Israeli Air Force Museum Spitfires and Mustangs

They have a meteor T.7½ . An ex-Belgian AF T.7 with an F.8 tail. It was a unique Belgian conversion

Sorry for bumping, but www.warbirdsmagazine.com have a report from my visit at this Israeli air force base written in English if anyone is interested. Apologize for any grammar, spelling mistakes and that sort of stuff. I’m not a native english speaker, but do my best!

What about the Catalina that was supous to fly from the UK to the Israeli Air Force Museum? I know it got stuck in France on the way to it.

Presumably still ‘lost in France’ as no news has surfaced about it.

Guess DCK didn’t see any DC-5 parts either?:D

Thanks for the photos and the info!

Isreal’s first Spit was actually a downed Eqyptian example whch belly landed on a beach after egtting hit by AA..Repaired from dump recovered bits..May1948…it served for quite some time before being destroyed in an accident..

I’m sure I saw a pic of it in some socking great book somewhere, with two or three blokes standing on/around it – my grandparents had it and, amongst other things covered in the book, the first flight of K5054 was considered historic enough (by the writers/publishers) to be included!

Preserved Meteors

Judging by it’s appearance, the Meteor tail seen in the photos behind the silver Spitfire and our sad ancient rock hero, looked a really old mark, anyone have any info on this, no doubt it was obtained in some dodgy deal by the Israeli government of the time, no offence meant, thats what it was all about then.
How many really ancient Meteors are left world wide, they can’t all be listed, surely, and how many are back where they belong.

Meteors we have on display in Israel are:

WL466 Meteor T7 18 Preserved
WM320 Meteor NF13 157, 4X-FNE Preserved
WM334 Meteor NF13 51, 4X-FND Preserved
WX975 Meteor FR9 31 Preserved

UK built Meteor list (as we know it) available on our site www.Demobbed.org.uk

Didn’t T.7 Metes have the original tail unit??.

Great pics DCK.

I remember reading that Ezer was due to appear at a political function some years ago whilst he was President and the question was asked”Will the President be arriving in his black Spitfire?”:D 😀 😀

Miggers

Judging by it’s appearance, the Meteor tail seen in the photos behind the silver Spitfire and our sad ancient rock hero, looked a really old mark, anyone have any info on this, no doubt it was obtained in some dodgy deal by the Israeli government of the time, no offence meant, thats what it was all about then.
How many really ancient Meteors are left world wide, they can’t all be listed, surely, and how many are back where they belong.

As far as i know the IAF only operated F 8’s & T7’s ?

Thanks for the photos and the info!

Isreal’s first Spit was actually a downed Eqyptian example whch belly landed on a beach after egtting hit by AA..Repaired from dump recovered bits..May1948…it served for quite some time before being destroyed in an accident..

As far as i know they sourced further aircaraft as follows;

50 ex Czech mk9’s 1948/49

30 ex Italian mk9’s 1950/51

Mustangs arrived ( officially ? ) starting in ’52 from Sweden.

I wonder what became of the Egyptian Lancs, Stirlings & Halifaxs…didnt know they even had them untill recently!

Judging by it’s appearance, the Meteor tail seen in the photos behind the silver Spitfire and our sad ancient rock hero, looked a really old mark, anyone have any info on this, no doubt it was obtained in some dodgy deal by the Israeli government of the time, no offence meant, thats what it was all about then.
How many really ancient Meteors are left world wide, they can’t all be listed, surely, and how many are back where they belong.

Any sign at the IDF/AF museum of their Avia C210? (Bit of a “bitsa”, including landing gear off a Dornier 27, but still a near-unique survivor).

I didnt see any of it. Unfortenatelt my time was limited because of 3 other people not very interested in aviation who wanted to get going down to Eilat for a sunny weekend there. I did see a pair of Mossie engines and a Lancaster gun turret though.

What about the Catalina that was supous to fly from the UK to the Israeli Air Force Museum? I know it got stuck in France on the way to it.

Great stuff! Thanx for both the museum post and the Spit link. Have just made one of those Black 57 A2A shots my new wallpaper. Any sign at the IDF/AF museum of their Avia C210? (Bit of a “bitsa”, including landing gear off a Dornier 27, but still a near-unique survivor).

S.

Some great pictures on the link Daz, The Black Spit was flown by Ezer Weisman during the War of Independence in 1948. Weisman retired from the IAF in 1969 with the rank of Major-General and was elected President of Israel in 1992.

The Spit was also flown at his funeral, I think, a couple of years ago.

Don’t they have some more Mustang wreckage (nr 01 I believe) in storage?

Yes. I knew about it and had read about it. Weirdly enough it wasnt in my mind at all when visiting and I forgot to ask those pretty Israeli girl soldiers for directions or news…

Some great pictures on the link Daz, The Black Spit was flown by Ezer Weisman during the War of Independence in 1948. Weisman retired from the IAF in 1969 with the rank of Major-General and was elected President of Israel in 1992.

Ah, here we go! Drool away, folks! 😉

http://www.1000pictures.com/aircraft/spitfire/index.htm

Don’t they have some more Mustang wreckage (nr 01 I believe) in storage?
Cheers

Cees

TE554 – one of the most gorgeous Spits, in my opinion.

I found a webpage with some stunning photos of her – I’ll see if I can find it.