Abbas Babaei

Abbas Babaei (5 December 1950-6 August 1987) was an Iranian pilot and Major General in the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, who was a commander in the Iran-Iraq War. He was killed during the war.

Education
He was born in a middle class religious family in Qazvin 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 and McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighters in the Imperial Iranian Air Force. In 1975 he became the pilot of Grumman F-14 Tomcats at the military airbase at Esfahan. When he returned to Iran he got married to his cousin Maliheh and moved to Dezful in Khuzestan Province in Iran. He settled down there and was given a house by the Iranian air force. He had three children. A girl called Salma and two boys called Hossein and Mohammad.

During the Iran-Iraq war
After the Islamic Revolution he became the commander of Esfahan military airbase in 1981.

Death
General Abbas Babaei was killed by Iranian air defense forces on August 6 1987 by mistake when he was flying over Sardasht during an aerial operation.