101 Squadron, IAF
Back in 1948 when Little Satan’s history was measured in hours and days, they needed an air force because they were being attacked by five different national armies. Through official embargoes, and all the impediments the United States and Great Britain could devise (remember this was when Palestine was still a British mandate) they scraped up a ragtag flying circus. It was called Machal.
Their first combat aircraft were 25 Avia S-199s, a lousy Czechoslovak copy of the Messerschmitt Me-109, they took them apart and flew them into Israel in a C-46 Commando they had smuggled out of the United States, eventually they were followed by 3 B-17 Flying Fortresses, which set up an interesting anomaly: B-17s escorted by Me-109s flying against the Spitfires of the Royal Egyptian Air Force. Most of the pilots were American veterans of World War Two. here’s a bit of the story, told by the men who made that history
If you would like to know more (it’s a very interesting story, indeed) there’s a website about it here
And now they are one of the best in the world, a proud little sister to Great Satan herself.
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