al quwwat al-jawwiya al-malakiya al-urduniya

From its formation in 1920, Jordan relied on the British for air support - the first of which was supplied in Aug 1917 by a Royal Flying Corps bombing mission. Air Force operations began in 1949 with a Communications Flight, as a component of the Arab Legion Air Force. Initialy depended on the RAF and the Arab Legion for personnel. A combat capabilty role was added in 1955 to that of close ground support, air defence and airlift. In Sep 1955 the ALAF was renamed Royal Jordanian Air Force and by Jun 1957, the ex-British bases of Amman (OJAM) and Mafraq (OJMF) were handed over to the RJAF. Widgeon and Whirlwinds were added to the transport fleet from around 1958. The 1967 war with Israel destroyed a significant amount of Air Force equipment. From 1974, much of the training previously conducted abroad was performed in Jordan. An Attack Helicopter Wing was formed in 1986 using the AH-1F Cobra. In 1988, the Public Security arm added German BO-105 helicopters, to be flown by RJAF pilots in a policing role. By 1987, the Air Lift Wing's Alouette IIIs were replaced by the Super Puma. In 1988, 4 helicopter squadrons were formed as part of an Air Force reorganization. ex US Army UH-1Hs were delivered by Autumn 1994 and S-76s have also now been replaced by S-70 Black Hawks.