Egyptian Air College

Egyptian Air College
The Egyptian Air College (Arabic: الكلية الجوية المصرية) One of the colleges of the Egyptian Military Academy is a college in Bilbeis, Sharqia Governorate, Egypt, tasked with training officer candidates for the Egyptian Air Force. Established in 1951, the Egyptian Air College is one of seven military academies administered by the various branches of the Egyptian Armed Forces. The current director of the Egyptian Air Academy is Air Vice-Marshal Abd-El Moneam Hassan Shouman.
In addition to Egyptian Air Force personnel, the academy has also trained cadets from a large number of other Arab countries, as well as cadets from Malaysia and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.
History
Formal air force training in Egypt dates to 1938 when a forerunner to the Egyptian Air Academy was established on the grounds of the Royal Air Force-administered Almaza station near present-day Cairo International Airport. Resources provided to this school included instructors, technicians, training aircraft and curriculum. The first cadets were non-commissioned officers from the Egyptian Army and various police forces who were deemed medically fit for flying. This first school was divided into five "wings": Flying, Science, Technical, Cadets and Administration.
By 1951 the Almaza site had become inadequate for air force training purposes. That year a law was passed by the Kingdom of Egypt authorizing the creation of the Egyptian Air Academy near Bilbeis. Despite the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the expulsion of British forces and the subsequent rise of the Republic of Egypt, plans for the academy remained unchanged, with construction and renovation continuing through 1961. Future Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak served as a lecturer and later as director of the Egyptian Air Academy at various times during the 1950s and 1960s
Admission and curriculum
Prospective Egyptian Air College cadets must be Egyptian "by heredity from forefathers," unmarried, no older than 21 have "good manners" and be "clean living." Once at the academy cadets are divided into "pilot" and "navigator" groups. Curriculum includes theoretical and practical flying, administration and humanities, computer science and foreign languages.
Upon graduation both pilots and navigators receive bachelor's degrees, commissions in the Egyptian Air Force and certifications in their respective fields of study. Graduating pilots also receive an internationally recognized commercial pilot's license.
Directors
The following senior officers have served as Director of the Air Academy:
1954 to 1961 Madkoor Abo-Alezz
1961 to 1963 Ali Hasan Emam
1963 to 1967 Abdel-Hamid Daghady
1967 Yahia Saleh Al-Aidaros
1967 to 1969 Hosni Mubarak
1969 to 1973 Mahmoud Shaker
1973 to 1974 Ibrahim Shaker
1974 to 1981 Abdel-Alim Ahmed Abdel-Alim
1981 to 1983 Ali Othman Zico
1984 to 1987 Fakhry Fadl-Alla Gahramy
1987 to 1989 Ahmed Abdellatif Ahmed
1989 Alaa Rahmy
1989 to 1990 Kamal Ezzat
1990 to 1993 Alaa Rahmy
1993 to 1997 Osama Abdel-Ghany Sakr
1997 to 2000 Magdy Galal Sharawi
2000 to 2013 unknown
2013 Abd-El Moneam Hassan Shouman
See also
Egyptian Air Defense Academy
Egyptian Naval Academy
References
External links
Egyptian Air Academy
Human Rights Watch: The Repression of Academic Freedom in Egyptian Universities.
Egyptian Air Force
Air force academies
Educational institutions established in 1951
Military academies of Egypt
1951 establishments in Egypt