The Israeli Air Force Trivia Quiz

Answer: May, 1948

The Israeli Air Force is the aerial component of the Israeli Defense Force. It was officially established on May 28, 1948, two weeks after Israel declared her independence. The first aircraft in the force were civilian models pressed into military service, but Israel soon purchased some obsolete World War II fighters despite an international arms embargo.

Answer: Su-24

The Soviet built Sukhoi SU-24 is an all weather tactical bomber aircraft. While the plane was widely exported to Soviet allies during the Cold War, Israel was never a recipient of Soviet aid and did not operate the aircraft. The F-15, F4E, and F-16 are all fighter aircraft built by the United States and exported to Israel.

Answer: Czechoslovakia

A UN arms embargo was imposed on the region in an attempt to prevent a war when Palestine was partitioned in 1948. Despite the embargo, Czechoslovakia sold Avia S-199 fighters, which were Czech built Messerschmitt BF-109 models, and British Supermarine Spitfires to Israel. These aircraft became the backbone of the Israeli Air Force during the War of Independence.

Answer: Operation Focus

On June 5, 1967, Israeli aircraft attacked Egyptian airfields and achieved complete surprise, destroying many aircraft on the ground. The Israelis also attacked airfields in Syria and Jordan with excellent results as well. By the end of the day, over 450 enemy aircraft were destroyed for a loss of only 19 Israeli planes, ensuring air supremacy for the entire war.

Answer: France

The French were the first country to sell advanced aircraft to Israel, beginning in 1955 with the delivery of the Mystere IV fighter-bomber. Israel used various French aircraft models into the 1980s.

Answer: IAI Nesher

In 1966, Israel requested that the French aircraft manufacturer Dassault design a new aircraft for Israeli service, to be based on the Mirage III. The aircraft were manufactured in France, but after the Six Day War of 1967, France enacted an embargo against arms sales to Israel before any of the new aircraft were delivered.

The Israelis, who had designed the aircraft and had complete blueprints, began building their own version, the Nesher, in 1971. The French version was called the Mirage V. The Nesher was retired in 2015, while the Mirage V is still in service with Egypt and Pakistan.

Answer: F-4 Phantom

Beginning in 1968, the United States became the main arms supplier to Israel, after France declared an embargo on arms sales to Israel following the 1967 Six Day War. The first American warplane supplied to Israel was the F-4 Phantom fighter, upgraded versions of which served the IAF until 2004.

Answer: Iraq

On June 7, 1981, fourteen IAF F-16 and F-15 aircraft attacked and destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in Osiraq, 11 miles southeast of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. Israel claimed that the facility was being used to develop nuclear weapons that could be used against Israel.

The strike was codenamed Operation Opera or Operation Babylon. No Israeli aircraft were damaged or destroyed in the strike, which was condemned in the international community.

Answer: 1967-1970

After their defeat in the 1967 Six Day War, the Arab countries of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, along with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), initiated the War of Attrition to force Israel to withdraw from territory occupied during the war. The fighting consisted of artillery duels, commando raids, and aerial clashes.

The IAF lost up to 30 aircraft during the conflict, while claiming some 150 enemy aircraft destroyed.

Answer: 102

On October 6, 1973, Israel was attacked by Egyptian and Syrian forces, backed by other Arab countries, in the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, areas which had been captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. The Arab SAM batteries, provided by the Soviet Union, proved to be a surprise to the IAF, leading to changes in Israeli tactics.

By the end of the war on October 25, the IAF claimed to have destroyed some 450 Egyptian and Syrian aircraft, for a loss of 102 Israeli planes.