The EAF is the EGYPTIAN AIR FORCES

'Higher and higher for the sake of glory'

The official motto for the EAF

And it is its diamond anniversary ,yes 75 years had passed since 1932 when the first 5 aircrafts Egypt had bought in September 1931 took off from Hatfield airfield north of London to make their journey to their new home in Egypt to form the first nucleus of the first Egyptian Arabic and Muslim state Air forces in history.

The story in fact goes back not to 1932 and if you have enough time to know the real hidden history of the Egyptian Army then please read this long yet interesting post . First of all I was among the people who thought that we did not have any Air forces during the monarchy thanks to the propaganda of the Nasserite era till last year during the Lebanon War 2006 when I found out that we Egyptian Air forces ,the Royal Egyptian Air forces had participated in the war of 1948 effectively and it caused losses in the Israeli side that the Israeli side after the war decided to build the IAF from scratch in order to have balance in power not that only they knew they would won advantage if they were able to destroy the EAF on the ground "The famous strategy in warfare" and they succeeded in doing that in 1967. Of course I was always wondering about the dates because according to history President Mubarak joined the Egyptian Army Air forces school after graduating immediately from the war school in 1948 to be graduated ,also we got from the free officers "Wagih Abaza" who was a pilot during the monarchy ,it was from a long time yet what was its story ?? How it came to the light , it is not like the Egyptian Army or the Egyptian Navy which both exist in the modern age since the time of Mohamed Ali Pasha and it also passed through different stages and times ups and downs that we makes you so impressed with these Air Forces

Back to the original story how did the Egyptian Air Forces come to the light ??

It did not start in 1932 actually but in year 1928 in the time of ministry of either Abd El-Khalek Tharwat Pasha or Mustafa El-Nahhas Pasha or Mohamed Mahmoud Pasha "It was one hell of year for ministries !!" , someone smart purposed the idea of creating Air forces in the Egyptian army , I could not know who he was but surely he was a patriot man with a great future vision and that's why I am guessing that proposal was in the time of El-Nahhas Pasha ministry but I am not sure again , the Parliament loved the idea and decided to adopt it ,King Fouad also approved it and he had too first of all it would raise his popularity in Egyptian street and it is not bad thing to have a modern army . Back at that time where Egypt relied mostly on the British Experience , Yes we took an independence in 1922 yet it was not a complete one and I think The British did not like the idea but they could not say no as long as the parliament ,the King and the people liked the idea , of course before knowing history I would say they proposed that they would train our future pilots and that we should buy British aircrafts only whether from British factories or second British army aircrafts and that's what actually happened after all Egypt was not in place for bargaining to get better offers and surely back then the multi arming resources idea was not clear .

Anyway in 1928 the ministry of war in Egypt "That was its name till the 1970s when it became the ministry of defense" announced in the army that it needed volunteers to the new arm and from those volunteers that would only choose four according to strict medical tests and technical examinations. You would not believe the number of applicants who volunteered for the test : 200 officers , I know you may say that is nothing , but remember we are talking here in 1928 ,the Egyptian army was not that big like now and you must bear in mind that was a brand new thing , a dangerous new thing : Flying , in fact it is not only flying it is defending the skies of your country and risking your life , it is so impressive to know that number had applied because it shows how the Egyptian officers were full of enthusiasm for the new arm.

The lucky ones who passed the tests and were chosen to become the first Egyptian Military pilots were actually three:

• Abd El-Minuim Miquati
• Ahmed Abd El-Raziq
• Fuad Abd El-Hamid

Those three pilots sorry future pilots were sent to be trained with the British Air forces aka RAF.They were sent to the the RAF number 4 flying training school at Abu Suwayer near the Suez Canal in Egypt where they were trained on various types of aircrafts from small ones to big ones . After the graduation from the flying training school the 3 pilots traveled to England for specialized training.

On the second of November 1930 the historical Royal decree was issued by King Fouad I to create the Egyptian Air forces . Its name then was the Egyptian Army air forces "EAAF". In September 1931 the British De Havilland aircraft company won a contract to supply Egypt with 10 DH-60 tiger moth trainers. The British government then wanted to ship the aircrafts to Alexandria yet the Egyptian government refused and due to that refusal the British gave an order to the ship which was carrying the aircrafts to return to England where the first 5 aircrafts would be assembled and flown by the first Egyptian pilots to Cairo. And so on 23 May 1932 five of the 10 Egyptian moths took off from Hatfield air field north of London. Three from those five moths were flown by the first 3 Egyptian pilots : Miquati,Abd El-Raziq and Abd El-Hamid where as the rest 2 moths were flown by two British pilots. On that before the departure to Cairo the Egyptian Ambassador met with the three pilots along with the Egyptian minister of War and other generals from the Egyptian army who came to encourage and congratulate them, of course I can imagine how it felt then , honor and glory ,hope and fear .

It was not an easy or short trip back then for sure and it would take a long time than you think because on 2 June these 5 aircraft arrived at Al-mazah airport northeast of Cairo , the Al-Mazah Airport was built by Count László Almásy and was named after him and it exists till now. Anyhow on 2nd of June 1932 the Egyptian pilots made to Cairo safely where they received by a huge reception attended by King Fouad and large audience of Egyptians who greeted the return of those three heroes and witnessed the historical moment that would remark the actual birth of the Egyptian Air forces .

The first commander of the EAAF was squadron leader Victor Herbert Tait who was a Canadian, he started his work by choosing his staff, building airbases and selecting weapons himself .The role of EAAF then was to fight drug trafficking beside beside aerial photographing. Already those 10 aircrafts we bought in 1932 were not real military aircrafts , the first military aircrafts Egypt had got were the 10 Avro 626 aircrafts the British Government agreed that we would buy them from Avro in 1934, after that Egypt bought from that specific kind another 17 planes and so we had had back 27 Avro 626 planes and they served in the EAF from year 1934 till 1944 and that was a decade of course we bought another aircrafts after that Hawker Audaxes for army cooperation and close support and Avro Ansons for VIP work.

In year 1937 ,the Royal decree was issued by King Farouk to separate the Air forces from the army command and it became an independent branch with a brand new name and a new insignia ,the name would be "Royal Egyptian Air forces" aka " REAF "and the insignia would be representing the Egyptian Royal flag to sort another important era in the history of EAF as New air bases were built in Suez Canal and the western desert , of course the Suez Canal was a very important and critical place just like the Western desert to invade the unknown fearful desert , daring decision for of course , yet I am not surprised that these decisions and royal decree were taken after the treaty of 1936 between Great Britian and the Egyptian government represented by the Wafad ministry then headed by Mustafa El- Nahhas Pasha, the treaty which gave Egypt more freedom than before . In 1938 we had bought more military aircrafts from 2 squadrons of Gloster Gladiator biplane fighters and a squadron of then modern Westland Lysander reconnaissance aircraft and in the end of that year we had had those fighters for those roles as follows :

As you see during that time we did not have any experience in warfare , there was no war we could test our REAF , the first opportunity to both gain experience and test our pilots and fighters despite their modest capabilities was in WWII , as you know Egypt was threatened by the Italian and German invasion and advance its western desert and despite the Egyptian ministries than of not involving in the war and the German official statement that Egypt was considered a country under circumstances from the treaty of 1936 and the fact that the British used Egypt as the last castle in north Africa to stop the Nazi advance made ,the Egyptian army and the REAF had their share in the fight ,during that time the RAF built more bases in Egypt and as I said according to the 1936 the British had the right to use the military facilities . Sometimes the REAF joined the RAF in their war against the Nazis and Sometimes they followed the neutrality policy , it was more about the political decision back then of the ministry or the cabinet that existed in the office , we had several cabinet ,we had about 5 ministries I think following different parties with different views about the war whether we would participate in it actually or not ,in the end we had to engage in it and despite the Egyptian sympathy for the Nazis which was based for that hate to the British and the rosy promises for freedom of independence by the Nazis from the Arabic Berlin radio station ,the British made a destructive plan if Erwin Rommel had advanced and captured Alexandria including simply flooding the Nile delta to make it impossible for the German tanks to advance to Cairo in other words they would not give a damn for the Egyptians and thus in the end fighting with them was the best option we had. The good thing we had the opportunities to put our hands on more fighting aircrafts , to defend our land against German and Italian air raids where we scored one air kill against German Henkil He-III bomber, the REAF provided long-range patrols over the Red Sea to monitor the Axes sea movements there by the request of the British. When the WWII ended we had another opportunity to buy more aircrafts from the second cheap aircrafts that fought in the war , yes I know it is silly but we could do !!??

The war of 1948 came and the first real test the REAF had to face came at last , the whole Egyptian army including the REAF was not ready for that war from training and preparations , we should not forget the British did not let us have a powerful strong army nor new arms and they supported the Israeli side more than us , the REAF tried as much as it could just like the rest of the EAF , its first mission was to provide cover and protection for the navy and arm forces, of course we had several unserviceable and obsolete aircrafts yet we fought with honor and believed it or not we scored some victory ,in fact they were two against the IAF "already it was not formed yet" on 8th of June and 9th of July 1948 , one of the pilots who scored those victories was Miquati , yes Abd El-Minium Miquati who was among the 3 first Egyptian pilots ever "May bless his soul" ,through my reading in Israeli sources I realized the REAF was not fighting weakly as I thought because in Israel the priority number one after 1948 was to build a powerful air forces to answer back the REAF .

Realizing the weakness of our REAF ,the commandership of it bought two fighter in 1949 including Egypt first jet fighter the British Gloster Meteor F4 ,we began also to buy aircrafts from Italy , the first time to depend on countries other than GB . When the great fire of Cairo took place 1951 King Farouk asked for a helicopter ,we had two then and both of them were unserviceable too !!! :(

After 1952 the revolution had a principle among the six principles that was to establish a powerful army and for that reason the REAF which became the EAF since 1953 after the announcement of the republic had a major rebooting operation the most dramatic and obvious change was in 1955 when we had a deal for the famous Czech arms and we began to receive the improved Russian fighters. I do not need to speak about 1956 ,1967 and the huge 1973 , despite I found out very interesting information about the Air forces in 1967 , I know it was considered the biggest fiasco of all times for the EAF but I think the fiasco was not the mistake of the pilots more than their commandership , just like the rest of the Egyptian Arm forces , the wrong man in the wrong place , let's keep in another time same thing for 1973 and I think I spoke last year about 1956 well enough.

Ah I forget to tell you the insignia of the EAF changed in 1958 when we changed our flag during our union with Syria , we had the Red,Black,white and two green stars in the middle , the insignia of the EAF became since then the A red circle with white color inside it with a black dot

In the end I will leave you with that wonderful flickr slide show from a dear friend Dr. Ahmed Kamel whose grand uncle was Ismail bey Hakky Haroun, HM the King's personal Pilot and one of the founders of the Royal Egyptian Air Force, I hope you like it :)

Sources :

• Egyptian Air forces at Wikipedia
• History of EAF "I copy and pasted most of it here :) "
• The Egyptian Air forces web ring
• The Egyptian Cabinet official website

I was not an active member in facebook except when I found the Egyptian Royal groups which unfortunately turned in to more than "Anti-Revolution" groups , already I am thinking of living them anyhow I found in Facebook some interesting groups I want to share with you

1- Egypt defeated Israel in 1973 group

2- Mohamed Naguib group : The only group dedicated to the late President

3-Rafaat El-Hagan group : The only group dedicated for the Egypt's legendary Spy Rafaat El-Hagan

Please join these groups :)

Ok I promise you this will be insh Allah the last one in that series until another Egyptian appears on the time cover :)

We stopped at the death of President Sadat in 1981 , President Sadat as you know all was followed by President Mubarak who is ruling from 1981 till now 2007. President Mubarak ruled Egypt more than anyone in the 20th century , beating the record of King Fouad I who ruled Egypt for 19 years where as Mubarak reached his 26th year in the presidency this year 2007 !! Yet after all those years ,he appeared just like King Fouad I only Once on the time cover , in fact King Fouad I was much luckier than Mubarak as he appeared on the cover of the magazine alone but Mubarak who appeared after 4 years of his rule on the 28th of October 1985 with accompanied with other three leaders not to mention the cover story was not about him

President Mubarak photo appeared with the photos of late Arafat ,late American President Reagan and Prime minister Craxi of Italy

The Cover story was about the famous Achille Lauro hijacking incident .That terrible incident caused an international crisis at that time , in fact if you review it in a perfect world ,it will cause an international crisis , the Reagan cabinet who was just won for another time in the white house handled it in a very dangerous way that made Reagan pay a big price.

Why it was dangerous at least for the Egyptian side , well check again the story , after refusing to the demands of the PLOs hijackers "who did during the early peace talks between Israel from a side and Jordan and PLO from another side"  and throwing the old man from the ship in a terrible way agreed after two days of negotiations the hijackers agreed to abandon the liner for safe conduct and were flown towards Tunisia aboard an Egyptian commercial airliner, Egypt Air Boeing 737 yet during the flight with no previous announcement to Cairo Reagan was  proud that he plane was intercepted by United States Navy fighters " F-14" on October 10 and directed to land at Naval Air Station Sigonella, a N.A.T.O. base in Sicily, where the hijackers were arrested by the Italians after a disagreement between U.S. and Italian authorities and the rest of the passengers continued their journey to Tunisia, of course the C.I.A director at that time William Casey saw the interception was a positive turning pointing ,already Mubarak in the previous issue had an interview with the magazine concerning the famous crisis

As you see two diplomatic problems with Egypt from one side and from Italy from another side . In a very rare move according to today's Egyptian -American relations , Egypt was so angry , very angry that we demanded an official apology from the United States , a request was not fulfilled till now . There was a very huge anger on the public level that was expressed in huge protests in Universities and on the official level that was expressed in both the demand for official apology and the angry statement of Mubarak which seemed to be taken seriously at that time ,may be because at that time was still powerful strong player , the legacy of Sadat and Nasser that kept Egypt as major power in the area was still there

That would be the last time Mubarak would be on the magazine till writing these lines , yes there were hundreds of reports about him in the magazines and dozens of interviews till now yet he did not appear except that time , of course it is very interesting considering Mubarak as a very close friend to the Americans , still it is not by friendship Chinese,Russian and Iranian leaders appeared frequently ,I mean President Sadat appeared 10 times in his 10 years rule, president Nasser appeared 6 times in his 16 years rule and this in his 26 years that had seen several international and national crisis from wars in the region and war on terrorism in Egypt did not even make it once !!

Anyhow he was not the last Egyptian leader /Ruler to appear on the cover of the time as a very old ruler appeared on the cover on May 29,1995 King Ramesses II was cover story ,the discovery of the tomb of his sons was an is still raising questions about the life and death of that ruler who had ruled Egypt for a whole 30 years and is said to be the Pharaoh of Exodus, a belief which is shared by many Jews and Muslims too

And that's folks our journey comes to an end , at least for now because as soon as another Egyptian makes it for the time cover , I will mention it here

As you see all the Egyptian rulers in the 20th century since the issue of the magazine in 1923 appeared on the cover of the magazine ,even Ramesses II appeared on it. King Fouad "1" , King Farouk "2",President Naguib "1",President Nasser"6" ,President Sadat "10" ,President Mubarak "1" and Ramesses II "1"

President Sadat is number one for the times appeared on the magazine then President Sadat then King Farouk

Now this is the third part from our trip with the time  magazine covers we started here and there . At trip with history,politics and Art .

We stopped at the year 1970 , an important year in the history of the Arab world not only Egypt when President Nasser suddenly died in a critical time , Israeli invasion for the Arab lands and a Palestinian-Jordanian mini war going on and one question "Who is going to fill Nasser's vacancy ??' Yes according to the fact President Nasser chose Anwar El-Sadat to be his first vice president beside another 2 vice presidents ,El-Sadat became the the third President to Egypt.President El-Sadat who had one hell of a history pre-1952 coup managed through the years after the coup to keep a low profile for himself and I guess it was a smart thing from him to do so because he realized that there would be a deadly conflict on the leadership in the revolution council .Keeping a low profile made him like a riddle inside and outside ,he was regarded as weak puppet in the hands of the centers of Power till he surprised the Egyptians and the whole world with his corrective revolution on the 15th of May 1971 to get rid from all those anti-Sadat and Pro-Soviet in a single move

The world especially the west did not understand the move or understand what policy Anwar El-Sadat would work with, he was the riddle of the middle East ,the Underrated Heir who proved to be above all the expectations

President El-Sadat made his first appearance on the cover of the time on the 17th of May 1971 , just two days after from the corrective movement he made . He was the third president and the fourth leader to appear on the cover of the time . That cover was very special , an illustration of Cartoon showing him like Sphinx in front of th pyramids , Sadat's head on the body of a lion and on the left side there was a ribbon written on it "The Middle east Riddle" , a very perfect cover to drew the attention of the reader who did not know who the Sadat was , a riddle that need to be understood in the middle east

After 3 years President Sadat appeared for the second time on June 24 ,1974 with Preisdent Nixon in  a photo from the huge public reception the first American President received in Cairo and I think it would be the last , Nixon was the first American president to visit Egypt,Cairo since the famous visit of Roosevelt to the Suez Canal and his meeting with king Farouk.Already that visit was a bright point in the life of Nixon , the Americans are officially back in the heart of the Arab world after years of Soviet domination ,regardless of the claims of the Nasserists and Egyptian Communists ,President Nixon was received by huge welcome of the Egyptian people for the fact that they got sick from the Soviets "With my all respect to the leftists ,history is history". The Cover was a photo taken by Michele Laurant

The following year Sadat appeared on the cover of the magazine for the third time on April 7th 1975 , this time he was not alone , he was with other leaders from kings,prime ministers and Presidents of the World ,the cover story , which was more a whole section was about America and the world , mostly about King Faisal who was killed that year ,his death was not an easy thing , President Sadat was mentioned in three articles in that issue , the first about the death of the Saudi King , the second was a short report about the relations between the Soviets and the Arabs specifically President Sadat who was still counting on their arms and the third which was the most important of them about the Kissigner negotiations between Egypt and Israel and what went wrong in it. Those who appeared on the cover beside Sadat King Faisal 'May Allah bless his soul', Kissinger,Rabin and Thieu of South Vietnam then.

President Sadat appeared again in the same year on the cover of the time on June 9th year 1975 , a very important year on all level , the beginning of the open doors policy , the relations with the Americans and also the relations with the soviets, the opening of Suez canal on the 5 th of June and surely the talks between Cairo and ... "The magazine wickedly used the word Jerusalem despite it was n't  and is not the capital of Israel yet" in brief it was one hell of watershed Week in Cairo . Another illustration for President Sadat , this time his face is well drawn in close up with the words "The Quest of Peace" Sadat was already for Peace but on what terms and how !!?? Sadat was the first Egyptian leader to appear twice in the same year till then ,that was the fourth time for him to be on the cover

Well year 1975 did not finish and President Sadat broke the record and appeared for the third time in the same year and the fifth in total on the cover of the magazine on August 25th in a very beautiful comic illustration by Jack Davis portraying Kissinger and a pigeon of Peace on his shoulder trying to make President Sadat and Rabin Shake hands , Sadat and Rabin both were wearing their military suites referring to their military background and rivalry and if you noticed Rabin got bandages over his hand and Sadat got a plaster on his forehead, both were skeptical while shaking the perfect illustration for a famous cartoonist to describe the cover story of Kissinger's visits between the two Countries to bring Peace in the middle east for the first time and the obstacles he was facing from both sides

After 2 years President Sadat made in August 8th 1977 it to the cover again for the sixth time ,yet this time he was not alone for the second time ,he was with other leaders from the world in a beautiful comic illustration , already he was not the center of the cover story that was represented graphically , the center of the cover story was President Jimmy Carter and his foreign policy in the Oval room dealing with the powers in the world and issues whether the Soviets or Europe or the middle east or Asia , it made him like Daniel in the den of the lions and that was the idea of the comic ,the foreign policies of the ex-Georgia Governor who was much less experienced in foreign affairs were under question, Carter came to a powerful world ,with powerful players in foreign policies who were like lions ,fierce lions whether West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt who described Carter as a faith healer or Egypt's President who looked in a Sphinx position for the second time , looking in a smart wicked way admired already the policy of Carter whom was called by an Egyptian official "An Arab more than the Arabs" and it seemed that it is true ,already Carter took a legacy from Kissinger that was the Peace talks between Arabs and Israelis especially with the arrival of Menachem Begin to power in Israel appearing less willing to comprise for Peace , he was another lion to be dealt with , of course those beside the two lions of the east U.S.S.R 'S Brezhnev and China's Hua Kuo-Feng

Two months Later President had to be on the time Cover again after his historical visit to Israel ,the historical visit was the cover story of the time November 28th 1977 , the sacred mission of President Sadat to return back the land and to bring Peace breaking the ice by himself,that was the seventh time and President Sadat broke the record

President Sadat appeared for the eigth time on 8th of January 1978  in the following year as the first President of Egypt to be chosen as Man of the year by the Time for the first and currently the last time as he was the architect of Peace in New the Middle east after his famous visit to Israel,an Illustration for the face of President Sadat, a perfect protait for his face by Audrey Flack. He made it again to the cover but not as the cover boy that year 1978, he appeared  again on March 20th in the same year in the right corner of the cover in an exclusive announcement that the Time would publish his memories "in search for identity" in English

And if you think that would be his last appearance on the time cover in that year , you are wrong because he appeared for the 9th time on the Time that year for the third time in the same year on September 25th, he appeared in another comic illustration face to face with Begin ,the way to Peace was not easy for sure and the two parties who started the negotiations on the 17 of September in Camp David had suffered during that time till they appeared on the screen of TV Shaking hands and signing the camp David accords which were backbones of a Peace treaty between Egypt and Israel , President Carter's vision of Peace came true,still the cover made them more like rivals not Peace partners , you can feel it

President Sadat after that did not appear on the cover of the magazine alive again , but as a dead man after three years in 1981 in one of the most beautiful illustrated cover of the time ever , Simple yet full of meaning , the cover of the issue published on October 19,1981 after his assassination on the 6th of October from the same year, his assassination was the topic of the wonderful illustration , his face in front and in the background what happened in the Sad parade , the last public army Parade Egypt has seen till ,the exact sequence of events as it was seen on TV ,the air fights , the military vehicle and the attack of the terrorists on the podium. inside the edition there were about 9 articles about him whether sadness about his loss as a man of Peace ,how he changed the history, his passion for Peace,the American grief on their Egyptian Friend , the concerns after his death and the faithful pupil who took his place with a short interview with Mubarak 48 hours after the incident of course that was beside the international reaction .That time was the 10th time

As I said that was the last time for him on the cover of the time Magazine Cover where he had appeared more than any previous or next Egyptian President , in total he appeared for 10 times from year 1971 to 1981 .He appeared Solo for five times and the other five he appeared with other leaders.Three of those covers were photographs where as the rest were illustrations.

President Sadat surely appeared all those times due to his role in the international Peace , what made him earn it and on the contrary of President Nasser he was a friend to the west yet not a weak ally but a powerful man who was ready for Peace on the basis of Land and Justice , President Sadat again was not a weak puppet like those Arab weak leaders from Presidents and Kings Now

We are still in our journey with our Egyptian Cover boys of the Time magazine since 1923 till now ,Please check the first part of the post .Now we go to the fourth Egyptian leader who appeared on the cover of the Time .

He was the first Free officer and the second President of Egypt historically and the second most Egyptian Leader who found his way to the cover of the Time through his ruling years from 1954 to 1970 . you will be amazed how he was a controversial character and you will learn how the media can turn 180 degrees because of the international polices , yes I am talking about President Gamal Abd El-Nasser whom whether you like or dislike you can't deny that he was a center of news in the world and in his time there were many events ,international crisis and wars in only 16 years. The relationship between Nasser and the foreign press with the Time in particular was strange , I mean they would attack him and on the same time they would publish a long interview with him !! The strange thing which puzzles me is that I know that Nasser had special departments for monitoring what was published abroad whether in the Egyptian Presidency or in the Foreign ministry "My grand mother's brother was a head for it for couple of years during the Nasserite era" not to mention of course the intelligence , so I do not know how he used to welcome them for interview anyhow may be it was an intelligent move to communicate with the outside world specifically the West

The relation between them was an example of how the American administration considered Nasser ,it was like a mirror of reflection to the phases in the Egyptian-American relations during that time

The first time was on Sep. 26, 1955 they considered Nasser revolutionary  with a very beautiful illustration for the young officer and behind him a beautiful illustration of ancient Egypt Wall that looks like a wall from one of the Karnak Temples , representing Egyptians behind him

The second time was on August 27, 1956 and the revolutionary turned in to a Counterpuncher dictator during the Suez Crisis after the Nationalization of the Suez Canal,now he became the new villain of the western world , you only have to see the cover and how the cartoonist illustrated Nasser and compare it with 1955 cover to know the difference in the attitudes and view , the close up look with a devilish smile and big hawk nose not to mention the ancient Egyptian Wall behind representing an Egyptian soldiers from Ancient Egypt holding riffles and swords , it was full of meanings with direct messages , the difference from the previous less than year issue is amazing .The cartoonist who made that cover was  Ernest Hamlin Baker

The third time was on July 28,1958 , after two years from the Suez Issue the Counterpuncher dictator became an adventurer in the middle east whether with his new United Arab Republic or the crisis in Lebanon 1958 ,the marines came to the middle east ,still the cover was different than the one in 1956 , first of all the it was an photograph representing Nasser and the Egyptian Old green flag that was going to be changed later ,here Nasser was no longer wearing his military suite and for the first time you find a normal smile on his face , in 1955 the cartoonist did not show him smiling and in 1956 he had that cartoon devilish smile , but in 1958 he had this calm smile  another remark Nasser name on the cover was no longer associated with Egypt like in 1955 or in 1956 may be because then he became the President Of UAE . The Photograph was taken by famous photojournalist David Douglas Duncan

Now after 5 years Nasser made it for the fourth time appearing on the cover of the time on March 29, 1963,the epic of the Pan Arabism ,again he returned as Nasser of Egypt yet he became the most influential man in the Arab world , sending his armies to Yemen , supporting revolutions here and there, his allies were like the pain in the ass , the pan Arabism dream from the Ocean to the Gulf and his alliance with the Soviet Union were like the pain in the ass for America and its allies in the Arab world . The adventurer from 5 years ago became the Camel driver , leading the Arab world I guess .The cover was another illustration influenced with the history of ancient Egypt ,Nasser as a pharaoh standing with side by side with Sphinx , there are three men with sticks walking in the shadow I do not know who they were if you have idea please tell me , the very interesting part in the cover that time was the Arabic proverb on the right corner of the magazine "Keep your tents separate and bring your heart together" already I do not in Arabic a proverb like this but in the end I do not know all the proverbs , the proverb is about the Arab unity of course by the way .That cover was drawn by illustrator Robert Vickery

After another 6 years later He made it again for the fifth time on the cover of the time on May. 16, 1969 ,yes after the defeat of the Six days . That issue included  a long interview with him made by two journalists one of them was the managing editor of the time then himself in Nasser's house.There was another report about the general conditions of the Arab world Egypt in particular after the defeat which affected the whole Arabic world painfully ,not only the countries of the front .very powerful Nasser was illustrated like A stone statue behind him a stone wall ,in a very powerful way with the title a deadlock in the middle east , strong and sad look in the eyes of Nasser of Egypt who was longer a dictator or adventurer but a president of Egypt.The cartoonist who made that cover was Louis Glanzman

That was the last time Nasser would appear alive on the Time as the following sixth time , he appeared on the international magazine after his death on October 12,1970 in a graphical cover made of combined a photo for Nasser and other photos of Egypt of Abu Simbel II temple ,from the war , with two shapes of Crescent representing the Islamic identity of the Egypt and the Arab world with red background , I do not know if they chose red on purpose referring to the alliance with the soviets of what. Nasser was not an easy politician or leader and what he made that was considered a legacy was questioned in that critical time in whether to stay or vanish and the most important question to the west then who fill his vacuum . This cover was designed by Lawrence Lowry

President Nasser appeared 6 times in his 16 years rule of Egypt ,4 illustrated covers and two photographic covers. The covers presented the troubled relation with the west and specifically the United States .

This is the end of the second ,there will be a third part covering the rest of the Egyptian leaders who appeared on the cover of the time , I hope that the post was not too long ,damn it when blogger.com will add the read more feature !!??

I love browsing in the Time Magazine archive especially their covers , the use of illustration since year 1923 ,the first edition of the magazine in the States is remarkable

And after browsing and searching through the various editions I found out the Egyptian Kings and Presidents had their significant share of appearing on the Cover of the famous international magazine more than one time

Reading through the rich archive of the time is one hell of experience ,you will learn a lot about the meaning of international politics and alliance ,how the shift in the American policies can affect the way the media's coverage to international events and the examples are many

I started my journey with the Time Archives when I was making  my posts regarding the 1956 war in an attempt to cover the story from all angles and despite I found that they were biased covering only the western point view yet it was a great experience , especially that in Egypt we are suffering from the lack of historical records , the online archives of the newspapers in Egypt are not for free and they only go back to the 1990s so to find this huge archive that goes back to 123 was a remarkable treasure

Anyhow back to what I discover in my research ,as I said before the journey of the Egyptian kings and presidents as cover boys of the time since 1923 , oh yes the first year of the time Magazine

The journey started in 1923 ,in the issue no.9 that dated to April 28th  of 1923 , of course anyone who knows the history of Egypt well , you will immediately that it was about the constitution of 1923 in Egypt which was the cover story

King Fouad appeared on the cover of the magazine as an illustration , already illustrations are used extensively on the cover of the Time for a long time till and many famous illustrators by the way were famous for their drawings in the Time

King Fouad I was the first Egyptian King to appear on the cover of the time ,it was his first and last time

His son King Farouk was the second Egyptian King to appear on the cover of the magazine.He appeared twice ,once when he took the rule of Egypt after his father ,when he was a promising young man in year 1937 surrounded by the love of the people and when he began his journey to the downfall of his era 

The first time was on August 09, 1937 , this time it was not an illustration but a photo for him , he was the cover story of that volume ,you feel that there was an underestimation for him as a young king if you read the title of the report "Boy Scout into Field Marshal" but it was expected , already Farouk became a King in a very early age even before the legal age , he became a King in the age of 18 where as they should have waited till he reached 21 years old ,at least he would have finished his education , still there was an excuse for that thanks to the conspiracies of old Prince Mohamed Ali ,the second to the throne who wanted to rule so much that he made an alliance with the British Commissioner in Egypt. In 1937 the politicians of the Palace like Ali Pasha Maher and Ahmed Pasha Hasseinein made arrangements with all the parties in Egypt including the ruling party then El-Wafad which had a long rivalry with King Fouad I  to support the new young king for the Sake of the nation and that proved an excellent choice then

The Second time was on September 10,1951 , an illustration for his chubby face which would his trade mark all over the world afterwards , that date came after the huge fire of Cairo that was followed with unstable time in Egypt, the time of the too successive unpopular cabinets.It was a strange thing that the King left Egypt during all terrible time and headed to Europe and so the cover story was about the Scout boy who became the locomotive , that was the beginning of the ending for Farouk's reign ,the lazy fat play boy started not in Egypt but in the west . I believe King Farouk thanks to the conspiracies of the parties with the British Commissioner and beginning under attack from the irresponsible behavior of his family was acting in a suicidal way , he did not care anymore , he did not give a damn , he just could not fight anymore and the signature on the order to abdicate and proclaim his son King Ahmed Fouad II ,and that was the last time Farouk was on the cover of the magazine , of course it would not be the last time to mention in the news of the magazine , his name was unfortunately was mentioned in a way not less bad then the way it was mentioned in Egypt back , a lazy fat playboy ex-king in exile

Farouk had gone and a new era came : The Free Officers

The free officers had their great share in the time after they were the new rulers with new era , the republic era

The First one of them was the first president of Egypt General Mohamed Naguib in an illustration ,which I believe was very meaningful , the face of Naguib in the background and the foreground was the landmarks of Egypt , the Citadel,the sphinx and the Nile. Mohamed Naguib was a very promising face ,on the cover you will find the Time had described him as "Egypt's Strong Man Naguib" and under the description you will find his quote "We have enough from corruption" ,during that time the west and the United States had hopes in the their new allies in Cairo .Dated September 08, 1952 just months after the coup in July and before the declaration of the Republic in 1953 The Cover story  was about that  Good man the General who led a coup to end the rule one of the oldest monarchies in the Middle east and sure he was a good and great man. That was the first and the last time for him , he was like King Fouad I and he was not president yet when he appeared on the cover the Time

Through my early reading I always considered him an educated womanizer of his time working in the most prestigious and important places and positions in Egypt during the 1940s  but when I began to watch the TV Series "King Farouk" on MBC this Ramadan I rediscovered that man in the same way he discovered the deserts of Egypt ,already he was my true discovery ,not King Farouk because already I know the reality of young King from a long time but I did not know who Ahmed Pasha Hassanein was except through that Series , sorry it made me want to discover that man

The Ladies Man .The Men's Man .The man of all town

Ahmed Pasha Hassanein was underestimated early in the history of Egypt regarding him only as the Chief of the Royal Diwan and the Chamberlain of King Farouk who used to be womanizer ,allegedly married to his mother Queen Nazli and had an affair with Princess and Singer Asmahan "Amal Al-Atrash" and I think the revolution did not cause that underestimation ,already the man was killed in a terrible car accident that raised question marks in 1946 and he was hated by many politicians in that time not to mention some people said that the King did not like the relationship between his  mother and his chief of Diwan who was his special tutor in London

This was the general idea I had for him before yet after watching the TV series and searching for more information about this man online and offline I found out the Egypt's earliest explorer was the most influential man in Egypt in 1940s , a politician for the first degree and the most trusted and influential person for Farouk.

That Man despite his claim that he did not understand anything in Politics proved to be  a master in the political arena in front of huge gladiator from the weight of Mustafa Pasha El-Nahas and Ahmed Pasha Maher , yes he was not as powerful and dangerous as Ali Pasha Maher but we should not forget that when Ali Pasha Maher was in his exile in Egypt during the WWII for being a Nazi ally ,Hassanein played a great role in saving both the King throne  and the country in the famous crisis of 4th of February as Young King Farouk was going to sign the abdication document in order to the Save the Egyptian people with no fight yet clever Hasseinein saved the day  ,if Farouk had signed that document , the British Commissioner Sir Miles Lampson would have chosen Prince Mohamed Ali who was a puppet in the hand of the British instead of him.

Hassanein was an extraordinary man ,it is rare to find a man who understands in culture ,in politics and in society in that way . You will be amazed already if you check his background , his grandfather was the last admiral for the Egyptian fleet in 18th century when the British invaded Egypt , his father was a Sheikh in Al-Azhar , he was born on the 31st of October 1889 in Boulaq which is a very popular area even till now , he started his education in Al-Azhar then he completed his education in Oxford University ,he was a champion in Fencing that he represented Oxford University once and Egypt twice in two Olympics in ,

when he returned to Egypt , he returned as a young explorer who went in exploration the Egyptian Western and Libyan desert in a time that  where there were no GPRS or satellites phones or laptops or Jeep cars , no ,it takes a lot of courage even now to go to the middle of the desert. Hassanein Pasha was an Egyptian legend in exploration , already he was the first to write to the National geographic society in year 1923 , he also wrote a book about his explorations in the desert in the book " The lost Oases" which was translated in to Arabic,French and German. in That book Hassanein Pasha shared in a very attractive way his journey for 8 month trip full of perils on a camel from Egypt's Mediterranean coast west of Marsa Matrouh, heading for the oases of Siwa and Kufra and into the unknown reaches of the Libyan Desert. His perilous eight-month journey in 1923 took him around the western edges of the Great Sand Sea to El Obeid in the Sudan, a distance of 2200 miles, and lead him to the discovery of the lost oases of Arkenu and Uweinat at the extreme southwest corner of Egypt.Yes he was the first one to discover the Uweinat Oasis where he discovered rock drawings of animals, including lions, giraffes, ostriches, and gazelles. He was deep in the trackless desert, but what he had found was evidence of a flourishing human existence ten thousand years ago, and proof that the Sahara was once green, people we are talking here as I said in year 1923 ,the wonderful thing in that book was that Hassanein was also one hell of a photographer who documented his discoveries with photographs and illustrations .

He wrote an article to the National geographic in September 1924 about his discoveries with photographs , you can check it here

If you are no amazed yet wait and you will be amazed by this multi-talented man whom in 1930 tried to fly solo from London to Cairo yet unfortunately the plan was smashed in Pisa ,he was quite an adventurous

Despite his claim that he did not understand politics at all he worked in it since day one as He started his career as the Arab Secretary to the British Commanding Officer General Maxwell during the Great War 1914-1918 , he received the MBE for his valuable efforts for the diplomatic bridge he created between Britain and Egypt in 1927 yet that does not mean he was a traitor working for the invaders sake on the contrary ,years later Hassanein was the worst nightmare the British Commissioner had faced in his working years he worked also as the  first secretary of Seif Allah Yusri Pasha our first Ambassador to the United States.Then he returned to Egypt to work as an advisor to King Fouad and then a Chamberlain to the lands of Queen Nazli,after the most important phase in his life from my point of view started when he was sent with crown Farouk "16 yrs" to London as Tutor and there in those couple of years he formed a special bond with Future King Farouk ,I guess no one had it , he was more like father to the young man who suffered from a very lonely strict childhood ,yes he made mistakes in London but  on the other hand he won the trust of the rebel teenager.Hassanein later became the head of the Royal Diwan , which is like the office of the President Now. Through his work as in the Royal Diwan he was the closet one to Farouk and he proved that as an advisor he was not looking for his interest but the country's and the King's Interests , it is enough to know that Sir Ahmed Hassanein Pasha was not that rich ,I mean the man did not use his position for profit and surely he did not have friends like Mamdouh Ismail and the whale of Nasr city "I am speaking the current Head of the President's Diwan"

In 1926 he married the Ambassador daughter Princess Latifa whose mother Princess Shivakiar ,yet the marriage did not last thanks to his relationship with Queen Nazli who many said that he married secretly for couple of years from 1943 to 1946 ,during that time it was said that he was in love with Singer and Princess Amal Al-Atrash aka Asmahan  , to tell you the truth no body knows whom he real loved from those ladies but I think he married Nazli only to keep her from scandals ,Nazli was mad about him and could not accept the truth that she was just a fling for him , in revenge she acted in a way that threatened her son's throne who was mad to see his mother setting in her Royal Suite with him at night where he was wearing his pajamas teaching her how to read the holy Quran "1" !!

His death proved to be tragic from all ways , it was the start of the down fall of Farouk , he died in Car accident by British military vehicle near Qasr El Nil Bridge in Cairo on 19th of February1946 , Queen Nazli went Crazy and thought that her son was behind it where as her son began his true fast trip to downfall , it started with the divorce of Farida in 1948 despite Hassanein's warnings , then the defeat of 1948 then the clashes with the Wafad cabinet ,the successive weak minority cabinets and the mother of all scandals and disasters The escape of Nazli and her daughter Fatahiah who married the Christian Riyad Ghali ,I think if he were alive things would be different but what can we say Fate is fate

By the way he was buried in a very elegant mausoleum across the Salah Salem road from the new seat of the Al-Azhar Imam if you are used to pass by Salah Sallam road every day you may recognize it ,here it is

By the way do you know how designed that Mausoleum ??

Legendary Egyptian Architect Hassan Fathy who was Ahmed's brother-in-law by marriage of his sister Aziza Hassanein. That man does not stop surprising you even in his death ,if you go there or pass by it please remember to read Fataha

By the way he had 4 children from Princess Latifa : 2 boys "One of them called Tarek and he died from some time" and 2 girls ,his grand daughter is called Ayaat Mahmoud

Why did I write this post about that man ?? well beside my admiration of his personality ,I love the fact that he was 100% Egyptian man raised in Boulaq and according to many he was down to earth

By the way do you know what is the secret of that man??

I think it has to do with his horoscope Sign ,Ahmed Pasha Hassanein was living example on dangerous,adventurous,diplomat and charming characteristic of the Scorpios

Sources:

1-Adel Thabat Book "Farouk and those who betrayed him"

2-The World of Ahmed Hassanein "Three images from it ", I don't want to suffer from their curse :)

For all those who skeptical about our victory please read this wonderful study by the American Major J.C. Moulton of United States Air Force from the Marine Corps University Command and Staff College published in year 1997

The 1973 October War: The Egyptian Perspective

Just read it carefully it is a wonder excellent analysis to the war of 1973 based upon the Egyptian perspective , again the one who presented this research is an American Major in the United States Air Forces

Please read it

And if you finish reading and you still have nothing to do , I will recommend that you read another study also from the Marine Corps University Command and Staff College ,this time the study was made by Major Ibrahim Al-Jowder from the Bahrain Armed Forces in year 1997

The 1973 October War : The Operational level

And more and more reading will not harm you at all , so I advice to buy these books and read it carefully then may be you will have a better idea of who really won the war back then

I mean if Israel had won the war , why such a book like "In the eve of  Destruction" was published !!??

This book by the way is referring to the Ashraf Marwan "The In-law" , it is by Howard Blum by the way

Also I recommend you to read the book of General Saad El-Din Shazely "The crossing of the Suez", the former chief of staff ,who has a very interesting official website

General El-Shazaaly was the smiling man on President Sadaat left hand

Happy anniversary :)

At last I found an official website for the great Egyptian Musician and the artist of the people Sayed Darwish

This website which is unfortunately in Arabic is owned by Sayed Darwish's own grand son engineer Hassan El-Bahr Darwish , the brother of the Egyptian singer Eman El-Bahr Darwish

I do not know how and from where I can speak about this great artist who lived in the early of the 20th century , may be I can say that he was the revival of the Arabic music and in his quest to liberate Egypt from the British occupation he liberated the Arabic music from the Turkish influence

That man made things till now no one could make it from music that still expresses the essence of the Egyptian people , already our national anthem is composed by him , yes it was remixed by Abd El-Wahab , by it was his original music , the words of course was for the Egyptian leader Mustafa Pasha Kamal

Darwish was really the artist of the people ,do you know that he made songs for almost all the sectors of the Egyptian people , mainly the working classes ,he made songs for different professions like waiters ,water transporters ,road builders..you name ,you just name it

there were short songs for different places in Egypt from the Upper Egypt to the Delta to his great Love to his home town in Alexandria

He made even songs about the different ethnics in Egypt back then like the Sudanese ,Greeks Turks

Not to mention his musical plays and Operettas

If you know Arabic,you visit this wonderful treasure website and get lost for hours between the huge information , the songs ,the lyrics history and even the musical notes too.

A great history for a great man

This site must be translated to English

Sayed Darwish ElBahr

Just on the victory's eve

By the way here is the full national Egyptian Anthem "Biladi Biladi" from the Egyptian Radio in 1950s , the complete version before Abd El-Wahab remixed it in the 1979 to become our national anthem ,it was sang by the beautiful voice "Karm Mahmoud"

Here are the original lyrics it was based upon "Mustafa Pasha Kamal" Speech Sayed Darwish had heard when he was a little boy attending a speech for the Pasha in a club in Alexandria

Also here is something very special , a part from his Operetta "Scheharazde" sang by the wonderful voice of Soad Hosni in her film "Amira My love"

This Operetta was about Princess Scheharazde "originally not Egyptian" who found herself in the charge of country "Egypt" going to war , this part showed her inspiring the soliders of her army promising them with a big reward for whom ever put the flag of the country high on the enemy land ,then she farewells them ,after that we found "Zaboula" is the lucky man who gets his reward which is to marry the princess and carries her father's sword to become the prince of the country ,of course between all this "Zaboula" will leave his true love yet he won't leave the beautiful "Horrya" {Mermaid} the maid in the palace for the eyes of the promotion

The Operetta story and lyrics were written by famous legendary Poet Biriam El-Tounsi ,it was presented by the ensemble of Sayed Darwish in 1921 , many fantastic patriotic songs were taken from that specific operetta already you read the plot  you will see that nationalistic part in it , the preference for everything  Egyptian , the greatness and bravery of the Egyptian army , it is enough to know that the song "I am the Egyptian" one of the greatest work for Darwish and Tounsi was in that Operetta , I have it by the way but I won't post it this time Anyhow this is a short remix for several scenes in the operetta , first the speech and promise scene than the farewell than the reward,you will find that Shekih Sayed "he was originally graduated from Al-Azhar" had a great music capabilities

Why do I post this part specifically today ??

Because there is stanza in the operetta that says

"The best armies in the nations are our armies

In the hard times come and see us

When the enemy army  comes and attack us

Nothing can ever stop us "

Come on it is the arm forces day in Egypt and I like to celebrate it

At last I did it and I translated the Rush Shaked Documentary script from Arabic to English so all the people will understand what was said in the controversial Israeli documentary. I translated it from the original Arabic script I found in my Cruel World blog.It is very important because according to it that is the Second Israeli confession of committing crimes against the Egyptian POWs in 1967 after the veterans confessions of committing war crimes in 1956 against our POWs from Militaries and civilians. I am sorry if there were mistakes in the Hebrew names but you must know that all that delay was to check from the names and to write it correctly ,I tried as possible to check from the names several times and some of them from those who appeared in the documentary turned to be from the important officers in the IDF as you will know

The documentary and what was said in it are the solid proof against the claims of the director of the same director of the documentary who lied and said that the Egyptians were not mentioned in the documentary !! Well ha can say anything especially when the documentary was never shown again , also it is a solid proof against the claims of the Shaked battalion veterans who denied that they had killed any Egyptian pows during 1967

You can find the script in English here

please spread the news

Again if you find any mistakes in the Hebrew names please tell me and I will correct them