Leon Manouchehrians was born in Tehran, Iran in 1950, to Armenian parents. With his passion for aviation he spent all his 28 years of life in Iran studying the history of Iranian civil and military aviation. By writing articles in Farsi language aviation magazines, he was invited to work at the Imperial Iranian Air Force publishing department as a civilian at the age of 24. After his move to the United States in 1978, he started publishing the Iranian Aviation Review magazine. He is also the author of the Illustrated Directory of Civil Aircraft of Iran. He lives in Glendale, California.