THE FAMOUS FIVE: THE ORIGINAL GOLDEN CROWN TEAM MEMBERS
No 1 Captain Nader Jahanbani; No 2 Brigadier General Mohammad Amir Khatami Khatami; No 3 1st Lt Abdol-Hossein Minuspehr; No 4 Captain Siamak Jahanbini; No 5 Captain Amir-Hossein Rabi’i.

The five founder member pilots of the Golden Crown team strike a pose in front of their Republic F-84G Thunderjets in 1959. Front row, from left: 1st Lt Abdol-Hossein Minuspehr; team leader Capt Nader Jahanbani; Brig-Gen Mohammad Khatami. Back row, from left: Capt Amir-Hossein Rabi’i and Capt Siamak Jahanbini.

With their five F-84Gs in the background, the original Golden Crown team make their way back to the terminal at Mehrabad Airport in company with the pilots of the USAF’s Sky blazers formation aerobatic display team - a North American F-100C Super Sabre of which is also visible at the extreme left of the photograph.

RAF Canberra pilot Colin Tavner poses beside a Golden Crown North American F-86F Sabre at Mehrabad Airport during an official visit by No 249 Sqn in November 1962. The following year the IIAF participated in its first overseas deployment, when four F-86Fs joined United Nations forces in Congo.

The IIAF took delivery of its first F-86F Sabres in early 1960, the Golden Crown team converting to the type the following year. The type remained the team’s mount for the next ten years, this photograph showing the 1969 team with an F-86F. From left to right: Teymouri; Imanian; Jahanbani; Izadsetah; Abrishamian; Mofki and Rajabian.

One of the original Golden Crown F-86Fs remains on display in the team’s colours at the Sa'ad Abad War Museum in Tehran. In total, five pilots were killed during the Golden Crown team’s 21-year career. Although there has been talk of reactivating an IRIAF formation aerobatic display team over the last few years, nothing has materialised - and is probably unlikely to.

One of the Golden Crown Sabres rotates from the runway at Mehrabad Airport during a display in the early 1960s. Note the “U.S. Air Force” legend still visible on the bare-metal fuselage, the black letters having left their mark after removal. The identities of the 52 F-86Fs delivered to the IIAF as part of MDAP remain somewhat hazy.

Although nominally made up of seven aircraft at full strength, as seen here preparing for take-off in the mid-1960s, the Golden Crown team retained a high degree of flexibility for its performances, some using six aircraft (with one as a reserve), and often reverting to a four-aircraft formation for smaller shows and events.

Taken during No 249 Sqn’s Canberra visit in November 1962, this photo shows a crew member posing with the severed tail of one of the Sabres lost in the “Crossroads of Death” manoeuvre at Tehran in October 1961. Note the ancient Persian lion and sun symbol painted on the fin, the lion brandishing a shamshir (curved sabre).

The six F-5Es of the Golden Crown team await their next display at the 7th Tactical Fighter Base at Shiraz International Airport in the late 1970s. Some photographs show the F-5Es with Western Arabic numerals on their fins, but the majority show Persian Arabic (Farsi) numerals, as seen here. From left to right the aircraft are No 5, No 4, No 2, No 3 and No 6.

A Golden Crown team line-up poses with its seven Northrop F-5Es, painted with Western Arabic numerals on the fins, in 1976. From left to right: Maj Manuchehr Khalili (leader); 1st Lt Aminollah Bolghand; Capt Nosrat Dehkhargani; 1st Lt Masoud Kakwan; Capt Ghassem Golparvar; Capt Kazem Zarifkhadem; Capt Masoud Mostofi.

The final six-man team of Golden Crown pilots and their groundcrew at a show circa 1978-79. The pilots, standing from left to right, are: Maj Khalili (team leader); 1st Lt Bolghand; 1st Lt Asadollah Akbari; Capt Zarifkhadem; Capt Yadollah Javadpour and 1st Lt Kakwan, who was probably standing in for Capt Dehkharghani.