Strana 54
101 Tayeset, Cheyl Ha´avir, Herzliya, Israel, July 1948
S-199.54, Sgt. František Novák, Fighter Training Center, No. 2 Squadron,
Aviation Regiment 4, Planá u Českých Budějovic,
Czechoslovakia, May 1948
D-108 was part of the first shipment of S-199s
from Czechoslovakia to Israel to be deployed in
combat in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948. D-108,
as can be inferred from its designation, was
among the last examples to arrive in the first
series, and thus missed the very first missions
of the Israeli S-199s. D-108 was fully assembled
and ready for combat within the 101 Tayeset
(Squadron) sometime in early June, along with
D-107 and D-109. At the time of their assembly,
the Israeli Air Force had only five operational
S-199s. To avoid Egyptian air raids, the 101st
Squadron moved to an improvised dirt airstrip
near the town of Herzliya. Mitchell Flint crashed
D-108 on August 21 during landing, and this
incident put the aircraft out of service for
a significant part of the war. The accident also
marked the end of Flint’s service with the unit.
D-108 was returned to service after extensive
repairs on November 21, when the 101 Tayeset
was transferred to Qastina. At that time, the
numbering system in the Israeli Air Force was
changed, and D-108 was given the designation
1906. With this designation, it participated
in Operation Horev at the end of December
1948. Among other things, it accompanied
the Beaufighter TF Mk.X during the attack on
El Arish airport on December 24, and the Spitfire
D-130 during a photographic reconnaissance
mission over Gaza. At the end of the war,
it was one of four operational S-199s that
survived the Arab-Israeli War and the only
one to survive from the first series of S-199s
delivered. It was finally scrapped sometime
after October 15, 1950.
After the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia,
military pilot defections to the West were
nothing unusual. Former RAF members, who
either suspected or even knew that they would
be persecuted by the communists, crossed
the border and many younger pilots also
decided to leave the country. One of them was
Sgt. František Novák, at that time a trainee
of the second class from the Fighter Training
Centre (SVS), who fled to then West Germany on
May 24, 1948. The aircraft was stored in Munich
and, after various obstacles were ironed out,
was transported to Czechoslovakia by land in
March 1950. From March 31 until October 24,
1950, there was a general overhaul at the Avia
factory. Later it served with LP 4 (Aviation
Regiment 4). The Avia produced aircraft bore
the standard MNO Smalt Avion 2036.02 paint
scheme on all surfaces and this aircraft was the
tenth Avia factory production piece to be fitted
with a heat exchanger instead of the original
oil cooler. The canopy was of the older design,
and the aircraft did not have machine guns in
the wings, nor underwing cannons.
KITS 11/2025
INFO Eduard54
November 2025