Nader Jahanbani

Sepahbod Nader Jahanbani ( Sepahbod Nāder-e Jahānbānī; 1928 – 13 March 1979) was an Iranian general and the deputy chief of the Imperial Iranian Air Force under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Despite being executed in 1979 by Islamic Revolutionaries, he is widely lauded as the "Father of the Iranian Air Force" along with general Mohammad Khatam, for modernizing the Air Force to become a potent and powerful force whose advanced equipment and training he acquired for Iran, such as the F-14 Tomcat, would save Iran's crucial infrastructure during the Iran-Iraq War.

Early life and education
Jahanbani was born into a family with a long military history. His father, Amanullah Jahanbani, was a lieutenant general, who served in the Persian Cossack Brigade with Reza Shah Pahlavi. He was a Qajar prince, great grandson of Fath Ali Shah. Nader's mother, Helen Kasminsky, was from the Russian aristocracy in Petrograd. He had two brothers, Parviz, who was an officer in the Imperial Iranian marines, and Khosrow, who married Shahnaz Pahlavi. Amanullah was thrown in prison when Jahanbani was 12, but after Reza Shah died, he was released and made a senator by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. By then, his father sent him to the Russian Air Force Academy, from which he graduated, and entered the IIAF in 1952 with the rank of first lieutenant.

In 1952, Jahanbani was selected to be sent to Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base in Germany to attend the jet pilot training school to become a pilot for the first Iranian jet fighter aircraft, the F-84 Thunderjet, which was slated for delivery in 1955, along with 15 other pilots including Mohammad Khatami. Upon completion of the training program, 10 pilots returned to Iran while Jahanbani, along with four others, continued their training to become instructors back in Iran.

Career
After completing the Jet Instructor pilot course and returning to Iran, Jahanbani formed Iran’s first Acrobat team, called The Golden Crown together with other officers, including Mohammad Amir Khatami and Amir Hossein Rabi'i.

Jahanbani played a crucial role in the Iranian air force during the 1960s and 1970s by helping to create an effective air force. He was made responsible for the purchase and maintenance of these aircraft and was promoted with a seat on the chief of staff of the ministry of war. He served as the deputy commander-in-chief of the air force. He was also general secretary of the National Sports Federation.

Personal life
Jahanbani was married to the daughter of Colonel Yadolah Azam Zangeneh, Farah.

Death
When the Shah declared martial law in response to mounting protests in 1978, and put military officers in charge, Jahanbani was not one of the military commanders since he had very little experience with internal security affairs. As a result, when the Shah fled, despite the urging of his family, his friends in the US Air Force, as well as the Shah himself and his daughter Shahnaz (who was his sister in-law), Jahanbani falsely thought that he was safe from possible purges and retaliation against the security officials who suppressed the protests as well as his belief that the powerful air force which Iran had would be a testament of his loyalty to the country, not the Shah himself. He was proven wrong when Ayatollah Khomeini returned and ordered Revolutionary Guards to arrest him at the air force headquarters. He was one of the first of the Shah's generals to be arrested and was sent to a court run by the infamous Sadegh Khalkhali.

He was charged and convicted with: "Association with the Shah's idolatrous regime; Corruption on earth; Unspecified anti-revolutionary offense; War on God, God's Prophet and the deputy of the Twelfth Imam"

He was taken to Qasr Prison and in the early hours of 13 March 1979 he was shot in the courtyard of the Qasr prison. His last words were "Long Live Iran".

Empress Farah Pahlavi wrote:

"'A bit later, I managed to contact by phone a dear friend whose husband, Air Force Lieutenant General Nader Jahanbani, had just been executed. Insulted by one of the guardians of the revolution, he had the courage to slap him in the face before dying. She was sobbing and I, who should have been able to find words to comfort her, could do nothing but cry with her. That evening, in despair, I wrote these few lines in my notebook: 'I don't feel I have the strength in me to go on fighting. I would prefer to die for my country with honor rather than be dragged toward death by the depression that is overtaking me. Dear God, if you are there, give me the strength to go on.'"

Legacy
Despite being killed before the Iran-Iraq War, many of the things he did for the Iranian Air Force, such as acquiring the F-4, F-5, F-14, advanced radar systems, and the AIM-54 Phoenix air to air missiles, as well as the training for his students is widely credited for saving the country from the Iraqi invasion and were later on used to protect the areas of the country which were crucial to the Regime's survival, such as Tehran and Kharg Island. Even the reports of one F-14 in an area was enough to have the Iraqis pull out an entire squadron from going up against them. Even 30 years on, the F-14 Tomcat is still a premier fighter jet in the Iranian Air Force inventory.