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| S199 Avia |
Israeli Air Force (IAF) Meteors
The Middle East
entered the jet age in October 1949 when the Egyptian Air Force (EAF)
received its first jet fighters two Meteor F4's. By the end of 1952 they
had 23 Meteors and 29 DeHavilland Vampires. At the same time the IAF's
most modern aircraft was the P51D Mustang. Early exportsStarting in 1950, Israel made numerous attempts to purchase jet fighters but was consistently refused by the USA and other European nations. This finally changed in August 1952 when the British government agreed to deal with Israel. This resulted in an order for 11 F8's and 4 T7 trainers approved by the Israeli government in November 1952 and signed with Gloster in February 1953. The first two T7's arrived at Ramat-David on June 17th delivered by British pilots and were allocated to 117th "Hasilon Harishona" (First Jet) squadron, The first of the F8's arrived in August and all aircraft were delivered by January 1954. The F8's were fitted with Martin-Baker M2E ejector seats and were armed with cannon's supplied by Israel, all the F8's were fitted with strengthened wings and had rocket rails and target towing lugs lugs on the fuselage ventral tanks.
Israeli Air Force F8
In late 1954/ 1955 Israel added to its inventory when it bought a further two T7's and seven FR9's. They were all ex-RAF aircraft refurbished by Flight Refuelling Ltd and delivered between December 1954 and May 1955. Two FR9's were later converted to F8's while five others had the reconnaissance equipment removed and served merely as fighters, curiously two T7's were however converted to a photo-reconnaissance role serving with the 115th "Hadrakon Hameoffef"(Flying Dragon) squadron.
The IAF added night fighting capability in 1956 with the delivery of three NF13's from Britain. Six had been ordered but the remaining three were only delivered after the lifting of the arms embargo in 1958 with one of the aircraft being written-off after force-landing in France en-route. The nightfighters served with 119 sqn in a night interceptor role until withdrawn from service in 1964. Israel's other Meteors involved three F8's built for the Egyptian Air Force which were used as operational trainers and target tugs from late 1953 until the early 1960's. They also aquired two additional T7's from the Belgium Air Force which were refurbished by Avions Fairey and fitted with the high speed F8 tail before delivery.
Service and Combat
The 117th was the only operational jet fighter squadron for a number of years acting as the sole training unit for jet pilots while at the same time on constant standby with the growing tension in the Middle East. Scrambled against EAF Hawker Furies in July 1954 they first went into combat against other jet fighters on August 18th, 1955. On that day two Meteors engaged four Vampires over the Negev desert damaging one, on September the 1st two meteors (an F8 and an FR9) engaged four EAF Vampires which had crossed the border at 6:52 in the morning. After detecting the intruders Captain Aaron Yoali shot down two Vampires, the first jet kills in the Middle-East and the first IAF aerial victory since the War of Independence.
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Dassault Ouragan
The Ouragan was one of the first successes of the post W.W.II French air craft industry. It’s straight wing design was somewhat outdated, but it performed well in the ground attack role. In 1955 after Egypt made a large weapons deal with Czechoslovakia, supplying them with large quantities of the most modern Soviet weapons, including the MIG-15, and MIG-17. Like in the Korean conflict the arrival of the high speed swept wing jet fighters rendered any other jet in the sky obsolete. Israel began a search for a swept wing fighter to equip it’s air force, and soon discovered that the only country that would sell to Israel was France. But the French swept wing technology had not yet come of age. Beny Pelled (later IAF commander), was sent to test pilot the French Mystere II, and found it inadequate to face the MIG-15-17. However, he did not reveal that he spoke French, and overheard the French test pilots that thought he didn’t understand talk of a soon to arrive Mystere IV. The French were trying to dump the small number of Mystere IIs built for the French air force on Israel, and replace them with the newer
Mystere IV. While preparing for his first flight in a swept wing jet Pelled
flew in a French Ouragan. He made a recommendation to the Israeli government
to wait for the Mystere IV, and in the meantime buy the Ouragan. He had to argue
with direct orders form the prime minister twice before the government changed
it’s mind and ordered the purchase of 24 Ouragans. The Ouragan was no match
for the MIG-15-17, but wasn’t a sitting duck like the Meteor
or the piston engine IAF planes of the time. and it gave the IAF a jet dedicated
to ground attack. 6 more Ouragans arrived in time for operation Kadesh, and
after the operation 45 more Ouragans were purchased as surplus French air force
equipment. Bringing the total number of Ouragans to enter service with the IAF
to 75. Until the arrival of the Mystere IV in 1956 the Ouragans served in the
intercept and air superiority role. Shooting down one Egyptian Vampire
that entered Israeli air space before Kadesh, and a MIG-15 in Kadesh, one Ouragan
shot down a MIG-21 in the six day war, but was hit itself and crashed. The Ouragan
served successfully in Kadesh, the six day war, strikes against terrorists in
Jordan, and in the war of attrition with Egypt. With the arrival of the A-4
Skyhawk in 68, the Ouragan was transferred to the operational training squadron,
and was taken out of service in January 1973.Super Mystere 2B
The first European fighter to break the sound barrier in straight and level flight, the Super Mystere 2B was first flown on March 2nd 1953. Based on the Mystere , the new aircraft also derived some of its features from the North American F-100 Super Sabre. These included the thin dogtoothed wings swept at 45° and a flattened nose section. The Super Mystere was the last day fighter in service with the Armee de l'Air, the last unit, Escadres 12, flying the type until 1977.
It was only a natural expression of the close ties formed between France and Israel, that the IAF chose the Super Mystere as its next air superiority fighter in the aftermath of operation "Kadesh" (1956). The operation had revealed the IAF's requirement for a longe range, high endurance fighter. Furthermore, the conclusion of the Suez Crisis did not dissipate tensions in the Middle East. Arab nations continued their aqcuisition of ever more sophisticated Soviet military hardware and the introduction of the supersonic MiG-19 into the arena forced Israel to look its own next-generation interceptor. The Sambad, as the type was known in Israel (acronym of Super Mystere 2B), was not only the IAF's first supersonic fighter but also its first aircraft with an afterburning engine. on August 20th 1958 the IAF reformed it second fighter squadron, the 105th "Ha'akrav" (The Scorpion) squadron, at Hazor AFB, headed by Yaakov Nevo. Five Israeli pilots left for France in September and the first IAF Super Mysteres arrived at Hazor on December 4th 1958. All 18 aircraft purchased by Israel arrived within a month, and the type was soon declared operational, rapid response duties beginning in March 1959.
1964
מטוס הסטרטוקרוזר הראשון נוחת בישראל
העניין במטוס תובלה כבד וחדיש החל כבר בשנות ה-60. על הפרק עמד מטוס ההרקולס האמריקאי, אולם בגלל סדר עדיפוית משתנה, ואי רצון אמריקאי למכור אמל"ח לישראל, הרעיון נדחה לשנים רבות.
כפתרון נערכה סדרה כושלת של ניסויי טיסה בארץ של מטוסי YC-97. באוגוסט 1961, למרות ההמלצות השליליות, החליט הרמטכ"ל דאז, רא"ל צבי צור, לרכוש מהם.
בסופו של דבר נרכשו על-ידי התעשייה האווירית חמישה מטוסי בואינג B-377 סטרטוקרוזר, שכונו בחיל-האוויר "ענק". המטוסים, מדגם אזרחי, שנרכשו מחברת "פאן-אמריקן", היו במצב תחזוקתי גרוע וכדי להפכם למטוסי תובלת סער היה צורך לבצע בהם שינויים נרחבים.
ב-23 במרס 1964 נחת מטוס הסטרטוקרוזר הראשון בישראל. התעשייה האווירית הציעה לקבל על עצמה את אחזקת המטוסים ו"למכור" שעות טיסה לחיל-האוויר וזאת מכיון שח"א לא היה מסוגל להתמודד עם הרכישה והתחזוקה בעצמו. ערב מלחמת ששת הימים כבר היו בידי חיל-האוויר שבעה מטוסים.
מטוסי הסטרטוקרוזר תרמו רבות בתחומים כגון: תובלה, טיסות ארוכות טווח רבות לאירופה, לאפריקה, לאיראן וליעדים רבים אחרים, משימות שוטפות של הובלת נוסעים בהיקף גדול, כמו הטסת ראש הממשלה אשכול ופמלייתו לסיור שנמשך כמה שבועות באפריקה, בשנת 1966 במטוס שכונה "מצדה". ובמשימות בתחום המודיעין האלקטרוני ול"א.
מטוסי הסטרטו קבלו כינויים של ישובים קדומים כמו "מצדה" , "ציפורי" ובית"ר, בהמראות של האחרון ונטייתו למשוך מסלול עד הסוף נהגו החיילים לשאוג "יאללה בית"ר יאללה".
למטוס הייתה נטייה להתקלקל כמעט בכל טיסה, בכל המראה נתגלו תקלות באחד מארבעת מנועיו, ועל כך קבל את הכינוי, המטוס הגדול בעולם בעל שלושה מנועים.
בשנת 1978 סיים המטוס את שירותו בחיל
