Be'er Sheva
We left Abraham's village right on 3PM and decided to attempt a quick visit to the Air Force Base museum. Rather than drive straight through the middle of the city, I opted to drive around the outer ring road instead, in an effort to avoid traffic and also make a very quick stop at a roundabout en-route. The particular roundabout in question is just outside the Israeli Air Force Technical College and right in the center is a plinthed F-4E Phantom II fighter jet. These are my all time favourite aircraft ever, and only the third time I have ever seen one! It was mounted here in 2004 and dedicated to the Israeli Astronaut Ilan Ramon who perished in the 2001 Columbia space shuttle disaster. #277 was formerly part of the "Orange Tail" squadron. Despite being in the desert, it could certainly do with a fresh coat of paint.
Hatzerim Air Force Museum
The museum is located 10 kilometers to the east of Be'er Sheva. On arrival, we were initially denied entrance as Australian citizens were on the banned list along with a handful of other countries over Corona virus fears. Fortunately upon rechecking, this only applied if we were displaying symptoms. I had to explain that me frothing at the mouth was because I had just seen an F-4E Phantom II jet and the only cure was to see some more. Israeli Air Force personnel operate the museum and the young soldier was somewhat confused that we had rocked up 30 minutes before closing, but I insisted we would have enough time and I was let loose. The rest of this blog contains information on each of the exhibits I saw, which was about 85% of them with the rest being in off-limits areas. Now, I do get it. Not everyone is madly in love with high speed military jets or other rare aircraft. Maybe you're not. And if you're not, it's not up to me to work out what's wrong with you.
"When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." - Deuteronomy 20:1
Continue to Part 11 - click here
Piston Fighters & Trainers
North American T-6 Texan. The Israeli's smuggled a number of these aircraft in cargo ships from the United States. They were used in the War of Independence and against the Egyptian forces in Fallujah during Operation Shmone. They would later be used as trainers.
One of the Israeli Air Force's very first aircraft, the Avia S-199, a license built copy of none other than the Messerschmitt BF109! 25 were imported in crates and lasted only a couple of years before being retired. They did however see some combat life, taking down some Egyptian bombers striking Tel Aviv.
Supermarine Spitfire - F Mk.IXe EN145, former Israeli Air Force 20-78. The Israeli's first two Spitfires (or Yorek's) were assembled from parts from an old British example left behind after the British mandate and another one from an Egyptian Spitfire shot down over Tel Aviv. Eventually they would purchase another 90 of these aircraft from Italy and Czechoslovakia. The Spitfire shot down 11 enemy aircraft during its career without loss.
One of two North American P51 Mustang's on display, the other being mounted near the entrance gate to the museum.
North American P51 Mustang on display at the entrance of the museum. A Gloster Meteor is on the other side of the road)
Jet Fighters & Trainers
A standard Israeli Gloster Meteor, Britain's first jet fighter.
One of six Gloster Meteor jets on display in the Israeli airforce museum.
A modified Gloster Meteor, the NF-13 for night attacks. Most of Israel's Meteor's arrived in the early and mid 1950's. This aircraft was used to take down a transport aircraft carrying Egypt's top military brass.
Israel operated a fleet of 75 Dassault Ouragan's as a stop gap until their Mystere IV's arrived.
Dassault Ouragan. Most were retired in the mid 1970's, 18 of which were sold to El Salvador.
Dassault Mystere IV, a 1950's fighter bomber and Israel's first swept wing fighter jet. Israel had a fleet of 60 of these.
A second Dassault Mystere IV on display.
Dassault Super Mystere, one of 24 sold to Israel in the late 1950's. These birds were very well liked by Israeli's pilots and had a successful combat life until the bulk of the fleet were sold on to Honduras in 1976.
A Fouga Magister twin seater training aircraft from France.
French built Dassault Mirage III. Israel was the largest operator of the Mirage III outside of France and were very successful as a strike and air superiority aircraft. They were used in conjunction with the IAI Nesher (Israeli built Mirage 5).
After Israel retired their Mirage III's, 26 units were refurbished and sold to Argentina in 1978. A few years later they would be put to use in the Falklands war. Ultimately 11 were destroyed during the conflict. The remaining aircraft eventually received a final upgrade before their fairly recent retirement. One was returned to Israel where it is on display in Argentine livery.
IAI Kfir C2 #874.
An IAI Kfir F-21A, Israeli built and developed, based on the Mirage 5 with an indigenous avionics suite and a domestically built GE J79 turbojet engine. 12 of these jets, including this one, were leased to the USA to be used as aggressor trainers. Note the USAF roundel on the intake and communist star on the tail.
IAI Kfir #712. The Kfir is an Israeli version of the Mirage 5.
A IAI Kfir C-7, the final series of the Kfir family. These were used mainly in the north around the Lebanon border.
Line up of A-4 Skyhawks, F-4 Phantom II's and F15A Eagles.
Surplus A-4 Skyhawk jets awaiting restoration or scrapping away from the main exhibition area.
McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. Israel operated a 253 of these aircraft from the late 1960's until 2015, their final combat missions used for leaflet dropping in Gaza in 2012.
Line up of F-4E and RF-4E Phantom jets.
McDonnell Douglas RF-4E Phantom II # 485. Note the side mounted refuelling probe and modified nose cone.
McDonnell Douglas Super Phantom, a heavily upgraded Phantom with more powerful engines, avionics and increased range.
McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle (73-0098).
The General Dynamics F16-A (Israeli "Netz") falcon. These are still in active service with the IAF. This particular aircraft was one which participated in Operation Opera to destroy an Iraqi nuclear reactor under construction in 1981. It also still holds the record for having the most kills of any F16.
The brilliant IAI Lavi, a domestically produced fighter designed to be a more economical alternative to the F-16 Falcon, which turned out to be a financial nightmare compared to the F-16 Falcon! Despite the same general appearance of their American counterparts, these were a very different beast sporting canards and employing composite materials.
Front view of the domestically designed and produced IAI Lavi. This is one of only three ever built.
Jet Bombers
A Sud Aviation Vautour, one of three housed in the Israeli Air Force museum. This is the IIA version. France built 30 of these, 25 of which they sold to Israel.
A Sud Aviation Vautour IIBR. 40 IIB's were built for France and four were converted and sold as IIBR's to Israel for dedicated reconnaissance work.
A Sud Aviation Vautour IIN. This was a twin seat all weather/night attack version. 70 were built and seven were acquired by Israel. The Vantour's were obsolete by the late 1960's replaced by USA built A-4 Skyhawks and F-4 Phantoms.
Foreign Aircraft
A de Havilland Venom, this one is another donated aircraft from the Swiss Airforce and painted in Iraqi livery.
This Hawker Hunter has no real connection to Israel, asides from being a type the Jordanian Air Force fought against the IAF with. This one was donated by Chile and painted in Jordanian livery for the museum.
A MiG 15 UTI, training version. The Israeli Air Force has a history of shooting these things down. This one however is a Polish aircraft acquired by the museum and painted in Egyptian livery to represent.
One of a pair of Syrian MiG 17's that accidentally landed in Northern Israel during the Yom Kippur war.
This aircraft was acquired during Operation Diamond, an effort to find a foreign pilot willing to defect with a MiG-21. The first couple of attempts failed, leading to the execution of the Mossad agents involved. A pilot from Iraq was eventually found willing to help Israel and successfully defected with the aircraft in 1966. The aircraft was put to use in training pilots against the MiG aircraft which soon came in very useful during the Six-Day and Yom Kippur wars.
A two seat version of the Mig 21 acquired by IAI via Romania. This jet is an ex-Madagascar Air Force unit.
A Syrian MiG-23 which defected in northern Israel in 1989. Super cool!
Remains of a scud missile launched from Iraq into Israel in 1991. Iraq fired 42 of these SS-11 Al-Husayn missiles into Israel in an attempt to drag them into the war (as if they didn't have enough on their plate!).
Tail section from a Sukhoi Su-7 shot down during the Yom Kippur War.
Tail section of an Egyptian MiG-19 shot down in 1967. Note the bullet holes!
Reconnaisance, VIP & Transport
One of Israel's first UAV's. Israel has since become the world leader in drone technology.
The fantastic Republic Seabee RC-3! Most were built in the mid 1940's as a civilian aircraft. Israel and the South Vietnamese Airforce were the only military operators. Israel had a number of these aircraft. The RC-3 was made popular by James Bond in 'The Man With the Golden Gun'.
Douglas DC3
Israel's first indigenously designed and mass produced aircraft is this, the IAI Arava. It was used by the Israeli Air Force from 1973 until 2004, but is still used by a number of air forces around the world.
A IAI Westwind, developed from the Aero Commander. This particular monstrosity was fitted with a MiG-21 nose to study the radar cross section!
French built Nord Noratlas. The Israeli's begrudgingly bought three of these aircraft from France as part of the terms to acquire 12 Ouragan jet fighters. They agreed as France were one of the few countries willing to sell arms to them at the time. They quickly discovered these aircraft were very useful and ended up acquiring a further 19 examples. Although a transporter, the Israeli's converted a few to act as long range bombers for missions into Egypt. They were all retired by 1978 and three are preserved, two in the museum.
A Beechcraft Super King Air, #974. One of the very first Super King Air's ever produced. The Israeli Air Force still operates half a dozen of these aircraft.
Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter is one of two held by the museum, although only one was sighted. This one is named Masada.
The museum has a pair of 707's, although one is currently off site. This one was one of two 707's used during the rescue of hostages in Entebbe, Uganda, used as a command post - a fascinating story in itself.
Very early Pratt & Whitney JT4A turbo jet engine on the museum's Boeing 707.
Rotary
An Aerospatiale Gazelle SA-341L helicopter. They were used by the Syrian airforce with a number being shot down during the Yom Kippur war. The IAF acquired two examples constructed from pieces of the shot down machines and were used by the IAF for a short period of time before a lack of parts ushered in their retirement.
Hughes MD-500. Israel used these extensively during the 1970's and 80's.
An array of helicopters sit under the wings of a Consolidated PBY Catalina.
Israel acquired this beautiful Mil Mi-24 Hind in 2011. It sadly sits stripped, but will be rebuilt and put on display whenever they finish doing whatever it is they're doing to it.
Sikorsky S-55 helicopter in all it's weirdness.
A huge French built transport helicopter, Aerospatiale Super Frelon.
Aerospatiale Super Frelon on display with cargo door open. The museum installed a small theatre room in here for tourist groups, but it was locked up by the time I arrived.
The gigantic Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion still have 23 of these in service and have been upgraded by IAI to last until 2025.
Continue to Part 11 - click here