Somali Air Force
| Somali Air Force | |
|---|---|
Emblem of Somali Air force
|
|
| Founded | 1954 |
| Country |
 Somalia
|
| Branch | Somali Armed Forces |
| Type | Air force |
| Role | Aerial warfare |
| Part of | Somali Armed Forces |
| Garrison/HQ | Baledogle Airfield |
| Motto(s) |
Somali: Isku Tiirsada! English: Lean Together! |
| Colors | |
| Engagements | 1960-1964 Border Dispute Ogaden War 1982 Ethiopian–Somali Border War Shifta War |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Gen. Mohamoud Sheikh Ali Said |
| Notable commanders |
Ali Matan Hashi 1960-1978 |
| Insignia | |
| The Roundel |  |
| Finflash |  |
The Somali Air Force (SAF) (Somali: Ciidamada Cirka Soomaaliyeed), (Arabic: القوات الجوية الصومالية), Al-Qūwāt al-Gawwīyä as-Ṣūmāl) is the air force of Somalia. The Somali Aeronautical Corps (SAC) was the name of the Somali Air Force during the pre-independence (1954–1960) period. After 1960, when Somalia gained independence, the name changed to the Somali Air Force. SAF principal organizer and the first Somalia pilot Ali Matan Hashi became the founder as well as the Chief of SAF. The SAF at one point had the strongest airstrike capability in the Horn of Africa. Following the outbreak of the civil war in the early 1990s, the air force disbanded. A reconstituted Somali Central Government later relaunched the SAF in the 2010s, with its headquarters being reopened in 2015.
Following an agreement signed between the Somali and Italian governments in 1962, Somali airmen began a training regimen in Italy with the assistance of Italian technical staff and pilots. Over the same period, fifty Somali cadets also commenced training in Soviet Union as jet aircraft pilots, later to be joined by more than two hundred of the nation’s elite NCOs and officers for general military training. Most of these trained Somali military officials then returned to Somalia with the skills and knowledge that they had acquired abroad.
The Somali Air Force was established before Somalia's independence, and was at first equipped with a small number of Western aircraft, including Beech 18s and C-47 Dakotas for transport tasks, a few Piaggio P.148 trainers, P-51D Mustangs used as fighters, and a pair of Bell H-13 Sioux helicopters.
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Wikipedia