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Author Topic: History of IAF (Israel Air Force)  (Read 13241 times)

Offline Eldorado82

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History of IAF (Israel Air Force)
« on: June 09, 2009, 02:12:55 PM »
hey guys , i've decided to open this branch in order to see how ya'all accept this stuff:) if it wont go good then i'll delete it. anyways, here it goes. all the planes that had the glory to be part of IAF. if ill would fine any new facts ill update them in my posts. if you have any remarks please PRIVATEMESSAGE me ok guys ? thanks
first one- AVIA S199

Avia S199 (IAF codename: knife)
Czechoslovakian production, single seated aircraft.
Wingspan 9.92 m, height 2.59 m and length of 8.94 m.
Max. speed- 590 km\h  max. service ceiling- 9,5 km, effective range- 850 kms.

IAF's fleet back in the days of Independence war was a strange collaboration of aircraft of different types, which were made in different countries all over the world. The critical absence of aircrafts and difficulties in their purchasing for the young Jewish state stimulated a need to buy every plane that falls in their hands, at any price without rigorous planning and no actual testing of real needs and operating issues.

One of the most unusual aircrafts that could be seen in these times was the Evia S199.
Czechoslovakian model of Messerschmitt 109, was one of the main Luftwaffe's planes, during WWII. When purchase people of the infant IAF were going all over the world in search of any useable fighter plane for the young country, the Messerschmitt was not on their grocery list.

Avia comes from the times of WWII, when Germans made Czechoslovakia to product aircrafts and other war equipment. The Avia factory was part of the Skoda Corporation. After the end of the war the aircraft continued to be madebut due to lack of original engines and propellers the had to fit into   body of Messerschmitt 109G Junkers Jumo 211 (JU87's engine), and a propeller of He 111 bomber. These "fine tunings" made no good to aircraft which was suffering from lots of disadvantages ( a plane had a tendency to yaw left during take offs and landings, causing lots of accidents.

The favorite planes for purchasing were mainly American and UK planes, on whom had lots of flight hours the first Israeli and foreign volunteer pilots. But the embargo that USA put on weapons deals with Middle East and  refusal of the rest of states except Czechoslovakia to sell to Israel combat planes, had changed the priorities and IAF had to compromise on buying Messerschmitt's. Although that no one of IAF pilots didn’t know the proper operation, the ground teams had no idea how to maintain them, was a hard absence of spares and the price was exorbitant.
      
Nevertheless, Israel acquired 25 aircrafts at 1948. First ones were flown over here, disassembled, inside cargo planes. They were assembled here by technicians from Czechoslovakia. Planes were flying at 101st (First Battle Squadron) squadron during the independence war. At that war many missions, like attacking ground targets, fields, defending the skies of Israel and patrols were done by the Avia S199. The first operation and the first ops flight of 101st squadron was in 29.05.1948 when 4 Avia attacked the Egypt ground corpses near Ashdod, and the next day Jordan ground forces were attacked too. Avia has 5 hits in its service:2 Egyptian Dakotas that were gunned down by Modi Alon ( the commander of 101st) in front of peoples of Tel-Aviv. Other planes that were gunned down by Avia: Egyptian spitfire,  Syrian Harward and Jordan Rapid.

some pictures. about the rest information ill try to search in my books

UPDATE:
at 15.11.49 the 101th squadron moved to Kastina AFB and was active untill 06.1949, when a decision was made by Ezer Weizman- the squadron commander- to dissasemble the planes and store them for need of emergency.

more update to come
« Last Edit: June 12, 2009, 08:41:29 AM by Eldorado82 »
Remembering Steven "TigerShark" Zeluff

Offline alyster

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Re: History of IAF (Israel Air Force)
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2009, 02:55:41 PM »
Nice. That was the plane I was hoping you start from. But I have a question. It had a very poor perforamce as we know and you had problems with its maintaiance so usually only about a flight was serviceable. So when was its' last combat? I mean did it see combat in 1949? Last record I know is that one was shot down by Egyptian forces in december 1948. Surely it wasn't used in 1956 Suez crises, but recently I really tried to see if its' combat history ended in 1948 or 1949.
Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes

Offline Eldorado82

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Re: History of IAF (Israel Air Force)
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2009, 04:32:28 PM »
BOEING B-17 FLYING FORTRESS
Boeing B-17 (Flying Fortress)
US production, heavy bomber crewed by 6-10 people.
Wingspan: 31.63 meter, length 22.66 meter, height 5.82  wing area 131.92 m3
Max. speed 510 km/h, cruising speed: 460 km/h, maximum range- 2900 kms.
Empty weight: 16,3 ton  loaded weight: 24.4 tons. 4 Write-R-1820-97 "Cyclone" turbo supercharged radial engines 1200hp (895kW). Armament: 13 machine guns and a bomb weights 2700-5800 kg.

Boeing B17 also called Flying Fortress was in service since the independence day of Israel and until late 50s. beginning of his service is unique and unusual at the IAF history. It was the first time that IAF adopted a plane  that his features were absolutely opposite the IAF needed for his operational matters and besides that the aircraft was not fit to the landscape of the country. B17 was created in order to perform long strategic missions mainly on industrial concentrations in the depth of enemy's territory. Needs of IAFwere at that time so scarce and origins of supplies were so small, that every working fight-plane was welcomed in IAF. B17's operational value  wasn't such large, it’s bombings on the large Arab cities had been known to have certain psychological influence. B17 was unique also among the fighter-planes of 30's. It was the first heavy omber with 4 engines, thought to be one of the main planes of the WWII, and its contribution to a victory over the Nazi Germany is critical. Four B-17G were bout as outlets of the Us army, and three of them were smuggled trough Puerto-Rico  to Czechia. From there t o Israel in 1948.(the fourth plane was caught by US agents and banned. On their way to Israel the planes bombarded targets in Cairo, landed at night at Ekron.. From Ekron they moved to  Ramat-David, and used in the Patishim squadron (  Hammers- 69th sq.)

In the independence war the planes used to bomb in Gaza, Rafiah, Faludja, Galilee, and El-Arish. In the Sinai operation 2 of the bombers were used for a night bombing in Gaza strip and in Sinai. Besides, they were used for a long distance patroles. They were efficiently used all over the independence war  and were used in :aseret hayamim (10 days), Yoav, Hiram and Horev operations.

Planes left for a while from the operational service back in 1954 and close to Sinai war 2 of them came back to service in IAF, until they finally left the IAF at 1958. one of the aircraft was bought by Columbia Pictures for making a movie.
Remembering Steven "TigerShark" Zeluff

Offline shawn a

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Re: History of IAF (Israel Air Force)
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2009, 02:08:46 AM »
Good going, Eldorado! I never knew you folks flew B-17s!
Keep it up, please.
Shawn A

Offline johnlenny

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Re: History of IAF (Israel Air Force)
« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2009, 10:45:21 AM »
The Yom Kippur War and its aftermath are useful reminders that war is a destructive and often unpredictable business, one that usually hurts the overall investment. War always creates problems never ends it. The same is happening with Israel as money and human recourse is being wasted in war.

 



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