Waziri Mayai Wa Maradhi
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 28, 2026
- 302
- 80
Dedan Gichuru the first African commander of the Kenya Air Force still looking young.
He was in a group of 5 young Kenyans who were sneaked out of the country to Israel in 1963, using Tanzanian passports to train as pilots for the future Kenya Air Force.
On their return after independence, the British who still wielded great influence refused to recognise their qualifications and decided to train them afresh as military pilots and also sent them to Royal Air Force College Cranwell in the UK for Officer training.
Gichuru later became the first African Station Commander of Kenya Air Force Eastleigh Station, now Moi Air Base Eastleigh, and succeeded Group Captain David John Edwards, to become the first African Commander of the Kenya Air Force in 1973.
He was the one who flew the body of Jomo Kenyatta from Mombasa to Nairobi on a Caribou plane in August 1978, after he received firm instructions that as the Commander of the Kenya Air Force he was the one to fly the body of the Commander in Chief.
Although Gichuru retired in 1980 and handed over to Patrick Kariuki, in 1986 Moi called him out of retirement and made him the Commander of the newly created 82 Kenya Air Force. He succeeded Mohamud Haji Mohamed Barrow an Army officer who had been appointed to the position of Air Force Commander after suppressing the 1982 coup attempt.
He was in a group of 5 young Kenyans who were sneaked out of the country to Israel in 1963, using Tanzanian passports to train as pilots for the future Kenya Air Force.
On their return after independence, the British who still wielded great influence refused to recognise their qualifications and decided to train them afresh as military pilots and also sent them to Royal Air Force College Cranwell in the UK for Officer training.
Gichuru later became the first African Station Commander of Kenya Air Force Eastleigh Station, now Moi Air Base Eastleigh, and succeeded Group Captain David John Edwards, to become the first African Commander of the Kenya Air Force in 1973.
He was the one who flew the body of Jomo Kenyatta from Mombasa to Nairobi on a Caribou plane in August 1978, after he received firm instructions that as the Commander of the Kenya Air Force he was the one to fly the body of the Commander in Chief.
Although Gichuru retired in 1980 and handed over to Patrick Kariuki, in 1986 Moi called him out of retirement and made him the Commander of the newly created 82 Kenya Air Force. He succeeded Mohamud Haji Mohamed Barrow an Army officer who had been appointed to the position of Air Force Commander after suppressing the 1982 coup attempt.
