Yadollah Sharifirad ( fa, یدالله شریفی‌راد) (born 24 March 1946, in Taleqan) is an Iranian former

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

, former

military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...

and writer. In 1978, he was a member of

Golden Crown The Golden Crown ( fa, تاج طلایی ''Tāj-e Talāyi'') was Iran's first national aerobatics display team and part of the former Imperial Iranian Air Force from 1958 to 1979. It was formed by Nader Jahanbani, an Iranian fighter pilot, and m ...

aerobatic team Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glid ...

. Sharifirad was one of the most successful Iranian

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 ...

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

s during the Iran-Iraq war. He shot down five Iraqi

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

(three confirmed and two possible). The victories include one Su-22 and four MiG-21s. In an air raid on an Iraqi

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

, he was attacked by three Iraqi fighters and shot down. He ejected and was returned to Iran by Iraqi

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

guerrillas. A movie called ''Eagles'' was made about this event.Arabian Peninsula & Persian Gulf Database: Iranian Air-to-Air Victories, 1976–1981, Sept. 16, 2003
/ref> From 1984 until 1987, Sharifirad served as a military attaché in Pakistan. In 1987, he was ordered back to Iran by the government; upon his return, Sharifirad was accused of spying for the United States and imprisoned for over a year before being released. Sharifirad then escaped to Canada. In 2010, Sharifirad wrote a book titled ''Flight of a Patriot'', recounting the story of his life from his youth until his participation in the Iran-Iraq war, his arrest, imprisonment and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

, and immigration to Canada.amazon.ca
''Flight of the Patriot: Escape from Revolutionary Iran'' (retrieved on 12 September 2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharifirad, Yadollah 1946 births Living people Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force personnel Iranian aviators Military aviators Islamic Republic of Iran Army personnel of the Iran–Iraq War Prisoners and detainees of Iran Iranian emigrants to Canada Iranian expatriates in Pakistan Golden Crown Shot-down aviators

See Also

References