Aviation Gallery

  As noticed before - this page is under construction...

Here are a couple of pics of aircraft I have taken afew years back. The words in parentheses near thumbnails specify the picture origin (e.g, most of the pictures below were taken at Hatzerim IAF Aviation Museum back in 1995, hence - Hatzerim '95).

E-2_10o.jpg (99170 bytes) E-2C Hawkeye. Israel used to have 4 of those operational, but in the mid '90s all of them were retired. I'm not aware of any public announcements by the Israely military, but taking into account that IAI and Elta build phased array based AEW aircraft for Chileans and Chinese, I think there's a good chance that the poor old Hawkeyes were retired in favor of some newer system... (Hatzerim '95).
E-2_12o.jpg (115591 bytes) E-2C Hawkeye. One curious thing about Hawkeyes in IDF/IAF is that when they were first received by IAF, during overflights of Sinai peninsula, the crews would routinely identify truck columns as aircraft flying at low level. The reason was, that originally Hawkeye was designed quite a while ago, and then only for overwater use - the signal processing equipment was quite limited. However, after several upgrades, during '82 Peace of Galelly operation, Hawkeye prooved to be a reliable AEW system, especially considering the fact that the combat zone was rather hilly (not to say mountainous). (Hatzerim '95).
E-2_6o.jpg (110317 bytes) E-2C Hawkeye. (Hatzerim '95).
F-16A_11o.jpg (89083 bytes) F-16A Fighting Falcon. (Hatzerim '95).
F-16A_12o.jpg (67912 bytes) F-16A (Hatzerim '95).
F-16a_9o.jpg (74268 bytes) F-16A (Hatzerim '95).
F-4_2Winders.jpg (108199 bytes) Kurnass-2000 (Israely F-4 upgrade). Inner pylon carrying a pair of AIM-9 Sidewinders can be clearly seen. (Hatzerim '95).
F-4_2Winders_zoom.jpg (102099 bytes) Kurnass-2000 inner pylon detail : Unlike the complicated twin launchers used by Soviet aviation (pylon mounts a spacer bar, which in turn mounts a paired launcher rails) which render the pylon useless, Israelis went a simpler way - the rails are simply bolted onto the pylon, leaving enough clearance to carry ordnance on the pylon itself. When I've seen this the first time I laughed my ass off! :-) (Hatzerim '95).
F-4_front_left_well.jpg (107334 bytes) Kurnass-2000 front left AIM-7 Sparrow well. A bomb rack was formed in the well, which normally carries a laser guidance pod. (Hatzerim '95).
Kfir-C2_1o.jpg (83110 bytes) Kfir-C2 (an Israely Mirage-5/Nesher spin-off). A Nesher (see below) with the engine replaced by american GE-J-79 (same as used in F-4), and a completely redesigned avionics. Note the black/yellow triangle on the tail - since during the Yom Kippur war both sides were using Mirages (many versions of Mirage-III, Mirage-5, Nesher, Kfir), Israelis have had theirs covered with bright yellow triangles on the tail and wings, to facilitate easy identification during air-combat - those were still days of visual identification... :-) (Hatzerim '95).
Kfir-C7_11o.jpg (89507 bytes) Kfir-C7. A more advanced version of Kfir, mounting larger fixed canards on the air intakes, and sporting newer avionics. (Hatzerim '95).
Kfir-C7_12oR.jpg (99132 bytes) Kfir-C7 with a FFAR loadout. During the last phase of their carrer in IDF/IAF they were used for ground attack mostly (air defence role was taken up by F-15s). (Hatzerim '95).
Kfir-C7_6o.jpg (64571 bytes) Kfir-C7. (Hatzerim '95).
Kurnass-2K_12o.jpg (71363 bytes) Kurnass-2000. A ground attack modification of F-4, upgrades carried out by IAI. Includes complete replacement of avionics - including installation of Norden SAR/MTI radar originally designed for of A-12/A-6F, and an in-flight refueling probe. Large parts of the avionics suite used were originally designed for Lavi (see below) (Hatzerim '95).
Kurnass-2K_2o.jpg (83595 bytes) Kurnass-2000. (Hatzerim '95).
Lavi_11o.jpg (82211 bytes) Lavi. An original IAI design. The general configuration of the fuselage reminds of F-16, but instead of the conventional wing-tail design, a tailless delta was used. It is a great shame this aircraft never went into series production - it would have been the Skyhawk of the 90s... Small, agile, carrying a heavy punch (including 30mm cannons), and sporting the newest and the best in avionics design (radar, wide angle HUD, DASH helmets, laser-ring gyros, etc... Damn politics! (Hatzerim '95).
Lavi_12o.jpg (80602 bytes) Lavi. (Hatzerim '95).
Lavi_5o.jpg (72973 bytes) Lavi. Note the two fins under the rear fuselage, and remaining pieces of plumbing that used to be an inflight refueling probe. (Hatzerim '95).
MiG-21_3o.jpg (71027 bytes) He-he. :-) A MiG-21. Brought in by a defecting arab. Already by the time it landed in Israel it wasn't the newest model out, but it gave a couple of answers to questions that IAF and USAF were very anxious to ask. Note the number "007" on the nose - Israeli touch - to signify that the aircraft was obtained under some very "special" conditions. Flown extensively by Israelis. BTW, the guy standing near the aircraft is my dad. (Hatzerim '95).
MiG-23_12o.jpg (82036 bytes) He-he-he. :-) A MiG-23. Brought in by another defecting arab. :-) (I've heard a couple of different variations of the story, but most of them were plain rubbish or military indused speculations.) No fancy numbers this time, just Blue Stars on wings and intakes... Flown extensively by Israelis (and probably Americans too) before being turned over to museum. (Hatzerim '95).
MiG-23_1o.jpg (97549 bytes) MiG-23. (Hatzerim '95).
MiG-23_3o.jpg (84508 bytes) MiG-23. (Hatzerim '95).
Mirage-5_10o.jpg (85268 bytes) Nesher. An Israeli replica of Mirage-5 as is (versus Kfir, which was severely redesigned). The aircraft has always existed under the veil of secrecy (Israelis didn't quite BUY it from French. Only 2 aircraft were delivered by Dassault, the rest were localy produced WITHOUT licence. Once thing though - the original order for something like 50 Mirage-5s was PAID for, but never delivered. So I guess that covers it...) (Hatzerim '95).
Mirage-III_12o.jpg (83096 bytes) Mirage-III. (Hatzerim '95).