1.
Israeli Air Force
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The Israeli Air Force operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28,1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, as of May 2012 Aluf Amir Eshel serves as the Air Force Commander. The Israeli Air Force formed on May 28,1948, using commandeered or donated civilian aircraft and obsolete, eventually, more aircraft were procured, including Boeing B-17s, Bristol Beaufighters, de Havilland Mosquitoes and P-51D Mustangs. The Israeli Air Force played an important part in Operation Kadesh, on June 5,1967, the first day of the Six-Day War, the Israeli Air Force executed Operation Focus, crippling the opposing Arab air forces and attaining air supremacy for the remainder of the war. Shortly after the end of the Six-Day War, Egypt initiated the War of Attrition, on October 7,1973, the IAF conducted Operation Tagar against Egyptian air bases of the Egyptian Air Defence Force. Although initially successful, with 10 bases hit, the urgency of the fighting on the Golan heights forced the operations suspension, since that war most of Israels military aircraft have been obtained from the United States. Among these are the F-4 Phantom II, A-4 Skyhawk, F-15 Eagle, the Israeli Air Force has also operated a number of domestically produced types such as the IAI Nesher, and later, the more advanced IAI Kfir. On June 7,1981, eight IAF F-16A fighters covered by six F-15A jets carried out Operation Opera to destroy the Iraqi nuclear facilities at Osiraq, on June 9,1982, the Israeli Air Force carried out Operation Mole Cricket 19, crippling the Syrian air defence array. The IAF continued to mount attacks on Hezbollah and PLO positions in south Lebanon, on October 1,1985, In response to a PLO terrorist attack which murdered three Israeli civilians in Cyprus, the Israeli air force carried out Operation Wooden Leg. The strike involved the bombing of PLO Headquarters in Tunis, by F-15 Eagles, in 1991, the IAF carried out Operation Solomon which brought Ethiopian Jews to Israel. In 1993 and 1996, the IAF participated in Operation Accountability and Operation Grapes of Wrath and it took part in many missions since, including during the 2006 Lebanon War, Operation Cast Lead, Operation Pillar of Cloud and Operation Protective Edge. On September 6,2007, the Israeli Air Force successfully bombed an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor in Operation Orchard, squadron markings usually go on the tail fin. Forerunners of the Israeli Air Force were the Palestine Flying Service established by the Irgun in 1937, and Sherut Avir, the Israeli Air Force formed on May 28,1948, shortly after Israel declared statehood and found itself under attack. The force consisted of a hodge-podge of commandeered or donated civilian aircraft converted to military use, a variety of obsolete and surplus ex-World War II combat-aircraft were quickly sourced by various means to supplement this fleet. Creativity and resourcefulness were the foundations of early Israeli military success in the air, Israels new fighter-arm first went into action on May 29,1948, assisting efforts to halt the Egyptian advance from Gaza northwards. Four newly arrived Avia S-199s, flown by Lou Lenart, Modi Alon, Ezer Weizman and Eddie Cohen, although damage to the enemy was minimal, two aircraft were lost and Cohen killed, nevertheless the attack achieved its goal and stopped the Egyptians. After un-assembled planes were strafed on the ground on May 30th at Ekron airfield the fighters were moved to makeshift strip located around the current Herzliya Airport. The Israeli Air Force scored its first aerial victories on June 3 when Modi Alon, flying Avia D.112, the first dogfight against enemy fighters took place a few days later, on June 8, when Gideon Lichtaman shot down an Egyptian Spitfire
2.
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon
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The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force. Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft, over 4,500 aircraft have been built since production was approved in 1976. Although no longer being purchased by the U. S. Air Force, in 1993, General Dynamics sold its aircraft manufacturing business to the Lockheed Corporation, which in turn became part of Lockheed Martin after a 1995 merger with Martin Marietta. The F-16 has an internal M61 Vulcan cannon and 11 locations for mounting weapons, the F-16 has also been procured to serve in the air forces of 25 other nations. As of 2015, it is the second most common operational military aircraft in the world. Experiences in the Vietnam War revealed the need for air superiority fighters, boyds work called for a small, lightweight aircraft that could maneuver with the minimum possible energy loss, and which also incorporated an increased thrust-to-weight ratio. Air Force F-X proponents remained hostile to the concept because they perceived it as a threat to the F-15 program, however, the Air Forces leadership understood that its budget would not allow it to purchase enough F-15 aircraft to satisfy all of its missions. The Advanced Day Fighter concept, renamed F-XX, gained political support under the reform-minded Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard. As a result, in May 1971, the Air Force Prototype Study Group was established, with Boyd a key member and this was the region where USAF studies predicted most future air combat would occur. The anticipated average flyaway cost of a version was $3 million. This production plan, though, was only notional as the USAF had no plans to procure the winner. Five companies responded and in 1972, the Air Staff selected General Dynamics Model 401 and Northrops P-600 for the prototype development. GD and Northrop were awarded contracts worth $37.9 million and $39.8 million to produce the YF-16 and YF-17, respectively, with first flights of both prototypes planned for early 1974. To overcome resistance in the Air Force hierarchy, the Fighter Mafia, the high/low mix would allow the USAF to be able to afford sufficient fighters for its overall fighter force structure requirements. The mix gained broad acceptance by the time of the flyoff, defining the relationship of the LWF. The YF-16 was developed by a team of General Dynamics engineers led by Robert H. Widmer. The first YF-16 was rolled out on 13 December 1973, and its 90-minute maiden flight was made at the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, California and its actual first flight occurred accidentally during a high-speed taxi test on 20 January 1974. The test pilot, Phil Oestricher, decided to lift off to avoid a potential crash, the slight damage was quickly repaired and the official first flight occurred on time
3.
Fixed-wing aircraft
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A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft, such as an aeroplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the vehicles forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft, in which the form a rotor mounted on a spinning shaft. Glider fixed-wing aircraft, including free-flying gliders of various kinds and tethered kites, powered fixed-wing aircraft that gain forward thrust from an engine include powered paragliders, powered hang gliders and some ground effect vehicles. The wings of an aircraft are not necessarily rigid, kites, hang-gliders, variable-sweep wing aircraft. Most fixed-wing aircraft are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, kites were used approximately 2,800 years ago in China, where materials ideal for kite building were readily available. Some authors hold that leaf kites were being flown much earlier in what is now Indonesia, by at least 549 AD paper kites were being flown, as it was recorded in that year a paper kite was used as a message for a rescue mission. Ancient and medieval Chinese sources list other uses of kites for measuring distances, testing the wind, lifting men, signaling, and communication for military operations. Stories of kites were brought to Europe by Marco Polo towards the end of the 13th century, although they were initially regarded as mere curiosities, by the 18th and 19th centuries kites were being used as vehicles for scientific research. This machine may have been suspended for its flight, some of the earliest recorded attempts with gliders were those by the 9th-century poet Abbas Ibn Firnas and the 11th-century monk Eilmer of Malmesbury, both experiments injured their pilots. In 1799, Sir George Cayley set forth the concept of the aeroplane as a fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion. Cayley was building and flying models of fixed-wing aircraft as early as 1803, in 1856, Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Bris made the first powered flight, by having his glider LAlbatros artificiel pulled by a horse on a beach. In 1884, the American John J. Montgomery made controlled flights in a glider as a part of a series of gliders built between 1883-1886, other aviators who made similar flights at that time were Otto Lilienthal, Percy Pilcher, and Octave Chanute. In the 1890s, Lawrence Hargrave conducted research on wing structures and his box kite designs were widely adopted. Although he also developed a type of aircraft engine, he did not create. Sir Hiram Maxim built a craft that weighed 3.5 tons, in 1894, his machine was tested with overhead rails to prevent it from rising. The test showed that it had enough lift to take off, the craft was uncontrollable, which Maxim, it is presumed, realized, because he subsequently abandoned work on it. By 1905, the Wright Flyer III was capable of fully controllable, stable flight for substantial periods, the flight was certified by the FAI. This was the first controlled flight, to be officially recognised, the Bleriot VIII design of 1908 was an early aircraft design that had the modern monoplane tractor configuration
4.
Aircraft
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An aircraft is a machine that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the lift of an airfoil. The human activity that surrounds aircraft is called aviation, crewed aircraft are flown by an onboard pilot, but unmanned aerial vehicles may be remotely controlled or self-controlled by onboard computers. Aircraft may be classified by different criteria, such as type, aircraft propulsion, usage. Each of the two World Wars led to technical advances. Consequently, the history of aircraft can be divided into five eras, Pioneers of flight, first World War,1914 to 1918. Aviation between the World Wars,1918 to 1939, Second World War,1939 to 1945. Postwar era, also called the jet age,1945 to the present day, aerostats use buoyancy to float in the air in much the same way that ships float on the water. They are characterized by one or more large gasbags or canopies, filled with a relatively low-density gas such as helium, hydrogen, or hot air, which is less dense than the surrounding air. When the weight of this is added to the weight of the aircraft structure, a balloon was originally any aerostat, while the term airship was used for large, powered aircraft designs – usually fixed-wing. In 1919 Frederick Handley Page was reported as referring to ships of the air, in the 1930s, large intercontinental flying boats were also sometimes referred to as ships of the air or flying-ships. – though none had yet been built, the advent of powered balloons, called dirigible balloons, and later of rigid hulls allowing a great increase in size, began to change the way these words were used. Huge powered aerostats, characterized by an outer framework and separate aerodynamic skin surrounding the gas bags, were produced. There were still no fixed-wing aircraft or non-rigid balloons large enough to be called airships, then several accidents, such as the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, led to the demise of these airships. Nowadays a balloon is an aerostat and an airship is a powered one. A powered, steerable aerostat is called a dirigible, sometimes this term is applied only to non-rigid balloons, and sometimes dirigible balloon is regarded as the definition of an airship. Non-rigid dirigibles are characterized by a moderately aerodynamic gasbag with stabilizing fins at the back and these soon became known as blimps. During the Second World War, this shape was adopted for tethered balloons, in windy weather
5.
Military
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The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their body and to defend that body. Armed force is the use of armed forces to achieve political objectives, the study of the use of armed forces is called military science. Broadly speaking, this involves considering offense and defense at three levels, strategy, operational art, and tactics, all three levels study the application of the use of force in order to achieve a desired objective. In most countries the basis of the forces is the military. However, armed forces can include other paramilitary structures, the obvious benefit to a country in maintaining armed forces is in providing protection from foreign threats and from internal conflict. In recent decades armed forces personnel have also used as emergency civil support roles in post-disaster situations. On the other hand, they may harm a society by engaging in counter-productive warfare. Expenditure on science and technology to develop weapons and systems sometimes produces side benefits, although some claim that greater benefits could come from targeting the money directly
6.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23
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The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is considered to belong to the Soviet third-generation jet fighter category and it was the first attempt by the Soviet Union to design look-down/shoot-down radar and one of the first to be armed with beyond visual range missiles. Production started in 1970 and reached large numbers with over 5,000 aircraft built, today the MiG-23 remains in limited service with some export customers. The basic design was used as the basis for the Mikoyan MiG-27. Among many minor changes, the MiG-27 replaced the MiG-23s nose-mounted radar system with a panel holding a laser designator. The MiG-23s predecessor, the MiG-21, was fast and agile, but limited in its capabilities by its primitive radar, short range. Work began on a replacement for the MiG-21 in the early 1960s, the new aircraft was required to have better performance and range than the MiG-21, while carrying more capable avionics and weapons including beyond-visual-range missiles. A major design consideration was take-off and landing performance, existing Soviet fast jets required very long runways which, combined with their limited range, restricted their tactical usefulness. The VVS demanded the new aircraft have a much shorter take-off run, low-level speed and handling was also to be improved over the MiG-21. Manoeuvrability was not an urgent requirement and this first flew on 3 April 1967, but it soon became apparent that this configuration was unsatisfactory, as the lift jets became useless dead weight once airborne. Work on the strand of development was carried out in parallel by a team led by A. A Andreyev, with MiG directed to build a variable-geometry prototype. The 23-11 featured variable-geometry wings which could be set to angles of 16,45 and 72 degrees, the maiden flight of 23–11 took place on 10 June 1967, flown by the famous MiG test pilot Alexander Vasilevich Fedotov. Six more flight prototypes and two static-test prototypes were prepared for flight and system testing. All featured the Tumansky R-27-300 turbojet engine with a thrust of 7850 kp, the order to start series production of the MiG-23 was given in December 1967. The first production MiG-23S took to the air on 21 May 1969, the General Dynamics F-111 and McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II were the main Western influences on the MiG-23. The Soviets, however, wanted a lighter, single-engined fighter to maximize agility. Both the F-111 and the MiG-23 were designed as fighters, but the weight and inherent stability of the F-111 turned it into a long-range interdictor. The MiG-23s designers kept the MiG-23 light and agile enough to dogfight with enemy fighters, the MiG-23s armament evolved as the types avionics were upgraded and new variants were deployed
7.
Attack aircraft
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This class of aircraft is designed mostly for close air support and naval air-to-surface missions, overlapping the tactical bomber mission. Designs dedicated to non-naval roles are often known as ground-attack aircraft, Strike fighters, which have effectively replaced the fighter-bomber and light bomber concepts, also differ little from the broad concept of an attack aircraft. The dedicated attack aircraft as a separate class existed primarily during, the precise implementation varied from country to country, and was handled by a wide variety of designs. In the US and UK, attack aircraft were based on light bombers, sometimes carrying heavier forward-firing weapons like the B-25G. In Germany and USSR, where they were known as schlachtflugzeug or sturmovik, in the late-war era, the fighter-bomber began to take over many attack roles, a change that continued in the post-war era. Jet powered examples were relatively rare, but not unknown, like the Blackburn Buccaneer, the US Navy continued to introduce new aircraft in their A-series, but these were purely light and medium bombers. Since the 1960s, only two dedicated attack aircraft designs have been introduced, the US A-10 Thunderbolt II and Soviet Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot. One oddity belonging to class is the AC-130, which features as its primary armament high-caliber artillery guns adapted for aircraft use. A variety of attack aircraft exist, usually based on adapted trainers or other light fixed-wing aircraft. Presently, U. S. attack aircraft are identified by the prefix A-, as in A-6 Intruder, however, until the end of World War II the A- designation was shared between attack planes and light bombers for the Army aircraft. The US Navy used a separate system and at the time preferred to call similar aircraft scout bombers or torpedo bombers. For example, Douglas SBD Dauntless scout bomber was designated A-24 when used by the USAAF. It was not until 1946, when the US Navy and US Marine Corps started using the attack designation, as with many aircraft classifications, the definition of attack aircraft is somewhat vague and has tended to change over time. Current U. S. military doctrine defines it as an aircraft which most likely performs an attack mission, Attack mission means, in turn, specifically tactical air-to-ground action—in other words, neither air-to-air action nor strategic bombing is considered an attack mission. In United States Navy vocabulary, the designation for the same activity is a strike mission. Attack missions are divided into two categories, air interdiction and close air support. In the last several decades, the rise of the ubiquitous multi-role fighter has created confusion about the difference between attack and fighter aircraft. According to the current U. S. designation system, an aircraft is designed primarily for air-to-surface
8.
Ilyushin Il-2
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The Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik was a ground-attack aircraft produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during the Second World War. To Il-2 pilots, the aircraft was simply the diminutive Ilyusha, to the soldiers on the ground, it was the Hunchback, the Flying Tank or the Flying Infantryman. Its postwar NATO reporting name was Bark, the Il-2 aircraft played a crucial role on the Eastern Front. The idea for a Soviet armored ground-attack aircraft dates to the early 1930s, however, Soviet engines at the time lacked the power needed to provide the heavy aircraft with good performance. Il-2 was designed by Sergey Ilyushin and his team at the Central Design Bureau in 1938, TsKB-55 was a two-seat aircraft with an armoured shell weighing 700 kg, protecting crew, engine, radiators, and the fuel tank. Standing loaded, the Ilyushin weighed more than 4,700 kg, the prototype TsKB-55, which first flew on 2 October 1939, won the government competition against the Sukhoi Su-6 and received VVS designation BSh-2. The prototypes - TsKB-55 and TskB-57 - were built at Moscow plant #39, the BSh-2 was overweight and underpowered, with the original Mikulin AM-351,022 kW engine designed to give its greatest power outputs at high altitude. Because of this it was redesigned as the TsKB-57, a lighter design, with the more powerful 1,254 kW Mikulin AM-38 engine. The TsKB-57 first flew on 12 October 1940, the production aircraft passed State Acceptance Trials in March 1941, and was redesignated Il-2 in April. Deliveries to operational units commenced in May 1941, the 23 mm armament of Il-2 was subject to a competition. One of the first 1940 photographs of the Il-2 show it equipped with two MP-623 mm autocannons developed by Yakov Taubin at OKB-16, the MP-6 gun weighed 70 kg and developed an initial muzzle velocity of 900 m/s. It operated on the short recoil principle and had a rate of fire of about 600 rpm, factory trials of the MP-6 gun on the Il-2 were conducted in August 1940. In the early Il-2 prototypes, these guns were fed by 81-round clips, in flight, these clips sometimes became dislodged because of their large surface, which caused them to experience significant aerodynamic pressure. The VYa-23 was declared the winner at this trial, subsequently, in May 1941, development of the MP-6 gun was terminated and Taubin was arrested and summarily executed in October that year. The Il-2 is a single-engine, propeller-driven, low-wing monoplane of mixed construction with a crew of two, specially designed for assault operations and its most notable feature was the inclusion of armor in an airframe load-bearing scheme. Production early in the war was slow because after the German invasion the aircraft factories near Moscow, Ilyushin and his engineers had time to reconsider production methods, and two months after the move Il-2s were again being produced. The tempo was not to Premier Stalins liking, however, and he issued the following telegram to Shenkman and Tretyakov, As a result, the production of Shturmoviks rapidly gained speed. Stalins notion of the Il-2 being like bread to the Red Army took hold in Ilyushins aircraft plants, the first use in action of the Il-2 was with the 4th ShAP over the Berezina River days after the invasion began
9.
Maritime patrol aircraft
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France, Italy and Austria-Hungary used large numbers of smaller patrol aircraft for the Mediterranean, Adriatic and other coastal areas while the Germans and British fought over the North Sea. A number of specialized patrol balloons were built, particularly by the British, the success of long range patrol aircraft led to the development of fighters specifically designed to intercept them, such as the Hansa-Brandenburg W.29. Blimps were widely used by the U. S. Navy, especially in the warmer and calmer latitudes of the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and later the Azores. In the Pacific, the Catalina was gradually superseded by the longer-ranged Martin PBM Mariner flying boat, in the decades following World War II, the patrol duties were partially taken over by aircraft derived from civilian airliners. These had range and performance factors better than most of the wartime bombers, the latest jet-powered bombers of the 1950s did not have the endurance needed for long, overwater patrolling, and they did not have the low loitering speeds necessary for antisubmarine operations. The RAF also flew a derivative of the Avro Lancaster bomber – the Avro Shackleton –, and then replaced it with the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod. The Canadian version is called the CP-140 Aurora, in addition to their ASW and SAR capabilities, most P-3Cs have been modified to carry Harpoon missiles and Maverick s for attacking surface ships if the need ever arose. American P-3s were formerly armed with the Lulu nuclear depth charge for ASW, the Soviet Union developed the Ilyushin Il-38 from a civilian airliner, and the Royal Canadian Air Force did likewise, deriving the Canadair CP-107 Argus from a British airliner. Then, as mentioned above, those were replaced by the CP-140 Aurora, the French Navy developed the Breguet Atlantic following a Request for Proposal from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Some of these were produced for some other NATO members that were not flying the P-3 or the CP-140. Japan developed an aircraft as well, the Shin Meiwa PS-1 flying boat. The main threat to NATO maritime supremacy throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and these were countered by the NATO fleets, the NATO patrol planes mentioned above, and by sophisticated underwater listening systems. S. Navy and Canadian ones from Greenland, Iceland, and Newfoundland, British ones from Scotland and Northern Ireland, and Norwegian, Dutch, and German ones from their home countries. Since the end of the Cold War the threat of a submarine attack is a remote one. The earliest patrol aircraft carried bombs and machine guns, between the wars the British experimented with equipping their patrol aircraft with the COW37 mm gun. During World War II, depth charges that could be set to detonate at specific depths, equipping submarines with radar-warning devices and the snorkel made them harder to find. Then the small escort carriers of WW II became available to cover the oceans. Maritime patrol aircraft are fitted with a wide range of sensors
10.
Hawker Siddeley Nimrod
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The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod was a maritime patrol aircraft developed and operated by the United Kingdom. It was a modification of the de Havilland Comet, the worlds first operational jet airliner. It served from the early 1970s until March 2010, in addition to the three Maritime Reconnaissance variants, two further Nimrod types were developed. The RAF operated a number of the Nimrod R1, an electronic intelligence gathering variant. All Nimrod variants had been retired by mid-2011, on 4 June 1964, the British Government issued Air Staff Requirement 381, which sought a replacement for the aging Avro Shackleton maritime patrol aircraft of the Royal Air Force. Such a replacement had been necessitated by the fatigue life limitations accumulated across the Shackleton fleet. On 2 February 1965, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced the intention to order Hawker Siddeleys maritime patrol version of the Comet, the Nimrod design was based on that of the Comet 4 civil airliner which had reached the end of its commercial life. The Comets turbojet engines were replaced by Rolls-Royce Spey turbofans for fuel efficiency. Major fuselage changes were made, including a weapons bay, an extended nose for radar, a new tail with electronic warfare sensors mounted in a bulky fairing. After the first flight in May 1967, the RAF ordered a total of 46 Nimrod MR1s, the first example entered service in October 1969. A total of five squadrons using the type were established, four were based in the UK. Three Nimrod aircraft were adapted for the intelligence role, replacing the Comet C2s. The R1 was visually distinguished from the MR2 by the lack of a MAD boom and it was fitted with an array of rotating dish aerials in the aircrafts bomb bay, with further dish aerials in the tailcone and at the front of the wing-mounted fuel tanks. It had a crew of four and up to 25 crew operating the SIGINT equipment. Only since the end of the Cold War has the role of the aircraft been officially acknowledged, the R1s have not suffered the same rate of fatigue and corrosion as the MR2s. One R1 was lost in an accident since the types introduction. To replace this aircraft an MR2 was selected for conversion to R1 standard, the Nimrod R1 was based initially at RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire, and later at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, England, and flown by 51 Sqn. The last flight of the type was on 28 June 2011 from RAF Waddington, in the presence of the Chief of the Air Staff, XV249, the former MR2, is now on display at the RAF Museum Cosford, West Midlands
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