Ali Eghbali Dogahe

Education

He was born on 29 September 1949 in Dogahe, Roudbar, Gilan province. After graduating from Amir Kabir high school, he joined the Imperial Iranian Air Force on 4 December 1967.

Having successfully finished the military training, English course, and flight preparatory courses with a prop aircraft and T-33, he was dispatched to Williams Air Force base in Arizona, Phoenix.

Return to Iran

He mastered in advanced aircraft piloting and flying with fighter jets and then returned to Iran. He resumed his duty in the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) on 24 January 1970 as tactical fighter jets pilot. In 1974 he was sent again to the United States to attend a training course in aerial photography interpretation and aerial information and mission management.

Personal life

He was married to Farideh Hashemi in 1975. They had one son, called Afshin.

The Iran-Iraq war

Soon after the beginning of Iran-Iraq war, he voluntarily joined the combat forces of Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. He has been named by the Iranian media as the youngest flight coach.

Last mission and death

In his last mission, Major General Eghbali, was the leader of a group of fighter jets when they were instructed to bombard a base in Mosul on 23 October 1980.

Having arrived to the first planned site, two Northrop F-5 fighter jets were not able to find their first target and redirected their route to a base in the neighbourhood of Kirkuk air base. After bombardment of this base and en route to Iran, Ali Eghbali's jet was shot down by a rocket of Iraqi air force in the air space of east of Mosul. He managed to eject before his plane crashed.

Since this incident, there had been no confirmed report of his situation, but he was believed to be captured by Iraqi forces.

There had been also no confirmed reports of his death since he went missing, until his body parts were returned to Iran on 27 July 2002. It is assumed that he was killed or died while being a prisoner of war in Iraq. His wife confirmed that the body parts belong to Ali Eghbali Dogahe and they were buried in Behesht-e Zahra.

According to several Iranian media outlets, his body was torn in half after his death, half was buried in a cemetery in Nineveh and the other half was buried in a cemetery in Mosul. However, there is no way to confirm this report.