HISTORY

Avia S-199

in Israeli service

TEXT: YOAV EFRATI

On the eve of May 14, 1948, Prime Minister Ben Gurion declared the

founding of the state of Israel. The following morning, Royal Egyptian

Air Force (REAF) Spitfires bombed Tel Aviv, including Dov Hoz airport

and the sole hanger which housed light planes that were essential for

keeping in contact with settlements in the Negev desert and the upper

Galilee in the north. It was more than clear the new Israeli state would

need some fighter planes as well.

Bombardment of Tel Aviv became a daily

occurrence as REAF (Royal Egyptian Air

Force) Spitfires and makeshift Dakota

bombers roamed the skies of Israel unchallenged. With the armies of Egypt in the

south, Syria in the north, Jordan to the east

and local Arabs inside Israel bearing arms

against their Jewish neighbors, efforts

were made worldwide to obtain armament at any cost. The only country willing

openly to defy the UN embargo imposed on

the fledgling country was Czechoslovakia

which supplied Israel with guns and bullets

as well as with Avia S-199 fighter planes

and D70 and D250 aerial bombs. Ironically

all of these of WWII Nazi Germany design.

Along with small arms and ammunition,

Israeli owned C-46 Commando transport

aircraft flying under Panamanian registry

16

INFO Eduard

and markings flew S-199s into Israel in the

dead of night, in operation given the code

name “Balak”.

First sortie, first blood

The first four Messers, as the S-199s were

nicknamed, were ready for their first mission on May 29, 1948, to attack El Arish airbase in the Sinai, from which REAF Spitfires and Dakotas took off for their bombing

missions into Israel population centers.

The 101 squadron's first mission was changed at the last minute as desperate pleas

came from the IDF southern command to

attack a 500 vehicle Egyptian Armored

convoy delayed at a blown up bridge situated on the outskirts of Ashdod, 40 kilometers south of Tel Aviv. This mission was led

by former VMF-214 Black sheep squadron

Marine pilot Lou Lenart and it succeeded

in halting the Egyptian Army’s advance

further north beyond the bridge which was

to be called from then on “Gesher Ad Halom” (A Bridge to a Halt). The successful

mission came at the cost of half the IAF

fighter fleet, as two of four operational

“Messers” were put out of action and one

of the pilots, Eddy Cohen, was killed. The

Egyptian Army forces did not turn back, but

instead spread along the road connecting

Gaza to Hebron and Jerusalem which was

held under siege by Royal Jordanian Army

regulars. All Jewish settlements south of

the Gaza – Hebron – Jerusalem road and

Jewish inhabitants in Eastern Jerusalem

were cut off behind enemy lines.

Lou Lenart in the cockpit of Messer D-107.

May 2022