The Ethiopian army, led by Emperor Menelik II, which defeated the Italian invaders at the battle of Adwa in 1896, was a traditional one.
Soldiers were recruited from peasants. They used their own logistics and animals for transportation.
The army was barefooted, ill-fed and ill-closed but it defeated the invaders by paying a huge scarifies with strong spirit for the country’s existence.
Modernizing the Ethiopian army was started by Ras Teferi Mekonen before he was coroneted in 1931 as Emperor Haile Selassie I. While he was named as the successor of Empress Zewditu his prior agenda was consolidating his position by winning the internal power struggle and establishing a strong central government by eroding the autonomous status of the regional kings and lords.
He broke the traditional power hierarchy and appointed his own officials to govern the regions from the center. However, his advent had not got acceptance by his rivals, which had power base in the regions.
One of his rivals, the former husband of empress Zewditu, Ras Gugssa Wole of Gonder who was a conservative lord opposed the progressive ideas of Teferi Mekonen to modernize the nation through the expansion of education. Backed by the Italians who controlled Eritrea, Ras Gugssa criticized Haile Selassie’ measures and rebelled against him in 1930.
Alerted by his clandestine activities, Ras Teferri Mekonen took a preemptive measure against him and obtained fire support from the British Royal Air Force stationed in Aden Yemen and defeated the Ras Gugssa Wole’s forces at the battle of “anchem” in Southern Gonder.
The Emperor’s use of air force against internal rebels was the first of its kind in the long history of Ethiopia.
Two days later, after the defeat of Ras Gugssa, the mystery death of Empress Taytu was announced to the public and Ras Tefferi Mekonen was coroneted as Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1931.
As a result of this experience, he advocated the development of the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force. The Ethiopian Air Force was organized by Mishka Babitchef the first Ethiopian pilot, who was of a Russian descent. By the time of the Italian invasion of 1935, the air force had four pilots and thirteen aircrafts.
A few transport aircrafts were also acquired during 1934–35 for ambulance work. The air force was commanded by Colone John Robinson (African- American, took command May 1935), recruited by Haile Selassie, and who remained until the Italian occupation of Ethiopia when the small air arm ceased to exist.
During the war fascist Italia used its air force to bombard the Ethiopian patriots using muster gas prohibited by the league of nation, for it has hazardous effect on human as well as animal’s lives.
After he came from the exile, the Emperor drew lesson from Italy how the air force can change power balance in the ground battle and began to reestablish the imperial air force.
The liberation of Ethiopia gave way the country to start reorganizing the air force, at embryonic stage that had existed prior to the Italian invasion. In 1944, a group of World War II African American veterans set up a flying school at Lideta or old airport in Addis Ababa.
The nation acquired a few aircraft through military aid from the United States and United Kingdom and the school had some 75 students by 1946. But later on neither the United States nor the United Kingdom was interested to providing assistance. Ethiopia turned to Sweden to help create a modern air arm.
The latter agreed to provide assistance and was appointed as the chief instructor of the newly re-formed Imperial Ethiopian Air Force (IEAF).
The Swedish contingent played a critical role in setting up a solid foundation. Sweden and the Ethiopian government acquired transport aircraft from the United States to equip the flight training, bomber, and transport squadrons, respectively. In 1951, the IEAF formed its first fighter/ attack squadron by acquiring fighters from the United Kingdom and Ethiopia’s relation with the US and United Kingdom became reinvigorated.
In 1953, a military agreement was entered between the United States and Ethiopia for a military assistance program. It aimed to provide Ethiopia with a capable military force for defensive purposes. The US military sent a team to undertake a comprehensive study of the Ethiopian military capabilities, requirements, and probable threats facing Ethiopia.
In addition to military assistance, the US provided economic support to Ethiopia and increased the number of students entitled scholarship to study in the US. The schools and higher education curriculum were adopted from the western countries.
The US also gave political advisors to the imperial regime to protect the statuesque from internal upheaval.
Meanwhile it was proved that when the Military coup took place against the imperial regime led by the Neway brothers in 1960, the air force squadrons piloted by the Americans bombarded the imperial guard positions and played their own role to calm down the coup attempt.
Side by side consolidating his power through modernizing the army, Emperor Haile Selassie I was forced to engage in military competition with the neighboring countries.
The Somali irredentist ambition since 1960 to aggrandize the territories inhabited by Somali ethnic groups in the horn forced Ethiopia to balance its counterpart and to prepare to the unavoidable war with the Somali regime led by Zyad Bare.
In 1964, the Somalis began receiving large quantities of weaponry, ground equipment, and MiG-17 fighters from the Soviet Union. In response, the US started delivering the supersonic F-5Ac jet fighters to Ethiopia.
In addition, Canberra, bombers and air defense radars were acquired from Great Britain and the US respectively.
In 1974, popular unrest against Emperor Haile Selassie led to a military coup. The military then formed a committee from within, known as the Derg dominated by junior officers and shortly after, it executed 60 top civilian and distinguished military officials of the imperial regime and imprisoned many others.
In addition, the Derg forced out many career military officers it was suspicious of and killed others. The army was in shambles and the country was engulfed in political turmoil. It was during this moment the Somalis believed it was a ripe time or their best chance to launch the massive invasion in 1977.
The Somali forces launched their attack at Togochale, a border town east of Jijiga, but the Derg at the time had killed most of the nation’s most-able generals and its army was stranded by civil wars across Ethiopia and the province of Eritrea, and therefore it was no match to the air forces of Somalia well-equipped by the Soviet Union. The brief conflict provided the Ethiopian air force with valuable experience. Lessons learned included the need for heavy bombers, an air defense complex, a secure and reliable communication system, and better coordination with ground forces.
Ethiopia suffered hits from a ground attack. Two F-5E pilots as well as the C-47 crew were captured by the Somalis while one F-5E pilot was rescued by helicopter. One of the F-5E pilots captured was General Legesse Tefera (died 5 October 2016), credited with shooting down 7 Somali MiG fighters by dog fighting , making him the most successful F-5 pilot ever. His F-5E was shot down while overflying an area thought to be in control by Ethiopian forces. He was captured by the local Somali army and held prisoner for over 10 years. The other captured F-5E pilot, Afework Kidanu, died while in captivity in Somalia.
In addition to the eastern front, from 1960s to 1990s, the Ethiopian air force dedicatedly fought against the separatists in northern front against Shabia and Woyane armed groups to defend the nation territorial integrity. It is vividly remembered.
After the down fall of the Derg regime, the EPRDF government dominated by TPLF again dismantled the air force and many veteran pilots left their country and went to exile. In 2018 when the reformist government led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed assumed power, the institution was reformed and reorganized once again.
Ethiopian Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Yilma Merdasa recently announced that, the closing ceremony of the commemoration of the historic achievement and the 88th anniversary of the establishment of the Ethiopian Air Force will take place on December 16, 2023.
In his press briefing in connection with the celebration to the local media, Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Yilma Merdasa said the 88th anniversary of the Air Force had been celebrated since the end of November 2023 in various air units.
Among the programs to be carried out during the closing of the anniversary will be an air show named “Black Lion” in which friendly countries of Ethiopia take part, he revealed.
A graduation of leaders, pilots, technicians, flight instructors and others trained in various fields will also be held.
Moreover, various infrastructures built by the Air Force will also be inaugurated and works done to enhance weapon capability will be displayed, the Air Force Commander stated.
Different discussion forums in which commanders of various African countries take part will be conducted.
The main purpose of the celebration is to show to the public and the government about the works done by the Air Force since the reform and to prepare for future military operations.
Lieutenant General Yilma pointed out that extensive works have been done in terms of building human resource capability, modernizing weapon capacity, getting equipped with new weapons, and infrastructure and creating favorable working environment after the institutional reform in the Air Force.
Currently the Ethiopian air force is vigorously protecting the nation air territory from the foreign intruders.
BY ABEBE WOLDEGIORGIS
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 9 DECEMBER 2023
