The Skyhawk
For more than ten years, France was Israel’s primary supplier of weapons. However, by the middle of the 1960s, it was determined to acquire advanced and powerful US weapons, so it purchased the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, which had been proven in combat, to carry out light strike operations. In 1966, the Israeli Air Force ordered about 48 A-4Hs, which quickly became the backbone of its attack arm.
As explained by Shlomo Aloni in his book Israeli A-4 Skyhawk Units in Combat, the first group of would-be A-4 engineers left Israel for America in December 1966, with the second following three months later. Pilots were scheduled to join the technical staff undergoing the Skyhawk conversion on the US front in May 1967 again in two groups. The lead group included the two future A-4 squadron commanders, while the follow-up group included the two senior deputy squadron commanders. All four pilots in these senior positions were vastly experienced.
The Ramat David-based unit (No. 109 Sqn) was to be led by Ohad Shadmi, who had graduated with Flying School Class 17 in May 1955 and gone on to fly the Mystere during the 1956 Suez War. CO of No. 109 Sqn since April 1964, he was to oversee the unit’s transition from Mysterès to Skyhawks. Shadmi’s counterpart at Hatzor was Yossi Sarig, who had graduated with Flying School Class 19 in January 1956 and flown Meteors during the Suez War. He later commanded Vautour-equipped No 110 Sqn for a year from July 1964, before becoming head of the Operations Branch Attack Planning Section in late 1965.
Israel picks the A-4 over the Jaguar
Sarig recalls;
‘IDF/AF Commander Ezer Weizman invited me to join him during the 1965 Paris Airshow. There, we went to the Dassault chalet for a presentation on the Jaguar. Our operational requirement was for an attack aircraft that would be capable of flying a low-low mission profile from Ramat David to the Suez Canal Zone with a certain number of bombs. While examining the presented graphs, I came to the conclusion that the Jaguar was unable to fly this baseline mission profile. I reported my finding to Ezer. He asked me if I was sure, and I immediately replied in the affirmative. He stood up, abruptly ended the presentation, and ordered me to follow him out.
‘We exited the Dassault chalet in a big fuss and went to the Douglas chalet. Ezer presented himself and asked for the company’s Skyhawk presentation. The Douglas response was “We are not ready now, but we will organize a presentation for you this evening at the Hotel George V”. That evening three of us — Ezer, Arie Hillel (the Head of Material Department) and I – attended the briefing. I delved into the graphs and quickly realized that this aircraft was absolutely right for us.
`A year later the Skyhawk became a reality for the IDF/AF.’
Israeli A-4 Skyhawk Units in Combat is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by Oren Rozen Own Work via Wikipedia, Israeli Air Force and U.S. Air Force