Abbas Babaei ( fa, عباس بابایی) (5 December 1950 – 6 August 1987) was an Iranian

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

pilot who served as

Brigadier-General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

during the Iran-Iraq War.

Education

He was born in a middle class religious family in

Qazvin Qazvin (; fa, قزوین, , also Romanized as ''Qazvīn'', ''Qazwin'', ''Kazvin'', ''Kasvin'', ''Caspin'', ''Casbin'', ''Casbeen'', or ''Ghazvin'') is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran. Qazvin was a capital of the ...

in 1950. Babaei was a student at Dehkhoda primary school and graduated from Nezam Vafa high school. After graduating in 1969 he moved to the United States to become a fighter pilot. During his studies in the United States he was chosen as the volleyball captain of the airbase volleyball team.

Return to Iran

After returning to Iran following flight training, he became a pilot of

Northrop F-5 The Northrop F-5 is a family of supersonic light fighter aircraft initially designed as a privately funded project in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation. There are two main models, the original F-5A and F-5B Freedom Fighter variants and t ...

. After returning to Iran he married his cousin Maliheh and moved to

Dezful Dezful ( fa, دزفول, pronounced , Dezfuli dialect: Desfil, pronounced ) also Romanized as Dezfūl and Dezfool; also known as Dīzfūl and Ab I Diz is a city and capital of Dezful County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its popul ...

Khuzestan Province Khuzestan Province (also spelled Xuzestan; fa, استان خوزستان ''Ostān-e Xūzestān'') is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and it covers ...

where he resided in the Iranian Air Force residence. He had three children, a daughter, Salma, and two sons, Hossein and Mohammad.

The Iran-Iraq war

He became the commander of 8th Tactical Airbase in 1981. Aviation journalist and Iran-Iraq air war expert Tom Cooper reports that Babaei was "notorious for his merciless treatment of the pilots and officers" considered disloyal to the new regime.''Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat'' by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, 2004, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, p. 23, Cooper's research indicates: :... Col. Abbas Baba’ie, an officer differently described as the "mastermind of IRIAF’s capability to keep its F-14-fleet intact", or simply a "war hero". There are, however, numerous former IRIAF pilots who not only deny that Baba’ie ever even qualified on F-14s, but also outright refuse to even mention his name, most likely because of his close cooperation with the clerical regime in Tehran. But it is a fact that he really is popular among people because of his achivments during Iran and Iraq war

Death

General Abbas Babaei was killed on 6 August 1987, while in the rear seat of a F-5B while over Iraqi air space. He was hit by a 23 mm round of an air defense system on Sardasht air space, a city located in west Azerbaijan, Iran. It turned out Iranian' defense system, operated by

Sepah The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

, had hit Babaei's aircraft in error. The pilot, Major Ali Mohammad Naderi managed to land the jet, but Babaei died within 10 minutes.

used the ZSU-23 self-propelled,

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

guided

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

weapon A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...

system (

SPAAG An anti-aircraft vehicle, also known as a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) or self-propelled air defense system (SPAD), is a mobile vehicle with a dedicated anti-aircraft capability. Specific weapon systems used include machine guns, ...

) at the time. In 2011, ''

Flying Passion Flying Passion ( fa, شوق پرواز ; Shoghe Parvaz) is an Iranian Drama series. The series is directed by Yadollah Samadi. Storyline The story of ''Flying Passion'' series is make about the life of Abbas Babaei, one of the pilots of the I ...

'' was shown on Channel 1. The film was about Babaei's lifetime. The memory of Babayi, who earned ''

shahid ''Shaheed'' ( , , ; pa, ਸ਼ਹੀਦ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); ...

'' ("martyr") status for his untimely death, is preserved in the name of

Shahid Babaee High School (Qazvin Sampad) ''Shaheed'' ( , , ; pa, ਸ਼ਹੀਦ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); ...

, his commemorative statute in

(shown at right), and in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

's Babayi Expressway.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babaei, Abbas 1987 deaths 1950 births People from Qazvin Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force personnel Islamic Republic of Iran Army brigadier generals Iranian military personnel killed in the Iran–Iraq War Military personnel killed by friendly fire Islamic Republic of Iran Army personnel of the Iran–Iraq War