Strana 22
#84213BOXART STORY
The history of secret services in the State of
Israel dates back to the late 1940s. It was during
this period that ‚Ha-Mosad le-Teudat,‘ or the Mossad
for short, was founded. Operation Diamond is one
of the most successful operations in the history of
the Mossad. However, two failed attempts preceded
its success. Only the third attempt was successful.
The objective of Operation Diamond was to
acquire a MiG-21F-13 aircraft for Israel, which, at
the time, was one of the most advanced Soviet
fighter jets. The aircraft was then to undergo flight
performance testing by an Israeli pilot and technical
personnel from the Israeli Air Force.
Coincidentally, the Mossad had already
established contact with the Iraqi military pilot
Munir Redfa in 1964 and attempted to recruit him.
Redfa was a Christian living in Iraq and, because of
his religious beliefs, was not given the same career
opportunities as other pilots. Moreover, he faced
restrictions in both his personal and professional
life. Nevertheless, he was one of five pilots who had
earned the government’s trust to the extent that he
was permitted to fly the MiG-21F-13.
Captain Redfa‘s first opportunity to fly the MiG
arose on 14 August 1966. That day, he took off from
Al-Taqaddum Airfield, which was located 74 km
west of Baghdad. However, he was forced to return
to base shortly after take-off due to a technical
malfunction in the aircraft.
Two days later, on 16 August 1966, the next
opportunity to hijack the aircraft from Iraq arose.
On this occasion, Redfa took off from his home
airfield again and headed towards Israel. A flight
of approximately 800 km lay ahead of him. At an
average speed of 800 km/h, Redfa’s flight lasted
an interminable hour. During the flight, he was
detected by Jordanian radar over northern Jordan.
This prompted communication between Jordan
and Syria, during which Syria mistakenly informed
Jordan that the MiG belonged to the Syrian Air
Force and was carrying out a routine exercise. This
allowed Redfa to continue hijacking the aircraft.
Once Captain Redfa had crossed the Israeli
border, the Israeli Air Force scrambled two Mirage
III aircraft. They were dispatched to intercept the
MiG that had violated Israeli airspace.
When Redfa spotted the Mirage jets, he
immediately extended the landing gear. This
signalled his intention to land in Israeli territory.
The Mirages then escorted him to Hatzor Airfield,
which is located 28 km south of Tel Aviv. Hatzor
subsequently became the hijacked aircraft’s new
home base.
During this period, members of the Israeli Air
Force began examining the aircraft’s design and
individual systems in detail. At the same time,
Israeli test pilot Danny Shapira began familiarising
himself with the new aircraft and its piloting, with
the help of Munir Redfa and the aircraft’s flight
manual, which Redfa had taken with him just before
departure. After several test flights during which
Shapira mastered flying the aircraft, the Israeli
Air Force launched a programme designed to
train Israeli pilots to engage successfully in aerial
combat against enemy MiGs.
Danny Shapira completed an impressive 120
flights during the training programme. During these
flights, he mastered the handling of the aircraft
and, alongside his ‚opposing‘ colleagues, developed
a methodology for conducting aerial combat in
various scenarios and conditions. It is likely that
most of the pilots‘ air combat missions took place
over the Mediterranean Sea. There were several
reasons for this. Firstly, in the event of a malfunction
or pilot error, the aircraft would end its flight in the
sea rather than endangering the civilian population.
Another reason was to keep the MiG secret from the
general public.
The box art for this new release features a scene
depicting a training exercise involving one of the
MiG-21F-13‘s air combat scenarios against an Israeli
Mirage IIICJ. The MiG has already been painted in
the colour scheme that was photographed at the
end of the test programme, and is performing
a routine air combat drill. The aircraft are practising
one-on-one aerial combat. The depicted Mirage
No. 59 belonged to the 101st Fighter Squadron
and was among the first Mirages to shoot down
MiG-21F-13s in actual combat. By the end of its
operational service, this aircraft had achieved
13 confirmed kills. The MiG depicted in this box
art was also tested against the Vautour II and the
Super Mystère. The test programme that followed
Operation Diamond was crucial for developing air
combat tactics against enemy MiG-21F-13 aircraft.
During the subsequent Six-Day War (1967), Israel
shot down six MiG-21F-13s using its Mirage IIICJ
aircraft, thanks to this methodology. It did so
without losing a single aircraft.
Other conflicts influenced by Operation Diamond
included the War of Attrition (1967–1970) and the
Yom Kippur War (1973). Captain Munir Redfa died in
Israel in 1998 at the age of 64. His former enemy
and later colleague, Danny Shapira, died in Israel in
2022 at the age of 97.
Text: Zdeněk Nožička sr & jr
Illustration: Antonis Karydis
Operation Diamond
INFO Eduard22
June 2026