In the first of a new series, Arnaud Delalande investigates sub-Saharan Africa’s ‘small air forces’, defined as those with 30 or fewer airframes – and which don’t currently find themselves involved in combat operations.
Benin, Ghana, Togo
PART ONE
Benin
Having gained independence in 1960, the Republic of Dahomey – as Benin was then known – acquired an Aero Commander 500B the following year. Postcolonial assistance from France arrived in the shape of five C-47 transports, received between 1961 and 1971, and three MH1521M Broussards delivered in 1964-65. A Bell/Agusta-Bell 47G and an Alouette II may have been loaned during this period. In 1969 the fleet was joined by a Cessna 337D Super Skymaster from France, which later transferred to a civil operator.
Commander Mathieu Kérékou staged a successful coup d’état in 1972 and became president. Dahomey was renamed as the People’s Republic of Benin three years later.
In 1978, the Force Aérienne Populaire de Benin (Benin Air Force) transport fleet expanded with the delivery of two An-26s. One crashed at Parakou in eastern Benin in 1985 while being piloted by a Russian crew, following a burst tyre on take-off. The second was sent for repair in 1988, but Benin was …
