Israel Day 5 - IAF Museum - Mad Props Of The Early IAF

The early history of the IAF is well represented at the museum.

Spitfire:

Not on display but still in flying condition at the museum is the famous Israeli "Black Spitfire" that was flown by Ezer Weizman, who had been both commander of the Israeli Air Force and the 7th President of Israel.

Mustangs:

These particular Mustangs were used during the 1956 Suez Crisis to disrupt Egyptian communications. They did this by cutting the Egyptian phone lines, forcing them to transmit by radio where the communications could be intercepted. When the cutting devices designed for the job didn't work, they pressed on and used their propellers to cut the phone cables.

But before all of these, The IAF took to the skies to fight the invading Arab armies in the humble Auster Autocrat.

One of the IAF's first aircraft, it was armed with machine guns and grenades. Once real fighters and fighter/bombers arriveds, they continued to serve as reconnaissance and liaison aircraft.

The Piper Cub:

Yes, Piper Cubs didn't just fly as trainers, they also flew combat missions dropping grenades and homemade bombs with the early IAF, again until more suitable combat aircraft could be acquired. .

Later these trainers were augmented with the T-6 Texan.