Military Aircraft Videos

Israeli Air Force

http://www.aviationlive.org Online Aviation Pics,Videos and Forum While this operation was taking place, only a handful of aircraft were left to guard Israeli skies. The War of Attrition In the War of Attrition, the IAF operated in air "dog fight" and bombing of strategic targets deep within enemy's territory. Notable operations were: * September 11, 1969: IAF planes shot down 12 Egyptian jet fighters in dogfights. * September 26, 1969 - Operation Rooster 53: IAF Super Frelon and Sikorsky CH-53 Yas'ur helicopters carried paratroopers in a raid to "hijack" and airlift back an advanced Soviet P-12 radar deployed in Egypt near Suez. A CH-53 helicopter carried the 4-ton radar back, tethered underneath it. * January 7, 1970: the IAF started performing deep strikes on Egyptian targets, in order to force them to cease artillery and commando attacks on Israeli forces arrayed along the east side of the Suez Canal. * July 30, 1970: the IAF ambushed and shot down 5 Egyptian MiG-21 fighters. Yom Kippur War In the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, the IAF suffered heavy casualties from Soviet anti-aircraft surface-to-air missiles but managed to regroup and assist IDF's ground forces and later bomb infrastructure targets in Syria and Egypt. One of the first battles in the war's air front was the Ofira Air Battle, involving two Israeli Phantoms against 28 Egyptian Mig-17s. IAF helicopters proved to be highly useful in logistics and rescue efforts (MedEvac). According to Israel, during that war, the IAF lost 102 planes while the Egyptian Air Force lost 235 and the Syrian Air Force lost 135, although these figures are contested. The IAF was certainly not able to achieve the aerial supremacy during the Yom Kippur War that it did during the Six-Day War. Growth (1973-82) Following the Yom Kippur War, most of Israel's military aircraft have been obtained from the United States. Those included the F-4 Phantom II, A-4 Skyhawk, F-15 Eagle, E-2 Hawkeye and others. The Israeli Air Force has also operated a number of domestically-produced types like the IAI Nesher, and later, the more advanced IAI Kfir, which were unauthorised derivatives of the French Dassault Mirage 5 Israel bought and paid (and was reimbursed for) for 50 Mirage 5's from Dassault Aviation, but they were not delivered due to the French embargo during the Yom Kippur war]. The Kfir was adapted to utilize a more powerful US engine, produced under license in Israel. In 1976, the IAF participated in the Operation Entebbe rescue mission in Uganda using the C-130 Hercules for transport. During the 1980s and 1990s the IAF was equipped with a variety of additional U.S. aircraft (e.g. F-16, AH-1 Cobra, AH-64 Apache, and C-130 Hercules). Bombing of the Osiraq nuclear reactor On June 7, 1981 8 IAF F-16A fighters covered by 6 F-15A jets flew in Operation Opera, the destruction of the Iraqi Osiraq nuclear reactor. Eight IAF F-16 fighters flew to Iraq and bombed the nuclear facilities of Osiraq. Among the pilots that took part in the attack was the late Colonel Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut. He died on Saturday, February 1, 2003, when the US Space Shuttle Columbia he was riding on was engulfed in flames upon reentry. The attack was code named Operation Opera (sometimes also referred to as Operation Babylon or Operation Ofra) by Israel. The planes returned on almost no fuel. 1982 Lebanon War During the 1982 Lebanon War, IAF planes destroyed the Syrian air defence without a single fighter lost and shot down 100 Syrian aircraft (however Syria claims to have shot down Israeli aircraft during the operation). However, one IAF A-4 Skyhawk, piloted by Captain Aharon Achiaz, was lost to a PLO SA-7 missile, with the pilot being captured. IAF AH-1 Cobra helicopter gunships destroyed dozens of Syrian armored fighting vehicles and other ground targets, including some T-72 main battle tanks. For some years after the war's official end, however, IAF AH-1 Cobras continued to mount attacks on Hezbollah and PLO positions in south Lebanon. On October 1, 1985 Operation Wooden Leg undertook the bombing of PLO Headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, the longest combat mission ever undertaken by the IAF: 2300 kilometers, involving in flight refueling by an IAF Boeing 707. The attack provoked a strong outcry, even among the United States, Israel's strongest ally.