Mohammad H. Mehrmand

Lieutenant General Mohammad Hossein Mehrmand (9 September 1928 – 9 September 2024) was a senior fighter pilot and commander in the Imperial Iranian Air Force(IIAF) who served from 1949 to 1979. He held multiple commands, the last one being the Tactical Air Command (TAC).

Early life Mohammad H. Mehrmand was born in 1928 in Tehran, where he attended elementary school, and later a military boarding school for secondary studies. In 1949 he was accepted into the Iranian Army military academy as an officer cadet. After returning to Iran he was stationed at the new Tactical Fighter Base (TFB) 1 at Mehrabad in Tehran, flying F-84 Thunderjets, followed by Vahdati air force base in Dezful, flying the more advanced F-86 Sabres as a squadron leader, then deputy commander of the base.

Last command By the mid-1970s, the IIAF established the Tactical Air Command (TAC) to better manage its operations and command of all ten of the IIAF's tactical bases. Major General Mehrmand became its deputy commander. One year later, he was promoted to Lieutenant General and became commander of TAC. He remained in this capacity until the 1979 Islamic revolution, and oversaw initiatives and joint exercises with the United States and allies, including live fire demonstrations in front of US and Iranian dignitaries.

Lieutenant General Mehrmand retired from the IIAF when it ceased to exist in 1979, and ultimately resettled with his family in the United States where he was active among the Iranian opposition and veterans' community. He has issued statements in support of popular opposition in Iran, and in 2023 he published his memoirs, "High Sky is my Place".