about 7,000 troops of acknowledged loyalty to the government. Personnel-related problems persisted, nevertheless. In January 1971, a plot was uncovered - supposedly organised by Soviet advisers - under which several pilots intended to defect with their aircraft to Aden. In another attempt to improve the situation, President Iryani visited Moscow and requested additional military aid, including deliveries of MiG-17 fighter-bombers, in December 1971. However the Soviets also refused. The only improvement the North Yemeni air force experienced during this period was the expansion of Al-Daylami air base, undertaken during the same year. South Yemeni Armed Forces The origins of the South Yemeni army can be traced back to WW1, when the 1st Yemeni battalion was formed, consisting of locally enlisted Arabs to confront Turkish troops threatening Aden. This unit was disbanded in 1925, but reformed three years later as Aden Protectorate Levies (APL), under the control of the RAF. Between 1929 and 1939, the APL served to protect airfields and other bases, and also for garrison duties on Perim and Kamaran islands. During the Second World War, it was reinforced through the addition of an anti-aircraft unit, which in 1940 managed to shoot down an Italian bomber over Aden. In 1957, the APL was reorganised and placed under the control of the British army. Four years later, it came under the jurisdiction of the Federation of South Arabia and was officially redesignated as the FRA. By 1964, this comprised five infantry battalions, an armoured car squadron and a signal squadron. In June 1967, it was reinforced by the addition of four battalions of the Federal Guard (or National Guard) that were merged into its existing structure, and recruitment of its tenth battalion. A year later, three battalions of the Hadrami Bedouin Legion - an internal security force in the former Eastern Aden Protectorate - were integrated into the FRA. The British trained these units in mountain warfare and helicopter-supported operations, some even for urban internal security operations. Therefore, when the British hurriedly negotiated a transfer of power to the National Liberation Front (NLF) as the dominant political force in the FSA in November 1967, the new government was able to reach back upon a well-trained and organised, even if small, army. In June 1969, a radical Marxist wing of the NLF gained power in Aden and on 1 December 1970, the country was renamed the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.