F-4E Phantom II Kurnass (Heavy Hammer), Corgi and Hobbymaster model arrivals.

 

Israel first expressed interest in the F-4 in 1965, but the U.S. was unwilling to provide them at that time. However, due to the embargo imposed by France after the Israeli preemptive strike during the 1967 Six-Day War, the U.S. government reconsidered and decided to offer the Israelis the aircraft.

The first aircraft delivered were F-4Es, provided under the “Peace Echo” program, authorized on 7th January 1968, by president Lyndon Johnson, and supported by Senator Robert F. Kennedy. About 220 F-4Es and RF-4Es were delivered to Israel between 1969 and 1976 under U.S. aid programs, and served with the Tsvah Haganah le Israel/Heyl Ha’Avir (Israeli Air Force). The F-4E was known as Kurnass (Heavy Hammer) in Israeli service while the RF-4E was called Orev (Raven).

Formal acceptance of the first F-4Es came on 5th September 1969, with Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan present for the ceremony. By 22nd October, the new aircraft were in operation, attacking Egyptian targets. On 11th November 1969 an F-4E first shot down a MiG-21. Shortly after on 9th December 1969, the first Israeli F-4 was downed by an Egyptian pilot, 1st Lts Ahmad Atef, flying a Mig-21 F-13. Egyptian fighters had a hard time dealing with the F-4s, and their SA-2 Surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) were not effective at low altitudes. To address the problem, SA-3s were shipped to Egypt, along with up to 5,000 Soviet advisers. In a fierce aerial battle on 30th July 1970, four Phantoms baited the Egyptian MiGs which this time were Soviet-manned. Up to five MiGs were shot down when eight Israeli Mirages, flying at low level, jumped them, achieving complete surprise. Late June and early July 1970 was a difficult time for the new F-4s, with two shot down by SAMs on 30th June, another on 5th July and two on 18th July.

 

A total of 24 Phantoms were delivered under Peace Echo II and III. Operation Night Light involved the loan of two RF-4Cs to the IDF while they were waiting for their order for six RF-4Es to be delivered. Operation Peace Patch involved another batch of 12 Phantoms, delivered in 1971.

Israeli F-4Es scored 116.5 aerial victories against Arab aircraft, including two Su-7s shot down on 9th September 1972 and a Libyan Boeing 727 in January 1973.

Peace Echo IV brought another 52 F-4s to the IDF, 24 of which were ex-USAF. These were delivered between April 1972 and October 1973, when the Yom Kippur War broke out. At that time there were 122 F-4E and 6 RF-4Es in service with the IDF.

Israeli Phantoms scored 11 air victories during this period although several were lost, mainly to SAMs, but above all they inflicted heavy damage on Egyptian land forces during the War of Attrition.

Yom Kippur War

The Yom Kippur War started with Egyptian and Syrian air strikes on Israel. During this opening phase a pair of Phantoms managed to shoot down seven Egyptian aircraft, and others shot down five Mil Mi-8s carrying assault troops over the Sinai desert.

On the second day of the war, the IDF launched attacks with F-4s and A-4 Skyhawks but the enemy air defence and MiGs shot down six Phantoms and 30 A-4s. The new SA-6 Gainful surface-to-air missile (SAM) system and the radar-guided ZSU-23-4 Shilka self-propelled anti-aircraft guns (SPAAGs) were much more effective than the old SA-2 Guideline. The SA-6 uses semi-active radar homing and was paired with the 1S91 “Straight Flush” fire control and guidance radar, which operates in the G, H, I and J bands, making it very difficult to jam with the AN/ALQ-87 ECM pods that were supplied by the Americans prior to the conflict. Likewise, the AN/ALR-36 radar warning receivers that Israeli Phantoms were equipped with at the time proved unable to provide any warning to aircrews that their aircraft were being tracked by SA-6 battery crews using the Straight Flush radar.

 

Some aerial maneuvers were believed to fool the SA-6 systems and these were used while the IDF waited for better ECM weapons. Some of the maneuvers were quite effective, but the SA-6 threat was only reduced on 9th October 1973 when A-4s surprised many SA-6 batteries without their missiles ready to fire and destroyed them. That same day another F-4 strike hit the Damascus HQ of the Syrian Army.

By the middle of October, 37 Phantoms had been lost in combat and another six were damaged beyond repair. U.S. President Richard Nixon authorized the delivery of 36 ex-USAF F-4s under Operation Nickel Grass, from the USAF 4th and 401st Tactical Fighter Wings. These aircraft were flown directly to Israel, some by U.S. pilots. At least one F-4E flew in combat still bearing a U.S. tail code, while others stayed painted in USAF camouflage patterns. During the war Israeli Phantoms first used the new AGM-65 Maverick missile.

Israel employed three F-4E(S), which were equipped with a special high-altitude camera system (HIAC) for reconnaissance missions. These RF-4Es were special high-performance Phantoms, with the same cameras planned for the Mach 3.2 RF-4X that was cancelled in 1975. The camera performed well but mounting it in an external pod caused too much drag, so it was installed in the nose of three normal F-4Es instead.

During the Yom Kippur War it was reported that one Israeli F-4 Squadron was put on alert for a nuclear strike, but not confirmed. After several weeks of combat, losses included four F-4s delivered under the Nickel Grass program.

Post 1973 period

After the war Peace Echo V provided Israel with 24 new, 24 ex-USAF and 6 RF-4Es, completing the program in November 1976.

Given that almost all the Israeli F-4s had suffered battle damage, an update to increase their capabilities and standardize the various production blocks was commenced in 1974. The IDF Phantoms received Elbit Jason digital bombing computers, Litton LW-33 inertial navigation systems, new radar warning receivers, TISEO and combat slats.

IDF Phantoms took part in many other battles, among them Operation Mole Cricket 19 in June 1982, when Syrian SA-6 sites were destroyed by a coordinated attack made by IDF aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles. By that time, new F-15 Eagles and F-16s were replacing the Phantom in front line service, so the F-4s scored only one aerial victory in that action.

Weapons

Among the weapons carried on IDF F-4s were the Gabriel, AGM-45, AGM-68, Shafir and Python missiles.

Upgrades

The planned program to replace the original J79 engines with the Pratt & Whitney PW1120 was cancelled, but the fleet was updated to Kurnass 2000 standards. This upgrade included installation of a wide-angle Kaiser HUD, a digital mission computer and some structural improvements. The main updates involved the APG-76 radar, Elbit ACE-3 mission computer, HOTAS, the addition of winglets for increased agility, ASX-1 TISEO and the ability to deploy Popeye missiles. The upgraded aircraft first flew on 15th July 1987 and was formally accepted on 11th August 1987. The Kurnass program was also used to upgrade Turkish Air Force Phantoms at the same time, realizing some economies of scale.

Israeli Phantoms have suffered at least 55 combat losses but accounted for 116.5 claimed air victories.

By the end of the 20th Century there were still 112 F-4s serving with the IDF, in three Squadrons: the 119, 142 and 201.

Units

Israeli Air Force

69 Squadron Ha’patishim (The Hammers) – טייסת הפטישים
105 Squadron Akrav (Scorpion) – טייסת העקרב
107 Squadron Zanav Katom (Knights of the Orange Tail) – אבירי הזנב הכתום
119 Squadron Atalef (Bat) – טייסת העטלף
201 Squadron Ahat (The One) – הטייסת האחת

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Hobbymaster 1/72nd scale F-4E “Kurnass” s/n 109, 201st Sqn. “The One”, Tel Nof Air Base, Israel Air Force, 1974

Check out the latest Israeli F-4 available to pre-order from Flying Tigers. Please click on the image/ link below to go straight to the model page to order your now.

The first F-4Es were delivered to the Israeli Air Force in 1969 and were nicknamed Kurnass (Sledgehammer) with the RF-4Es being called Orev (Raven). These aircraft were comprised of ex-USAF aircraft as well as new built. Israel became the largest non-USA operator of the F-4. McDonnell F-4E Phantom II 69-7241 MSN 3912 was transferred to the Israeli Air Force in 1970 as serial 119 and then 109 and even later 519. In 1980 improvements to the F-4E began which would make the aircraft even more deadly and this is when the term Kurnass became official.

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Corgi Aviation Archive 1/48th scale Fokker DR.1 Triplanes arriving soon at Flying Tigers.

Check out Corgi Aviation Archive 1/48th scale Fokker DR.1 Triplanes which are available to order from Flying Tigers. Please click on the images or links below to go straight to the model page to pre-order yours now. Models due to arrive sometime between 9th May – 22nd May 2022.

 

At 10am on 21st April 1918, six Fokker Dr.1 fighter aircraft of Jasta 11 took off from Cappy aerodrome to embark on an offensive patrol over the Somme Valley region.

Last combat sortie of the Red Baron Flying one of the six Jasta 11 Fokker Dr.1 fighters which climbed away from Cappy Aerodrome in the mid-morning of Sunday 21st April 1918, Werner Steinhauser was beginning to develop into an extremely gifted aviator under the guidance of his inspirational Commanding Officer, Manfred von Richthofen. When he initially joine the unit in early 1918, he only had a solitary observation balloon victory to his name, but now that he found himself in the company of some of the Luftstreitkräfte’s most gifted fighter pilots, he began to show real skill and poise during combat situations and as a consequence, his victory tally was increasing.

Flying alongside von Richthofen in his own distinctively marked personal Fokker Dr.1 fighter on the morning of the 21st April, Steinhauser would be involved in the intense fighting with the Sopwith Camels of RAF No.209 Squadron which ultimately resulted in the death of his mentor. The famed ‘Flying Circus’ never really recovered from the loss of von Richthofen and from this date, an ever increasing number of Allied fighters in the air at any one time would result in the loss of the majority of their most successful pilots. Going on to score a further six aerial victories after this fateful day, Werner Steinhauser would himself be shot down and killed near Neuilly on the 26th June, just three days before he would have celebrated his 22nd birthday.

Weiss would later command Jasta 11 himself, but only for a three week period, before he also fell in combat, the victim of Canadian ace Merrill Taylor.

 

At 10am on 21st April 1918, six Fokker Dr.1 fighter aircraft of Jasta 11 took off from Cappy aerodrome to embark on an offensive patrol over the Somme Valley region. Led by their inspirational commander, Manfred von Richthofen, this was an elite unit where only the finest fighter pilots were invited to join the squadron – the ‘Best of the Best’. Hans Weiss has joined Jasta 11 with a reputation as being something of a balloon specialist, but by this date, he was credited with an impressive ten combat victories.As the formation approached Le Hamel, they spotted a pair of Allied reconnaissance aircraft over the town and dived in to attack.

As the battle commenced, an unseen flight of Sopwith Camels joined the melee to protect the reconnaissance aircraft and just minutes later, the infamous reign of the Red Baron would be over. The distinctive white coloured Fokker Dr.1 flown by Weiss had been hit by return fire from the British reconnaissance aircraft, severing one of his rudder cables and forcing an immediate return to Cappy. Nursing his damaged aircraft back to his home airfield, Weiss would live to fight another day, however, his Commanding Officer would not be quite so lucky.

Weiss would later command Jasta 11 himself, but only for a three week period, before he also fell in combat, the victim of Canadian ace Merrill Taylor.

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ICM 1/72nd scale model kit MiG-29 of Ukrainian Air Forces “Ghost of KYIV “

 

Ukraine’s fighter pilots are vastly outnumbered by the Russians, and have become legendary – thanks in part to the story of an alleged flying ace called the “Ghost of Kyiv”.

This hero is said to have downed as many as 40 enemy planes – an incredible feat in an arena where Russia controls the skies.

But now the Ukraine Air Force Command has warned that the “Ghost of Kyiv is a superhero-legend whose character was created by Ukrainians!”.

It describes the “Ghost of Kyiv” as “a collective image of pilots of the Air Force’s 40th tactical aviation brigade, who defend the sky over the capital”, rather than a single man’s combat record.

This kit is manufactured in the Ukraine by ICM Model Kits. ICM the manufacturer, has stated that 50% of the funds raised by the sale of these kits will be donated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Слава Україні ! ” Glory to Ukraine !”

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Next Hobbymaster model delivery delayed until 12th May (ship delayed at UK port).

Check out the next delivery of Hobbymaster models which are delayed until approx 12th May and are available to pre-order at Flying Tigers today.

Don’t forget NO DEPOSIT necessary with Flying Tigers and if you order with your debit or credit card your payment is not taken until your model is available to dispatch.

Flying Tigers will also consolidate your orders to save on postage costs across all brands !

Please click on the images / links below to go to the model of your choice, or CLICK HERE to see them all.

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That is all for this week.

Thank you for reading this week’s Newsletter.

Richard.
Flying Tigers.