The 105 Squadron of the
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defens ...
, also known as The Scorpion, was founded in December 1950 as a
Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...
squadron and has since operated the
P-51 Mustang,
Dassault Super Mystere
Dassault Group (; also GIM Dassault or Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault SAS) is a French group of companies established in 1929 with the creation of Société des Avions Marcel Bloch (now Dassault Aviation) by Marcel Dassault, and led by son Ser ...
,
IAI Sa'ar, and
F-4 Phantom II. It currently operates
F-16Ds at
Ramat David Airbase
Ramat David Israeli Air Force Base (, he, בָּסִיס חֵיל-הַאֲוִיר רָמַת דָּוִד ''Basis Kheil HaAvir Ramat David'') is one of three principal airbases of the Israeli Air Force, located southeast of Haifa, close to kibbu ...
.
The squadron won the 2009 "Skewer" competition.
Operating the F-4E Phantom II
The fifth and last Israeli Air Force F-4E ''Kurnass'' squadron, 105 was activated at
Hatzor
Hatzor ( he, חָצוֹר), officially Hatzor Ashdod, is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located near Ashdod, it falls under the jurisdiction of Be'er Tuvia Regional Council. In it had a population of .
Etymology
The kibbutz is named after a b ...
on March 31, 1975, under the command of
Shmuel Gordon. The ''Scorpion'' received its mounts under ''Peace Echo V'' deliveries, flying the IAF's newest aircraft and latest blocks, and was soon the first IAF Squadron to introduce the
AGM-78 ''Purple Fist'' anti-radiation missile
An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be ...
. It flew its first operational bombing mission, against a
PLO base in Lebanon, in September 1977. The squadron flew 335 sorties during the
1982 Lebanon War, primarily in the
SEAD and
close air support roles, and participated in
operation Mole Cricket 19
Operation Mole Cricket 19 ( he , מבצע ערצב-19, ''Mivtza ʻArtzav Tsha-Esreh'') was a suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) campaign launched by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) against Syrian targets on June 9, 1982, at the outset of the 1 ...
. It also scored the war's sole F-4E kill, when Ben-Ami Peri and David Oakman shot down a
Syrian Air Force
)
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 16 October
, equipment =
, equipment_label =
, battles = * 1948 Arab-Israeli War
* Six-Day War
* Yom Kippur War
* ...
MiG-21
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nickn ...
on June 11. It was disbanded in 1987 following IAF budget cuts. 105 Squadron Phantoms were distinguished by a red arrow along both sides of their fuselage, initially solid red but later white with red outlines.
[ Klein and Aloni 2009, pp. 78-83]
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Global Security Profile
Israeli Air Force squadrons
Military units and formations established in 1950
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