Operation Countenance - Iran - August 1941

[Leendert]

In late August 1941 British (Indian) and Soviet troops invaded Iran to secure Allied interests.

Some questions:

What RAF squadrons were involved in this Operation Countenance? I understand there were no RAF losses?

Iranian air losses were 6 fighter a/c. Were these shot down or destroyed on the ground? Details of type?

Also: did the RAF make any further use of the some 15 Curtis H-75A Hawks it took hold of in Iran and shipped to India?

Any info welcome, thanks.

Leendert

[Orwell1984]

This operation is covered on pages 271-5 on Christopher Shores' Dust Clouds in the Middle East.

RAF Squadrons listed as participating:
261 Squadron Gladiators/Hurricanes
11, 84 Squadrons Blenheim IVs
244 Squadron Vincents
"A" Flight 31 Squadron Valentias

Two Valentias crashed while landing at Haft Kel while landing on August 25 with no casualties

261 strafed Ahwaz airfield three times and 84 also raided the airfield (no details on any Iranian losses) Aug 25

Aug 26 11 strafing attacks on Ahwaz. At 830 Sqn Ldr Imshi Mason and Sgt Hitching shot down an Iranian Audax. A Vincent from 244 Squadron was shot down in error by a 261 Hurricane, no casualties

Only other Allied air loss was Vincent that crashed Sept 9th at Mulla Abdulla during a recce flight

So according to Shores, one Iranian plane was shot down by the RAF in action, the rest most probably were lost due to ground attack.

As to the Iranian Hawks, Gerry Beauchamp's book Mohawks over Burma has this to say on page 20-1

Early in 1941 the Iranian government ordered ten Cyclone powered H-75A-9 fighters from Curtiss to replace their Hawker Fury biplanes as first line fighters. The Hawks reached Iran shortly before the country was invaded by British and Russian troops in August 1941. The hawks were discovered still in their shipping crates at Tehran. Ed Elliott, one of the Curtiss test pilots, was in Iran to supervise the Hawks' assembly abd to test fly each one of them. He was evacuated by the British and the aircraft were transported to the Drigh Road Maintenance Unit, Karachi, where they arrived in early 1942.
At Drigh Road the Hawks were assembled and given RAF camouflage and markings. Nine Mohawks, LA157 to LA165 came on strength at No. 151 OTU, formerly No 1 (Indian) OTU at Risalpur in 1942. These nine were possibly the ex-Iranian Hawks, although there are no records which verify this.
The Iranian Hawks, manufactured at the same time when the P-40C was in full production, were the last H-75s.

[Leendert]

Thanks Orwell for your reply. Will dig deeper with the info you provided.
It looks as though the RAF hadn't modern equipment at hand....

Regards,

Leendert

[Leendert]

Just before kick-off in the football match Belgium-Italy: if the hapless Vincent pilot who was reportedly shot down by own fire was P/O Frank Woolley, then he has a (for me) unexpected "Belgian" connection. He was CO of 350 (Belgian) Squadron from 27/2/45-15/4/45...

I read on a medal website that his shoot down was on 26/8/41 and that he was rescued by troops of the (13th?) Lancers, 10 miles S. of Ahwaz.

Regards,

Leenderty