The Israeli airforce "French era "

[hyair]

Thanks to All of You !

Pesach Sameach = Happy Passover !

Yair

[cafe]

That"s a very nice collection!

[hyair]

Thanks Carlos !

Yair

[paperengineer]

That's a lot of well-built models

[hyair]

In 1954 Israel was desperate to get a modern jet fighter. The search reached even Sweden.
One of the most experienced Israeli pilots Beny Peled did test flights on the Saab 29 Tunan
and his report on the plane was positive. Israel appealed to Sweden in order to buy the Saab 29 but Sweden declined and refused to sell it. ( the Saab 29 is one of my next projects).
In 1954 the political situation in France was pro- Israelien and soon good relationship were established between the two countries. In 1954 France was among the leading countries in jet aviation and many types were devoloped and brought to flight status. The leading company was Marcel Dassault that produced jet fighters for the French airforce. The Ouragan
was the first to enter service followed by the Mystere IIC . The Mystere IVa was in advanced
development stages at the time. The French wanted to sell the Mystere IIC to Israel. A delegation of Israelien pilots and technical officers was sent to France to evaluate the Mystere IIC. After flight tests the Israeli pilots gave negative report on the Mystere II. Flying characteristics were lacking and the weapon systems were found imprecise. After a long debating it was decided to buy the Ouragan as an interim fighter and to wait for the much more promising Mystere IVa that was in final stages of development at the time.
In 1955 Israel started to receive the Ouragan jet straight from the production line.
Some 60 Ouragans were bought by the IAF.

I attach here some pics of the Ouragan and the Mystere IIC.
Will be continued.

Yair

[hyair]

In 1955 Egypt signed on a very large weapon deal with the Czech republic. The deal was including 200 jets of about 150 mig 15 bis and 30 IL -28 bombers and even small number of mig 17's.
Israel needed an answer to this threat and it was the French Mystere IVa which was the right plane at the right time. At the beginning of 1956 Israeli pilots and ground crews came to France to learn the new fighter. After that the planes were transferred by flight to Israel with a stop in south Italy for refueling. The first 4 mysters arrived at Hatzur base and dived over the spectators below at supersonic speed - this was the first sonic bang in Israel !
Soon many bangs were heard in Israel. Some 60 were bought and two squadrons were formed.
At the end of October 1956 Operation Kadesh started and Israel in a brilliant move occupied
the Sinai peninsula from the Egyptian army in less then a week ! Israel was coordinated with Great Britain and France that started Operation Mooskatier at the same time to capture Suez canal from the Egyptians.
The Israeli pilots gave close air support to the ground forces and while the Ouragan proved
very effective against ground targets the Mystere IV had some 8 victories against Egyptian planes including 3 mig 15 , one mig 17 and 4 vampires.
The Mystere IV was crowned by the name " the fighter of Kadesh " - rightly.

I attach here pics of the Mystere IV and Mig 15 bis. As can be seen the Mystere IV has much longer fuselage and the span of the wings is bigger.

Yair

[Ofanim]

Very nice collection Hyair !
It's a pleasure to see your pictures and reading all your stories.

I'm not sure but I think there is an Israeli Noratlas designed by Kampfflieger .

Regards,
Ronan

[hyair]

Thanks Ronan !

To complete the French jet era I need to add the Fuga Magister which I already have. I hope to find
time as I have some 3 models in different build stages that I have to complete before.
As far as for stories there are plenty to tell yet.

Regards - Yair

[hyair]

The Israeli airforce officers eyed the Vautour in the early 50's. There was a need in the IAF to
replace the " wood wonder " from WW2 - the Mosquito. The wood plane was not designed for the hot climate in Israel and had structural pronlems. The Vautour started to enter service in
the French airforce in 1956. Israel appealed to France and requested to buy it. At first the French were unwilling to sell it because of it's offensive nature. The Vautour could fly to a very
long distance with more than 4000 kg of bombs and was even able to drop them at supersonic speed in a dive. Even the Americans didn't have an answer to it in 1956. Israeli test pilots flew the type and gave positive reports on it. The Vautour was flown by American
test pilots as well again with positive flight reports. An agreement was signed to supply 30
Vautours from the 3 types - A which was a day homber , B or bomber with a glossy front and bombardier ejection seat inside with upper hatch and the two seater N model which was the all weather interceptor. The sting was that Israel will not show it in public for one year because the French didn"t want the two superpowers to know about the deal - so the Vautours were put inside a big hangar covered and were released for flight only in July 1958.
Thier carrier in the IAF was extraordinaire and they participated in many successful operations until 1972.

Some images of the Vautour of YOAV HOZMI design. A full transparent cockpit was added
to give it a more realistic looking.

Yair

[herky]

Originally Posted by hyair

Thanks Ronan !

To complete the French jet era I need to add the Fuga Magister which I already have. I hope to find
time as I have some 3 models in different build stages that I have to complete before.
As far as for stories there are plenty to tell yet.

Regards - Yair

should have read this post first.was about to point out the missing fouga