A Brief Biography of : Late Lieutenant General Mohammed Hady Esfandiari

تیمسار سپهبد محمد هادی اسفندیاری

Gen. Esfandiari was born in Yoush, a village in the heart of Alborz Mountains, in the North of Iran, on May 25, 1915 and died at 2 a.m., November 30, 1994 in a hospital in southern England, near London, at the age of 79. He is buried in a small parish cemetery in southern England. He requested his remains be transferred to Yoush and placed to rest next to those of his forefathers.

Gen. Esfandiari’s primary and high school education were carried out in Tehran and Mazandran. He obtained his high school diploma in Mazandran in 1935 while winning the top place among all high school 12th grade students in that province. By that time, he also managed to become fluent in French. In autumn of that year, he entered the University of Tehran and commenced his higher education in English language studies. However, in February of 1936, he decided to join the newly formed Imperial Iranian Air Force Technical Offices Academy and in 1938 graduated from the academy and also received the honor of becoming a Second Lieutenant in the IIAF. He began his career in IIAF at Shahbaz Aircraft factories in the Aircraft Manufacturing Progress and Development Department. Thenceforth, he served in the various posts in the IIAF as listed: Liaison and Translation Officer (during the Second World War the IIAF flying officers were sent to Habaneih in Egypt to get certified by Royal British Air Force (RAF) on British-made planes that were to enter into IIAF inventory. Lt. Esfandiari, because of his fluency in the English language and technical expertise, was tasked to accompany these officers and participate in every flight during the entire training and certification sessions with every IIAF pilot as a translator and liaison officer. Lt. Esfandiari became so proficient at mastering the art of flying that the RAF officer in charge recommended to him that he should also participate in the final certification flights and become a certified pilot. He thanked the British officer for his offer and told him that he was a technical officer and would always remain as one.), Deputy Commander Non-commissioned Officers Technical Training Academy, Deputy Chief of Staff Materials, Commander Training Command, Military, Air & Naval Attaché in the UK and Commander Air Defense Command from 1961 to 1974. He served in the IIAF for nearly forty years; finally in December of 1974, as a result of his personal request, he became retired.

Lt. Gen. Esfandiari was a highly well mannered, calm and just individual. Although he was a well-educated and intellectually gifted person, he never forced his subordinates to follow his orders sheepishly. He treated them in a kind but firm fatherly manner by constantly advising and encouraging them to reason, for themselves, toward sound judgment. In February 1959, he was sent to Britain as the Imperial Iranian Government’s Military, Air and Naval Attaché. His conduct in the international diplomatic arena was so impressive that his foreign counterparts and diplomats treated him with utmost respect and praised him at all official and ceremonial gatherings. In the summer of 1959, His Imperial Majesty Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi made his first official visit to the UK. Naturally, Col. Esfandiari represented the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces in the ceremonies and, as a result, exchange of military honors and decorations between the heads of the two countries. He was also reciprocated by Queen Elizabeth II, and received the CVO (Commander of the Royal Victorian Order), one of the highest military medals given to a foreign military dignitary. In the summer of 1960, the Shah of Iran made a similar trip to the Scandinavian countries. Gen. Esfandiari was ordered to represent the Imperial Government in these counties as the Iranian Military Attaché while maintaining the same post in the UK.

In autumn of 1961, he was summoned from England to assume a new post, which was to build and run the Air Defense Command from zero. At that time the Air Defense of Iran was nothing but a non-operational British-made mobile radar unit that sat next to the runway in the middle of IIAF complex at Dushan Tapeh. The early cadre of the Air Defense Command was formed of officers and NCOs who were not well favored in other IIAF Commands or flying officers who could no longer fly as a result of severe injuries they sustained in plane crashes. Gen. Esfandiari, with his unique management and leadership skills, despite all shortages and inadequacies, managed to create an extended nationwide Air Defense Command (ADC) consisting of 11 Fixed Ground Radar stations (excluding Cha-Bahar) which comprised of: Radar hardware and fighter controller’s operation sites, ground to air missiles and anti aircraft artillery gun sites, housing communities & BUQ’s, airports, communication, command & control centers, etc., that were scattered all over the country in: Tehran, Northern, Northwestern, Eastern, Western, Southwestern, along the Persian Gulf region and Kish Island as well as several mobile radar sites which were mainly located in the western and southwestern parts of Iran. By 1972, well over 55,000 ADC personnel ran the gigantic defense system in spite of its severe (ongoing) manpower shortages. Gen. Esfandiari had managed to build an Air Defense Command that was commended by its CENTO counterparts at the ceremony held every year to celebrate the conclusion of their joint annual CENTO exercises. ADC personnel were so well trained that even the Islamic regime deployed them in the most sensitive and important Air Force posts. Gen. Fakouri and Gen. Satari, late Commanders of the Iranian Air Force, in recent times, were both ex-ADC officers.

It may be pertinent to mention that in 1972 due to extensive detection and coverage problems arising in most areas, particularly the Persian Gulf region, either from inadequacies associated with the installed foreign radar systems themselves or selection of poor radar sites by the foreign military advisers, an extensive radar coverage optimization study was carried out by the IIAF with the help of USAF, FAA, US universities & industries and Pentagon. A thorough search for more suitable radar sites and extensive metrological investigation of the Persian Gulf region weather behavior pattern, from zero feet to 10,000 ft above the sea level, and interoperability and suitability of yielding the desired interlaced-mesh radar coverage of the Iranian airspace by various radar systems namely: ground, mobile and HAWK missiles radar were conducted which eventually led to further studies such as the Automation of the Iranian Defense, deployment/purchase of AWACS, etc. I am proud to say that at that time I worked as a civilian Electronics Engineer at IIAF-DCS, CEM (Deputy Chief of Staff, Communication Electronics and Metrology), and was the project engineer for aforementioned projects. I also, on my own initiative, worked with ITT- GILFILLAN and jointly we succeeded in designing and developing a remotely controlled radar gap filler system, which detected and provided early warning against enemy aircraft intrusion through radar blind spots and gaps in between mountain ranges and valleys. This discovery was very important at the time because of continuous enemy aircraft penetration in the western part of Iran.

Gen. Esfandiari hails from a very old and noble Persian family. According to the Esfandiari family history book, he is a direct descendent of Jamasb, the brother of Qobad and the uncle of Anoshiravan-e Dadgar (Sasanian emperors). His father’s (Col. Abol-Hasan Khan, one of the top five gunnery officers during the reign of Mozafaraldin Shah Qajar) great grandfather was Fatali Khan-e Koh-e Noor, a contemporary and rival of Aqa Mohammed Khan Qajar. Gen. Esfandiari inherited a great wealth in Mazandaran including the Noor Forest (currently known as Park-e Noor) and a giant timber mill complex that was located in it. Reza Shah originally annexed the forest and the timber mill and made them part of the national resources and government owned industries; the major part of the farmland, however, was taken over by the Pahlavi Foundation. The reminder of the land, beaches and his other properties finally vanished as a result of a land reform program that took place during the reign of Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. In 1979, the Islamic regime cut off his retirement pension, confiscated his assets and removed all his lawful rights of ownership and overseas travel creating such an atmosphere that compelled him to escape from Iran. Gen. Esfandiari, despite his privileged background and the powerful positions he held, never allowed himself to take advantage of the circumstances to accumulate wealth, as was a common practice among most of his contemporaries, who remorselessly robbed the Iranians of their national wealth. Instead, he lived with much difficulty, on meager means, until his death.

Gen. Esfandiari and his peers graduated from the first officers training course of the IIAF Technical Officers Academy in 1938 during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi. The Iranians at that time managed to rank themselves among the leading nations in the world by developing the capability of assembling British- made military aircraft and fabricating some of the critical aircraft parts and components that were needed for their maintenance and repair in Iran. In 1949, Major Esfandiari headed a group of 64 IIAF technical and flying personnel who were sent to England for a period of two years to acquire in-depth aircraft related technological and technical know-how that was needed for the enhancement of the IIAF capabilities. Gen. Esfandiari’s civilian academic studies were conducted at Tehran University in its Foreign Languages and Law faculties. He was fluent in French, English and German; he also was well versed in Arabic. He attended Military Staff Colleges in Iran and in the US and completed both courses with flying colors. Gen. M.H. Esfandiari was the only general in the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces, during the reign of Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, who actually resigned from service by submitting his request for retirement. This stemmed from the fact that he reached a point when he totally lost hope to see any improvement in the manner in which the country was run, that is, the unfortunate circumstance that the majority of the Iranian civilian and military top echelon chieftains had no other motive but to loot the nation of its wealth. Gen Esfandiari was not in the habit of openly displaying his emotions; therefore, apart from some of his intimate friends and close relations, the others were not aware of his immense love for Iran. However, hopefully the following two episodes would illustrate this:
During the Second World War, as a result of the occupation of Iran by the allied forces, the British took charge of Shahbaz Aircraft Industries to repair and maintain the RAF contingent aircraft fleet in Iran. The British also had a need for the IIAF personnel, in particular the technical personnel, to assist them to attain their goal. The IIAF personnel, therefore, were ordered by their supreme command to report to Col. Jenkins, the RAF officer in charge of Shahbaz Industries. Lt. Esfandiari, after receiving this order, wrote a letter to Maj. Gen. Firoz, the Commander of IIAF, requesting transfer to another force since he was not prepared to report to a foreign commander. Gen. Firoz, after receiving his letter, summoned the young officer to his office, kissed him on the forehead and told him that they were very proud of him and there was no need for a transfer since he could continue to serve his country at Chief of Staff Head Quarters, IIAF.
Shortly after Dr. Bakhtiar’s escape from Iran and the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a group of Air Force officers and Homafars, representing the Iranian Air Force personnel, visited Gen. Esfandiari, at his home in Farmanieh, and requested him to become the commander of the Iranian Air Force. Naturally, Gen. Esfandiari thanked them for their trust in him but indicated to them that he was a General of the Shah’s regime; they had revolted to oust the Shah, he did not see himself a supporter of it. Since Gen. Esfandiari was not a participant in their revolution, he, therefore, could not imagine serving the new regime nor benefiting from it.

When Gen. Esfandiari passed away the personnel of the Iranian Air Force mourned his loss by participating in the memorial services held in his honor in Tehran and other Iranian cities, and paraded in front of his picture honoring his departure.

Prepared by: Keyhan Esfandiari ex-Electronics Engineer at DCS-CEM, IIAF