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Info Eduard - December 2010
Page 14
HISTORY
Nadzvukové letouny, v jejichž kabinách dosáhli piloti
10 a více sestřelů, se ve světě nevyskytují příliš často.
Jet fighters in which pilots have achieved ten or more
kills, are relatively few in the world. Even among aircraft
in the Israeli Air Force (Heyl Ha’Avir), some of which were
involved in a large number of dog fights, there were only
seven that surpassed this number. Included in the seven
are Mirages IIICJ No.58 and No.59 (13 kills), No.68 (11),
No.62 and No.79 (10), and two IAI Neshers numbers 10
(13 kills) and 61 (12). In the shadows of the better known
Mirage Nos 58 and 59 is Mirage No. 68 that was lost in
a crash in 1973. In the cockpit of Mirage 68, sat several
aces who contributed to its success including: Israel’s
second leading ace Avraham Salmon, with 14.5 kills,
Asher Snir Israel’s third leading ace with 13.5 kills, and
Amos Amir with seven kills.
Mirage IIICJ No. 68 one of 72 single seat Mirage
IIICJs and four two seat Mirage IIIBJs delivered to
Israel and was assigned to No.119 Tayeset Ha’Atalef
(Bat Squadron), stationed at Tel-Nof. The Mirage IIICJ
was given the Hebrew name ‘Shahak’ (Skyblazer) due
to its very inspirational Mach II performance and highly
polished metal finish.
First known combat use of Mirage 68 came in
Operation ‘Moked’ (Focus) which was launched by the on
June 5th, 1967. During that operation which culminated
in the Six Day War, Heyl Ha’Avir sent majority of its
fighter, attack and jet trainers to attack airfields and other
targets in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon. The
waves were composed of several formations of threes
and fours. Shahak equipped units were also earmarked
for protection of the airspace over Israel.
Operation Moked’s first wave of attack, 119 squadron
formation ‘Lintel’ took off from Tel Nof air base at 0727h,
and was comprised of Oded Sagee (Shahak 80), Arnon
Lapidot (Shahak 68), Eelan Hight (Shahak 79) and
Itamar Neuner (Shahak 19). The formation reached their
objective, Cairo-West air base at 0800h. Using 500kg
bombs, they destroyed the airstrip, one bomber (a Tu-16
or Il-28), two MiG-21s and two decoy MiG-17s.
The same formation (‘Lintel’), with a slightly altered
roster – Oded Sagee (Shahak 79), Shlomo Egozy (Shahak
19), Eelan Hight (Shahak 80) and Itamar Neuner (Shahak
68), took off at 0948h as part of the second wave of attack
on Egyptian air fields. This time the target was the distant
Egyptian airfield at El Minya. In this attack the formation
cratered the runway and destroyed between six and eight
Il-14s on the ground. The third wave of Israeli aircraft
switched its focus to Syrian and Jordanian air bases,
even though some of them were initially directed for
attacks on Egyptian targets. The change in plan affected
Formation ‘Floor’, flown by Avraham Salmon (Shahak
07), Omri Afek (Shahak 79), Ja’akov Agassi (Shahak 41)
and Menachem Shmul (Shahak 68), originally assigned
to attack Gardak in Egypt, and was diverted to Jordan’s
Base H-5 at Amman. Again, the aircraft dropped 500kg
bombs on the runways and in subsequent attacks, hit
aircraft on the ground, and base equipment.
Shahak 68’s final mission of Operation ‘Moked’ came
in the fourth wave with Formation ‘Fence’. This was flown
by Eitan Karmi (Shahak 68), Giora Romm (Shahak 43),
Eliezer Prigat (Shahak 20) and Asher Snir (Shahak 32),
and they attacked the Syrian Base T-4. The formation
was jumped by two Syrian MiG-21s, which were shot
down by Giora Rom and Asher Snir.
A big day for our subject Shahak came on June 8th (the
fourth day of the war), when two Egyptian MiG-19s were
flamed by Avraham Salmon over the Sinai Peninsula, and
the second pilot in the formation to down another MiG-19
was Menachem Shmul (Shahak 78). Avraham Salmon
thus opened his own account, and also that of Shahak
68.
The Six Day War ended on June 10th, but the situation
in the Middle East didn’t quiet down much. Air to air
combat engagements erupted as soon as replacement
fighter planes were transferred from the Soviet Union to
Egypt. Mirage fighters of 119th squadron began engaging
Egyptian MiGs in air to air combat as soon as July 15th,
1967. On that day, two Egyptian MiG-17s were downed