Ethiopian Air Force

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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^{[citation needed]}'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^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Aircraft inventory

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Versions	In service^[2]	Notes
Aermacchi SF-260	Italy	trainer	SF.260TP	4
Aero L-39	Czech Republic	trainer		17
Aérospatiale Alouette III	France	utility helicopter	SA 316A	8
Antonov An-12	Soviet Union	tactical transport		9
Antonov An-24	Soviet Union	tactical transport		1
Antonov An-26	Soviet Union	tactical transport		1
Bell 204	Italy	utility helicopter	AB 204	5	built by Agusta
de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo	Canada	tactical transport		1
Lockheed C-130 Hercules	United States	tactical transport	C-130B	2
Mikoyan MiG-21	Soviet Union	fighter	MiG-21 MiG-21U	18 3
Mikoyan MiG-23	Soviet Union	fighter	MiG-23 MiG-23UM	8 4
Mil Mi-6	Soviet Union	transport helicopter		10
Mil Mi-8	Russia	transport helicopter		12
Mil Mi-14	Soviet Union	antisubmarine helicopter	Mi-14PL	2
Mil Mi-24	Russia	attack helicopter	Mi-24 Mi-35	15 3
Sukhoi Su-25	Soviet Union	attack		6
Sukhoi Su-27	Russia	fighter	Su-27 Su-27SK	7 8
Yakovlev Yak-40	Soviet Union	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:

[edit] References

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