lost. Despite several attacks from U.S. F-15s and F-14s firing AIM-54 and AIM-120 missiles at
5588-730: The Soviet Union . In 1966, Iraqi Captain Munir Redfa defected with his MiG-21F-13 to Israel which in turn gave it to the United States for evaluation under the code-name "Have Donut". During the Six-Day War , the IrAF bombed several air bases and land targets. On 6 June 1967, a group of four Tupolev Tu-16 bombers was sent to attack Ramat David Airbase . Two of them had to abort due to technical difficulties, and another
5715-421: The Soviet Union . The air force used both Soviet and British aircraft throughout the 1950s and 1960s. When Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979, the air force grew quickly when Iraq ordered more Soviet and French aircraft. The air force's peak came after the long Iran–Iraq War , which ended in 1988, when it consisted of 1029 aircraft of all types, including 550 combat aircraft, becoming the largest air force in
5842-568: The Xth form , or جامعة jāmiʻah 'university', based on جمع jamaʻa 'to gather, unite'; جمهورية jumhūriyyah 'republic', based on جمهور jumhūr 'multitude'). An earlier tendency was to redefine an older word although this has fallen into disuse (e.g., هاتف hātif 'telephone' < 'invisible caller (in Sufism)'; جريدة jarīdah 'newspaper' < 'palm-leaf stalk'). Colloquial or dialectal Arabic refers to
5969-807: The fall of France and 61 were taken over by the British Purchasing Commission for British Commonwealth use under the name Northrop Nomad Mk I . After the RAF assessed the Northrop Nomad Mk Is as "obsolete", most of the Nomads were sent to South Africa for use as trainers and target tugs. The Nomads suffered shortages of spare parts (particularly engines) and from 1942 onwards were gradually replaced by Fairey Battles . The last Nomads were retired in 1944. The Royal Canadian Air Force received 32 Nomads that had been part of
6096-494: The northern Hejaz . These features are evidence of common descent from a hypothetical ancestor , Proto-Arabic . The following features of Proto-Arabic can be reconstructed with confidence: On the other hand, several Arabic varieties are closer to other Semitic languages and maintain features not found in Classical Arabic, indicating that these varieties cannot have developed from Classical Arabic. Thus, Arabic vernaculars do not descend from Classical Arabic: Classical Arabic
6223-419: The "learned" tradition (Classical Arabic). This variety and both its classicizing and "lay" iterations have been termed Middle Arabic in the past, but they are thought to continue an Old Higazi register. It is clear that the orthography of the Quran was not developed for the standardized form of Classical Arabic; rather, it shows the attempt on the part of writers to record an archaic form of Old Higazi. In
6350-727: The "purest," most eloquent form of Arabic—initiating a process of jamʿu‿l-luɣah ( جمع اللغة 'compiling the language') which took place over the 8th and early 9th centuries. Kitāb al-'Ayn ( c. 8th century ), attributed to Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi , is considered the first lexicon to include all Arabic roots ; it sought to exhaust all possible root permutations —later called taqālīb ( تقاليب ) — calling those that are actually used mustaʿmal ( مستعمَل ) and those that are not used muhmal ( مُهمَل ). Lisān al-ʿArab (1290) by Ibn Manzur gives 9,273 roots, while Tāj al-ʿArūs (1774) by Murtada az-Zabidi gives 11,978 roots. Northrop A-17 The Northrop Gamma 2F
6477-454: The 11th and 12th centuries in al-Andalus , the zajal and muwashah poetry forms developed in the dialectical Arabic of Cordoba and the Maghreb. The Nahda was a cultural and especially literary renaissance of the 19th century in which writers sought "to fuse Arabic and European forms of expression." According to James L. Gelvin , " Nahda writers attempted to simplify the Arabic language and script so that it might be accessible to
SECTION 50
#17327725526206604-571: The 4th to the 6th centuries, the Nabataean script evolved into the Arabic script recognizable from the early Islamic era. There are inscriptions in an undotted, 17-letter Arabic script dating to the 6th century CE, found at four locations in Syria ( Zabad , Jebel Usays , Harran , Umm el-Jimal ). The oldest surviving papyrus in Arabic dates to 643 CE, and it uses dots to produce the modern 28-letter Arabic alphabet. The language of that papyrus and of
6731-847: The 8th century, knowledge of Classical Arabic had become an essential prerequisite for rising into the higher classes throughout the Islamic world, both for Muslims and non-Muslims. For example, Maimonides , the Andalusi Jewish philosopher, authored works in Judeo-Arabic —Arabic written in Hebrew script . Ibn Jinni of Mosul , a pioneer in phonology , wrote prolifically in the 10th century on Arabic morphology and phonology in works such as Kitāb Al-Munṣif , Kitāb Al-Muḥtasab , and Kitāb Al-Khaṣāʾiṣ [ ar ] {{main other|. Ibn Mada' of Cordoba (1116–1196) realized
6858-590: The A-17 surplus to requirements. From 14 December 1941, A-17s were used for coastal patrols by the 59th Bombardment Squadron (Light) on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal . The last remaining A-17s, used as utility aircraft, were retired from USAAF service in 1944. Argentina purchased 30 Model 8A-2s in 1937 and received them between February and March 1938; their serial numbers were between 348 and 377. These remained in frontline service until replaced by
6985-776: The A-17A variant. This version was again purchased by the Army Air Corps, who placed orders for 129 aircraft. By the time these were delivered, the Northrop Corporation had been taken over by Douglas Aircraft Company , with export models being known as the Douglas Model 8. The A-17 entered service in February 1936, and proved to be a reliable and popular aircraft. However, in 1938, the Air Corps decided that attack aircraft should be multi-engined, rendering
7112-402: The Air Force during 1991. By early 2003, Iraq's air power numbered an estimated 180 combat aircraft, of which only about half were flyable. In late 2002, a Yugoslav weapons company provided servicing for the MiG-21s and MiG-23s, violating UN sanctions. An aviation institute in Bijeljina , Bosnia and Herzegovina , supplied the engines and spare parts. These however, were too late to improve
7239-902: The American frigate USS Stark , crippling the vessel and killing 37 sailors. By 1987 the Iraqi Air Force had a large modern military infrastructure, with modern air logistics centers, air depots, maintenance and repair facilities, and some production capabilities. By that time the air force consisted of 40,000 men, of whom about 10,000 were a part of the Air Defense Command. Its main bases were in Tammuz ( Al Taqqadum ), Al Bakr ( Balad ), Al Qadisiya ( Al Asad ), Ali Air Base , Saddam Airbase ( Qayarrah West Air Base ) and other major bases including Basra . The IQAF operated from 24 main operating bases and 30 dispersal bases, with 600 aircraft shelters including nuclear-hardened shelters, with multiple taxiways to multiple runways. Iraq also had 123 smaller airfields of various kinds (reserve fields and helicopter fields). Unlike many other nations with modern air forces, Iraq
7366-440: The British, and the absence of bombs, they were only used for armed reconnaissance. In the end, the four surviving aircraft were handed over to Egypt in October 1948. Despite these early problems, in 1951 the RIrAF purchased 20 more Fury F.Mk.1s, for a total of 50 F.Mk.1s single-seaters and 2 two-seaters, which equipped No. 1, No. 4 and No. 7 Squadrons. In the early 1950s, thanks to increased income from oil and agricultural exports,
7493-526: The British. However, the latter were meanwhile sending ever more reinforcements to Iraq, and support from the Axis powers could not change the course of the war. Losses and a lack of spares and replacement aircraft resulted in the Germans' departure at the end of May. On 31 May, a ceasefire was signed, thus ending the war. The Anglo-Iraqi War left the RIrAF shattered. Several squadrons had all of their aircraft destroyed, while lots of officers and pilots had been killed or had fled to neighbouring countries. Due to
7620-433: The IQAF should have been 'hardened' by the conflict with Iran , but post-war purges of the IQAF leadership and other personnel decimated the air force, as the Iraqi regime struggled to bring it back under total control. Training was brought to a minimum during the whole of 1990. The table below shows the Iraqi Air Force at the start of the Persian Gulf War, its losses, damaged aircraft, flights to Iran and remaining assets at
7747-444: The IrAF was successfully able to defend its bases in western Iraq from additional Israeli attacks. Throughout this decade, the IQAF grew in size and capability, as the 20 year Treaty of friendship with the USSR signed in 1971 brought large numbers of relatively modern fighter aircraft to the air force. The Iraqi government was never satisfied with the Soviets alone supplying them, and while they were purchasing modern fighters like
SECTION 60
#17327725526207874-425: The Iraqi Air Force was devastated by coalition airpower, notably the aerial forces of the United States , the United Kingdom and their allies. Most airfields were heavily struck, and in air combat Iraq was only able to obtain four confirmed kills (and four damaged along with one probable kill), while sustaining 23 losses. All of the out of service (six) Tupolev Tu-22s that Iraq possessed were destroyed by bombing at
8001-442: The Iraqi Ministry of Defense signed two contracts with the Polish defence consortium BUMAR. The first contract, worth US$ 132 million, was for the delivery of 20 PZL W-3 Sokół helicopters and the training of 10 Iraqi pilots and 25 maintenance personnel. They were intended to be delivered by November 2005, but in April 2005 the company charged with fulfilling the contract announced the delivery would not go ahead as planned, because
8128-423: The Iraqi fighters, the Iraqi maneuvers ensured they were able to avoid any casualties in their dispute over Iraqi airspace. The last recorded air-to-air kill was on 23 December 2002, when a MiG-25 Foxbat shot down an armed American RQ-1 Predator . In 2008, the Defense Technical Information Center released the top-secret archives of the Saddam-era Iraqi Air Force, shedding light on the true losses and operations of
8255-413: The Iraqi government briefly sought the return of the fighters, but they were disassembled and would have been costly to repair and return. The Iraqi air force itself lists its air-to-air losses at 23 airframes compared to the US claims of 44. Similarly, the Allies initially acknowledged no losses in air combat to the Iraqi air force, and only in 1995 acknowledged one loss. After 2003 the Allies acknowledged
8382-430: The Iraqis attempted to mount a strike against the major Saudi oil refinery in Abqaiq . Two Mirage F-1 fighters laden with incendiary bombs and two MiG-23s (along as fighter cover) took off. They were spotted by USAF Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft, and two Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s were sent to intercept. When the Saudis appeared the Iraqi MiGs turned tail, but the Mirages pressed on. Captain Ayedh Al-Shamrani, one of
8509-403: The Iraqis waiting for their upgraded Exocet -capable Mirage F1EQ-5s , Super Etendards were leased to Iraq. The Iranian oil tanker fleet (see Tanker War ) and gunboats suffered severe damage at the hands of the 5 Super Etendards equipped with Exocet anti-ship missiles. One of these was lost during their 20-month combat use and 4 returned to the Aeronavale in 1985. The IQAF generally played
8636-448: The Kurds, so they began using their new Tu-22s in combat against them (using 3 tonne bombs from high altitude to avoid the Iranian HAWK SAM batteries that the Shah had set up near the Iraqi border to cover the Kurdish insurgents) as they were able to avoid a greater percentage of SAMs due to their higher bombing altitude and improved electronic countermeasures. During the mid-1970s, tensions with Iran were high but were later resolved with
8763-412: The Middle East and North Africa have become a badge of sophistication and modernity and ... feigning, or asserting, weakness or lack of facility in Arabic is sometimes paraded as a sign of status, class, and perversely, even education through a mélange of code-switching practises." Arabic has been taught worldwide in many elementary and secondary schools, especially Muslim schools. Universities around
8890-467: The Persian Gulf War in 1991. As of 2014, Iran was receptive to the demands and was working on refurbishing an unspecified number of jets. The Iraqi Air Force considers its founding day as 22 April 1931. This day, the first Royal Iraqi Air Force ( RIrAF ) pilots returned to the country from training in the United Kingdom together with the air force's first aircraft: five de Havilland Gipsy Moths . These formed No. 1 Squadron, based at RAF Hinaidi . Before
9017-474: The Qur'an is referred to by linguists as "Quranic Arabic", as distinct from its codification soon thereafter into " Classical Arabic ". In late pre-Islamic times, a transdialectal and transcommunal variety of Arabic emerged in the Hejaz , which continued living its parallel life after literary Arabic had been institutionally standardized in the 2nd and 3rd century of the Hijra , most strongly in Judeo-Christian texts, keeping alive ancient features eliminated from
9144-561: The RIrAF was thoroughly re-equipped. In 1951, 15 each of de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunks , Percival Provosts and North American T-6s were bought to replace obsolete de Havilland Tiger Moth trainers. With these new aircraft, the RIrAF Flying School was expanded into the Air Force College. The training curriculum was improved, and the number of students graduating each year was increased. This allowed to form
9271-576: The Romance languages. Also, while it is comprehensible to people from the Maghreb , a linguistically innovative variety such as Moroccan Arabic is essentially incomprehensible to Arabs from the Mashriq , much as French is incomprehensible to Spanish or Italian speakers but relatively easily learned by them. This suggests that the spoken varieties may linguistically be considered separate languages. With
9398-575: The Saudi pilots, maneuvered his jet behind the Mirages and shot down both aircraft. After this episode, the Iraqis made no more air efforts of their own, sending most of their jets to Iran in hopes that they might someday get their Air Force back. (Iran returned seven Su-25s in 2014.) During the Persian Gulf War, most Iraqi pilots and aircraft (of French and Soviet origin) fled to Iran to escape
9525-570: The Soviets and the French stopped delivering additional aircraft to Iraq but resumed deliveries a few months later. The IQAF had to instead fight with obsolete Su-20 , MiG-21 Fishbeds and MiG-23 Floggers . The MiG-21 was the main interceptor of the force while their MiG-23s were used for ground attack and interception. The Su-20 were pure ground attack aircraft. On the first day of the war, formations of Tu-16/22s, Su-20s, MiG-23s and MiG-21s, for
9652-403: The United States donated at least six Cessna O-1 Bird Dogs to the RIrAF. The RAF also vacated Shaibah Air Base , and the RIrAF took over it as Wahda Air Base. In 1957, six Hawker Hunter F.Mk.6s were delivered. The next year, the United States agreed to provide 36 F-86F Sabres free of charge. However, this plan was never realised. Following the 14 July Revolution of 1958, which resulted in
9779-466: The air force's squadrons in 1961 as: The IrAF received approximately 30 MiG-19S', 10 MiG-19Ps, and 10 MiG-19PMs in 1959 and 1960. However, only 16 MiG-19S' were ever taken up; the other aircraft were not accepted due to their poor technical condition, and remained stored in Basra . The accepted MiG-19S' were operated from Rasheed Air Base by the 9th Squadron. Their service in Iraq didn't last long however:
9906-494: The attempted Shi'ite and Kurdish revolts between 1991 and 1993. After the Persian Gulf War, the air force consisted only of a sole Su-24 (nicknamed "waheeda" in the Iraqi airforce which translates to roughly "the lonely") and a single squadron of MiG-25s purchased from the Soviet Union in 1979. Some Mirages, MiG-23MLs and SU-22s also remained in use, with the MiG-29s being withdrawn from use by 1995 due to engine TBO limits, and
10033-656: The bombing campaign because no other country would allow them sanctuary. The Iranians impounded these aircraft after the war and returned seven Su-25s in 2014, while putting the rest in the service of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force – claiming them as reparations for the Iran–Iraq War . Because of this Saddam Hussein did not send the rest of his Air Force to Iran just prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, instead opting to bury them in sand. Saddam Hussein, preoccupied with Iran and regional power balance,
10160-540: The condition of Iraq's air force. On the brink of the US-led invasion , Saddam Hussein disregarded his air force's wishes to defend the country's airspace against coalition aircraft and ordered the bulk of his fighters to be disassembled and buried. Some were later found by US excavation forces around the Al Taqqadum and Al Asad air bases, including MiG-25s and Su-25s. The IQAF proved to be totally non-existent during
10287-574: The conversion of Semitic mimation to nunation in the singular. It is best reassessed as a separate language on the Central Semitic dialect continuum. It was also thought that Old Arabic coexisted alongside—and then gradually displaced— epigraphic Ancient North Arabian (ANA), which was theorized to have been the regional tongue for many centuries. ANA, despite its name, was considered a very distinct language, and mutually unintelligible, from "Arabic". Scholars named its variant dialects after
10414-620: The creation of the new air force, the RAF Iraq Command was in charge of all British Armed Forces elements in Iraq in the 1920s and early 1930s. The RIrAF consisted of five pilots, aeronautics students trained at the RAF College Cranwell , and 32 aircraft mechanics. The original five pilots were Natiq Mohammed Khalil al-Tay, Mohammed Ali Jawad, Hafdhi Aziz, Akrem Mushtaq, and Musa Ali. The RIrAF saw its first combats as early as October 1931, against Kurdish insurgents in
10541-656: The delivery schedule proposed by PZL Swidnik was not good enough. As a result, only 2 were delivered in 2005 for testing. The second contract, worth US$ 105 million, was to supply the Iraqi air force with 24 second-hand Russian-made, re-worked Mi-17 (Hips). As of 2008, 8 had been delivered and 2 more were on their way. The Mi-17s were reported to have some attack capability. Arabic language Arabic (endonym: اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ , romanized : al-ʿarabiyyah , pronounced [al ʕaraˈbijːa] , or عَرَبِيّ , ʿarabīy , pronounced [ˈʕarabiː] or [ʕaraˈbij] )
10668-595: The destruction of the Flying School's entire aircraft inventory, training of new pilots only restarted six years after the war. Flying hours were also limited by the British authorities, which confiscated three of the remaining Gloster Gladiators in March 1942. Despite Iraqi attempts to buy some new aircraft, the only ones the British were ready to provide were some worn-out Gladiators: although 30 were delivered between September 1942 and May 1944, most of them were in such
10795-587: The emergence of Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include: There are several features which Classical Arabic, the modern Arabic varieties, as well as the Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions share which are unattested in any other Central Semitic language variety, including the Dadanitic and Taymanitic languages of
10922-612: The end of monarchy in Iraq, the influence of the Iraqi Communist Party grew significantly. The first commander of the Iraqi Air Force (the "Royal" prefix was dropped after the revolution), Jalal Jaffar al-Awqati, was an outspoken communist, and encouraged prime minister Abd al-Karim Qasim to improve relations between Iraq and the USSR. The Soviets reacted quickly, and in the autumn of 1958 a series of arms contracts
11049-539: The end of the Persian Gulf War. A portion of the aircraft damaged may have been repairable or else used for spare parts. This is a combination of losses both in the air (23–36 aircraft) and on the ground (227 aircraft) and exclude the helicopters and aircraft that belonged to Iraqi Army Aviation, Iraqi Navy and the Aviation wing of the Iraqi Department of Border Enforcement. During the 1991 Persian Gulf War ,
11176-635: The end of the year. Used in a fighter role for which they were unsuited, the majority were destroyed by Luftwaffe attacks on 10 May 1940, the first day of the German invasion . Iraq purchased 15 Model 8A-4s in 1939. They arrived in Iraq in September 1940. Twelve of them were destroyed in the Anglo-Iraqi War in 1941, and one of the three remaining aircraft crashed in early 1944. Norway ordered 36 Model 8A-5Ns in 1940. These were not ready by
11303-728: The eve of the conquests: Northern and Central (Al-Jallad 2009). The modern dialects emerged from a new contact situation produced following the conquests. Instead of the emergence of a single or multiple koines, the dialects contain several sedimentary layers of borrowed and areal features, which they absorbed at different points in their linguistic histories. According to Veersteegh and Bickerton, colloquial Arabic dialects arose from pidginized Arabic formed from contact between Arabs and conquered peoples. Pidginization and subsequent creolization among Arabs and arabized peoples could explain relative morphological and phonological simplicity of vernacular Arabic compared to Classical and MSA. In around
11430-607: The fact that they participate in the innovations common to all forms of Arabic. The earliest attestation of continuous Arabic text in an ancestor of the modern Arabic script are three lines of poetry by a man named Garm(')allāhe found in En Avdat, Israel , and dated to around 125 CE. This is followed by the Namara inscription , an epitaph of the Lakhmid king Imru' al-Qays bar 'Amro, dating to 328 CE, found at Namaraa, Syria. From
11557-401: The first aerial victory for the RIrAF. However, on the same day an SM.79 was shot down by Iraqi ground fire over the airfield at Al Diwaniyah . The RAF kept attacking Iraqi airfields; on 8 May, it claimed to have destroyed six aircraft on the ground at Baqubah, and shot down one Gladiator. Around 15 May, Luftwaffe aircraft painted in Iraqi markings arrived in Iraq to help in the fight against
11684-510: The fourth most useful language for business, after English, Mandarin Chinese , and French. Arabic is written with the Arabic alphabet , an abjad script that is written from right to left . Arabic is usually classified as a Central Semitic language . Linguists still differ as to the best classification of Semitic language sub-groups. The Semitic languages changed between Proto-Semitic and
11811-452: The ground that day. On 4 May, eight Vickers Wellington and two Bristol Blenheim bombers of the RAF attacked Rasheed Air Base , the RIrAF's main airfield. However, most Iraqi aircraft had been redeployed to Al-Washash and Baqubah . During the raid, a Wellington that had been hit by anti-aircraft fire was attacked by an Iraqi Gloster Gladiator , and was damaged to the point where it had to land in emergency outside Baghdad. This represented
11938-597: The inclusion of new words into their published standard dictionaries. They also publish old and historical Arabic manuscripts. In 1997, a bureau of Arabization standardization was added to the Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization of the Arab League . These academies and organizations have worked toward the Arabization of the sciences, creating terms in Arabic to describe new concepts, toward
12065-444: The invasion, and all remaining equipment was junked or scrapped in the immediate aftermath of the war. None of the aircraft acquired during Saddam's time remained in service. The Iraqi Air Force, like all Iraqi forces after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq , was rebuilt as part of the overall program to build a new Iraqi defense force. The newly created air force consisted only of 35 people in 2004 when it began operations. In December 2004,
12192-420: The invasion; a few helicopters were seen but no fighters flew to combat coalition aircraft. During the occupation phase, most of Iraq's combat aircraft (J-7, MiG-23s, MiG-25s, SU-20/22, Su-25 and some MiG-29s) were found by American and Australian forces in poor condition at several air bases throughout the country while others were discovered buried. Most of the IQAF's aircraft were destroyed during and after
12319-613: The language. Software and books with tapes are an important part of Arabic learning, as many of Arabic learners may live in places where there are no academic or Arabic language school classes available. Radio series of Arabic language classes are also provided from some radio stations. A number of websites on the Internet provide online classes for all levels as a means of distance education; most teach Modern Standard Arabic, but some teach regional varieties from numerous countries. The tradition of Arabic lexicography extended for about
12446-604: The late 6th century AD, a relatively uniform intertribal "poetic koine" distinct from the spoken vernaculars developed based on the Bedouin dialects of Najd , probably in connection with the court of al-Ḥīra . During the first Islamic century, the majority of Arabic poets and Arabic-writing persons spoke Arabic as their mother tongue. Their texts, although mainly preserved in far later manuscripts, contain traces of non-standardized Classical Arabic elements in morphology and syntax. Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali ( c. 603 –689)
12573-420: The latter is taught in formal education settings. However, there have been studies reporting some degree of comprehension of stories told in the standard variety among preschool-aged children. The relation between Modern Standard Arabic and these dialects is sometimes compared to that of Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin vernaculars (which became Romance languages ) in medieval and early modern Europe. MSA
12700-883: The many national or regional varieties which constitute the everyday spoken language. Colloquial Arabic has many regional variants; geographically distant varieties usually differ enough to be mutually unintelligible , and some linguists consider them distinct languages. However, research indicates a high degree of mutual intelligibility between closely related Arabic variants for native speakers listening to words, sentences, and texts; and between more distantly related dialects in interactional situations. The varieties are typically unwritten. They are often used in informal spoken media, such as soap operas and talk shows , as well as occasionally in certain forms of written media such as poetry and printed advertising. Hassaniya Arabic , Maltese , and Cypriot Arabic are only varieties of modern Arabic to have acquired official recognition. Hassaniya
12827-526: The modern Mirage F1s and the Soviet MiG-25s were effective against the Iranians. The IQAF began to use their new Eastern weaponry which included Tu-22KD/KDP bombers, equipped with Kh-22M/MP air-to-ground missiles, MiG-25s equipped with Kh-23 air-to-ground missiles as well as Kh-25 and Kh-58 anti-radar missiles and also MiG-23BNs , equipped with Kh-29L/T missiles. In 1983, to satisfy
12954-795: The need for a lexical injection in Arabic, to suit concepts of the industrial and post-industrial age (such as sayyārah سَيَّارَة 'automobile' or bākhirah باخِرة 'steamship'). In response, a number of Arabic academies modeled after the Académie française were established with the aim of developing standardized additions to the Arabic lexicon to suit these transformations, first in Damascus (1919), then in Cairo (1932), Baghdad (1948), Rabat (1960), Amman (1977), Khartum [ ar ] {{main other| (1993), and Tunis (1993). They review language development, monitor new words and approve
13081-571: The north of the country. It was during operations against the Kurds that the air force suffered its first combat loss, when a DH.60 collided with a mountain near Barzan in April 1932, killing both crew members. That year, the Gipsy Moths were reinforced by three more DH.60Ts and three de Havilland Puss Moths . The next year, eight de Havilland Dragons were delivered, and in 1934, the first out of
13208-424: The one whose sound is heard but whose person remains unseen. Now the term al-hatif is used for a telephone. Therefore, the process of tawleed can express the needs of modern civilization in a manner that would appear to be originally Arabic. In the case of Arabic, educated Arabs of any nationality can be assumed to speak both their school-taught Standard Arabic as well as their native dialects, which depending on
13335-549: The overhaul of Arabic grammar first proposed by Al-Jahiz 200 years prior. The Maghrebi lexicographer Ibn Manzur compiled Lisān al-ʿArab ( لسان العرب , "Tongue of Arabs"), a major reference dictionary of Arabic, in 1290. Charles Ferguson 's koine theory claims that the modern Arabic dialects collectively descend from a single military koine that sprang up during the Islamic conquests; this view has been challenged in recent times. Ahmad al-Jallad proposes that there were at least two considerably distinct types of Arabic on
13462-518: The rank of Captain , Rayyan qualified on MiG-25 P in late 1981 and went on to claim another eight kills, two of which are confirmed, before being shot down and killed by IRIAF F-14s in 1986. Captain Omar Goben was another successful pilot. While flying a MiG-21 he scored air kills against two F-5E Tiger IIs and one F-4E Phantom II in 1980. He later transferred to the MiG-23 and survived
13589-410: The region may be mutually unintelligible. Some of these dialects can be considered to constitute separate languages which may have "sub-dialects" of their own. When educated Arabs of different dialects engage in conversation (for example, a Moroccan speaking with a Lebanese), many speakers code-switch back and forth between the dialectal and standard varieties of the language, sometimes even within
13716-517: The region. Its downfall came during the Persian Gulf War (1990–91) and continued while coalition forces enforced no-fly zones. The remnants of Iraq's air force were destroyed during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion . After the invasion, the IQAF was rebuilt, receiving most of its training and aircraft from the United States . In 2007, Iraq asked Iran to return some of the scores of Iraqi fighter planes that flew there to escape destruction during
13843-458: The same sentence. The issue of whether Arabic is one language or many languages is politically charged, in the same way it is for the varieties of Chinese , Hindi and Urdu , Serbian and Croatian , Scots and English, etc. In contrast to speakers of Hindi and Urdu who claim they cannot understand each other even when they can, speakers of the varieties of Arabic will claim they can all understand each other even when they cannot. While there
13970-458: The sole example of Medieval linguist Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati – who, while a scholar of the Arabic language, was not ethnically Arab – Medieval scholars of the Arabic language made no efforts at studying comparative linguistics, considering all other languages inferior. In modern times, the educated upper classes in the Arab world have taken a nearly opposite view. Yasir Suleiman wrote in 2011 that "studying and knowing English or French in most of
14097-563: The standardization of these new terms throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and toward the development of Arabic as a world language . This gave rise to what Western scholars call Modern Standard Arabic. From the 1950s, Arabization became a postcolonial nationalist policy in countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Sudan. Arabic usually refers to Standard Arabic, which Western linguists divide into Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic. It could also refer to any of
14224-425: The start of Operation Desert Storm . However, they had already been withdrawn from the inventory of the Iraqi Air Force and were simply used as decoys and do not appear on the operational list of lost aircraft from the Iraqi Air Force (like all other old aircraft which were used solely to deflect raids from operational assets). The MiG-25 force ( NATO reporting name 'Foxbat') recorded the first air-to-air kill during
14351-499: The survivors were donated to Egypt around 1964. Iraq also received MiG-21F-13 and Tupolev Tu-16 bombers starting in 1962. The November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état realigned Iraq with NATO powers, and as a result, more second-hand Hawker Hunters were delivered to the IQAF. Aircraft imports from the Communist Eastern European nations had been suspended until 1966, when MiG-21 PF interceptors were purchased from
14478-779: The time of the German Invasion of Norway and were diverted to the Norwegian training camp in Canada, which became known as Little Norway . Norway decided to sell 18 of these aircraft as surplus to Peru, but these were embargoed by the United States, who requisitioned the aircraft, using them as trainers, designating them the A-33 . Norway sold their surviving aircraft to Peru in 1943. In June 1940, 93 ex-USAAC aircraft were purchased by France, and refurbished by Douglas, including being given new engines. These were not delivered before
14605-501: The towns where the inscriptions were discovered (Dadanitic, Taymanitic, Hismaic, Safaitic). However, most arguments for a single ANA language or language family were based on the shape of the definite article, a prefixed h-. It has been argued that the h- is an archaism and not a shared innovation, and thus unsuitable for language classification, rendering the hypothesis of an ANA language family untenable. Safaitic and Hismaic, previously considered ANA, should be considered Old Arabic due to
14732-598: The war, but was killed in January 1991 flying a MiG-29 versus an American F-15C . Captain Salah I. was also a distinguished pilot during this period flying a Mirage F1, achieving a double kill against two F-4Es on 2 December 1981 while he was part of the 79th Squadron. In August 1990, Iraq had the largest air force in the region even after the long Iran–Iraq War . The air force at that time had 934 combat-capable aircraft (including trainers) in its inventory. Theoretically,
14859-546: The war, the IQAF ordered 14 Tupolev Tu-22 Bs and two Tu-22 Us from the USSR as well as Raduga Kh-22 missiles and by 1975, 10 Tu-22Bs and 2 Tu-22Us were delivered. The 1970s also saw a series of fierce Kurdish uprisings in the north of the country against Iraq. With the help of the Shah of Iran, the Kurds received arms and supplies including modern SAMs as well as some Iranian soldiers. The IQAF suffered heavy casualties fighting
14986-619: The war. A MIG-25 PDS, piloted by Lt. Zuhair Dawood of the 84th Fighter Squadron, shot down a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet from VFA-81 on the first night of the war. In 2009 the Pentagon announced they had identified the remains of the pilot, U.S. Navy Captain Michael "Scott" Speicher , solving an 18-year mystery. Captain Speicher, who was a Lieutenant Commander at the time, was apparently buried by nomadic Bedouin tribesmen close to where his jet
15113-451: The world have classes that teach Arabic as part of their foreign languages , Middle Eastern studies , and religious studies courses. Arabic language schools exist to assist students to learn Arabic outside the academic world. There are many Arabic language schools in the Arab world and other Muslim countries. Because the Quran is written in Arabic and all Islamic terms are in Arabic, millions of Muslims (both Arab and non-Arab) study
15240-754: Was an attack bomber derivative of the Northrop Gamma transport aircraft, developed in parallel with the Northrop Gamma 2C, designated the YA-13 and XA-16. The Gamma 2F had a revised tail, cockpit canopy and wing flaps compared with the Gamma 2C, and was fitted with new semi-retractable landing gear. It was delivered to the United States Army Air Corps for tests on 6 October 1934, and after modifications which included fitting with
15367-591: Was canceled due to these heavy losses as well as disagreements with the Syrian government. Eventually, all aircraft besides several Sukhoi Su-7s were withdrawn from bases in Syria. During the war in October 1973, the first air strike against Israeli bases in Sinai was composed of Iraqi planes; they hit artillery sites and Israeli tanks, and they also claimed to have destroyed 21 Israeli fighters in air combat. Shortly after
15494-440: Was engaged in an intense and protracted war. The 8 year long conflict with Iran gave the Air Force the opportunity to develop some battle-tested and hardened fighter pilots. Though information about the IQAF is, at best, hard to access, two men stand out as the best Iraqi fighter aces . Mohammed Rayyan , nicknamed "Sky Falcon," who flew MiG-21 MF in 1980–81, and claimed two confirmed kills against Iranian F-5 Es in 1980. With
15621-407: Was in the 1941 Anglo-Iraqi War , when the Iraqi government made a bid for full independence following a coup by Rashid Ali against pro-British Iraqi leaders. The war began in earnest on 2 May, when British aircraft started attacking the Iraqi troops that were encircling RAF Habbaniya . In response, the RIrAF started attacking the airfield, destroying two Hawker Audaxes and one Airspeed Oxford on
15748-540: Was passed between Iraq and the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. These stipulated the delivery of MiG-15 UTI trainers, MiG-17 F fighters, Ilyushin Il-28 bombers, and Antonov An-2 and An-12 transports. The first aircraft arrived in Iraq in January 1959. During the late 1960s and or early 1970s additional MiG-17s may have been purchased and then forwarded to either Syria or Egypt . Tom Cooper and Stefan Kuhn list
15875-508: Was shot down by Israelis, killing the crew of five. The IrAF also played a significant role in supporting Jordanian troops. The Iraqi Air Force had one Pakistani pilot, Saiful Azam , who claimed two kills against Israeli aircraft over the H-3 air base in a Hawker Hunter . Iraqi Hunter pilots were officially credited for shooting down a further four Israeli aircraft, and another one was credited to anti-aircraft guns. Thanks to its Hunters and MiG-21s,
16002-454: Was shot down in a remote area of Anbar province. The second air-air kill was recorded by a pilot named Jameel Sayhood on January nineteenth. Flying a MIG-29 , he shot down a Royal Air Force Tornado GR.1A with R-60 missiles. Flight Lieutenant D J Waddington piloted the RAF aircraft serial ZA396/GE, and Flight Lieutenant R J Stewart, and crashed 51 nautical miles southeast of Tallil air base. On 30 January 1991, an IQAF MiG-25 hit and damaged
16129-521: Was still recovering from its destruction during the Anglo-Iraqi War when it joined in the war against the newly created state of Israel in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War . The air force only played a small role in the first war against Israel . From 1948 to 1949 No. 7 Squadron operated Avro Anson training bombers from Transjordan from where they flew several attacks against the Israelis. After
#619380