HISTORY

Commander of the 101 squadron Modi Alon.

S-199 D-111 under the masking net at the Herzliya airfield.

First move

On another ground support mission of the

following day, a third Messer was put out

of action, leaving only D-106 (the letter

was painted as the Hebrew character that

reads dalet; it is the fourth letter of the

Hebrew alphabet and thus corresponds to

the letter D in the Latin alphabet; editorial note) airworthy. In an attempt to seek

and destroy Israeli fighters on the ground,

REAF Spitfires bombed the former RAF

base at Ekron, where Israel’s sole Messer

was based. To avoid its loss, the 101 squadron moved its operations to a small orange

grove located at the outskirts of Herzliya.

Under open skies, Israel’s single operational Messer was hidden under dense

camouflage netting spread between the

trees, the adjacent strip of unplowed dirt

was used as a runway and a water tower

situated next to the orange grove served

as a control tower.

First victories

In the late afternoon hours of June 3, 1948,

a pair of Royal Egyptian Air Force Dakota

bombers, escorted by a pair of Spitfires

May 2022

REAF Dakota bomber prior to be shot down by Modi Alon

on June 3, 1948.

made their way to Jewish settlements in

the area of Rishon Le Tzion and Tel Aviv.

As they approached their destination, they

were attacked from the sun by 101 squadron commander Modi Alon flying the only

available combat plane of the Israeli Air

Force wearing a blue fuselage number

D-106. The first Dakota was downed over

Jaffa and the second over the sands of

Rishon Le Tzion. These were the first air

to air kills to be credited to the Israeli Air

Force.

In order not to compromise the upper surface camouflage of the airplanes hidden

between trees, underneath camouflage

netting, blue and white Star of David roundels were applied only to the sides of the

fuselage and the bottom surfaces of the

wing. In July of 1948, ex-USAAF volunteer

pilot Stan Andrews drew up the squadron’s

red, white, and black insignia of a winged

skull of death wearing a flight helmet and

goggles. The squadron insignia was printed on billboard paper and applied to the

left side of the engine cowling. The insignia

was seen photographed on airplanes

D-108 and D-111, which were operational

prior to the July 9, along with D-107 and

D-110.

A second cease fire went into effect on

July 18 and lasted until October 15, 1948,

with the outbreak of Operation Ten Plagues, later to be renamed Operation Yoav.

The aim of that operation was to root out

the Egyptian army headquartered at the

Iraq El Sudan fortress situated along the

Gaza – Hebron – Jerusalem road. During

this offensive, World War II vintage combat

planes from opposing forces were flown

together in one squadron wearing the

identification roundels, the Jewish Star of

David of the Israeli Air Force. Czechoslovakian built Avia S-199s, Jumo 211 powered

Messerschmitt Bf 109Gs, Supermarine

Spitfires and North American P-51D Mustangs flew together for a short time between October 15–22, 1948.

Preparations for Operation Yoav began in

the summer of 1948 with all airworthy aircraft including light and heavy transport

planes, bombers, and fighters. They were

fitted to deliver bombs brought from abroad or manufactured locally. Most missions during operation Yoav were concen-

INFO Eduard

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