Today is the 50 Jahrzeit of the 1967 six-days war. Since this is an aviation fans board, I'd like to salute to the hero of that war - the Mirage IIIc.
Looking back at the Israeli airforce history, the Mirage IIIc (named "Shahak" in the IAF, derived from the Hebrew heavens or sky) is to the IAF what the Spitfire is to the RAF. It is the most iconic plane and the most loved plane by IAF vetrans. Giora Epstein, IAF's top scoring ace with 17 kills all in Mirage or its derivative the Nesher, used to say about that F16 that it is a good but boring plane, unlike the Mirage which was a joy to fly (he retired as an F16 pilot).
Back to the six-days war, IAF had 65 Mirages at the beginning of the war. All but 12 took off on the morning of June 5 1967 to attack the Egyptian airforce at its bases, together with virtually every fighter and bomber the IAF could get into the air. The 12 were the only air defense the IAF kept in case of an Egytian counter attack, or an attack by Syria, or Jordan, or Lebanon, or Iraq - all of which were allied and would join the war against Israel. 298 Egyptian planes were destroyed in the first 3 hours and nearly all runways rendered inoperable. The IAF then landed, reloaded, turned 180 degrees and went out to do the same to the Syrian airforce. The Mirages were the main actors in this operation "Mokend" (focus).
Today young people think that in 1967 the might of Israel exploded on the arab world. It was far from that. The Israeli moral was at its low. People were talking about a 2nd holocaust and bitter jokes were getting around like to remind each other that "the last one alive should remember to turn off the lights". The arab leaders were sure of their victory and talked openly of their intentions. PLO founder and leader at the time Ahmad Shukieri said: “Whoever survives will stay in Palestine, but in my opinion, no one will remain alive.”. Syrian president for life Assad the father said in a speech: "We are determined to saturate this earth with your blood, to throw you into the sea.”. In the weeks before the war, Israel exit to the red sea was blockaded, and the Syrians were regularly shelling Israeli town and villages in the north from their high positions on the Golan-Heights. The israeli army was able to convince the government that if they do not strike now and first, the country will collapse immediately at the outbreak of war.
For this reason the victory was perceived as nothing short of a miracle. The public did not expect it and did not expect it to be this decisive. The war was basically decided in operation "Moked" during those crucial 3 hours and the Mirage was the poster-boy of that miracle. Much like "the plane that saved Britain", Mirage was the plane that saved Israel.
After the war, the Mirage IIIc would gradually be replaced by the IAI locally built Nesher - which was a Mirage V, except that de Gaulle went all de Gaulle on Israel and embargoed all weapons deals. Dassault was not happy about it and rumor has it that they pretty much handed the blueprints to the Mossad. Nesher would then turn into the Kfir. I grew up in a village near Hatzor AFB - for me, planes in the sky mean little pretty arrowhead silhouettes. I still miss them very much and get all water-eyed when I see one on display. They went out of service just before I joined the IAF in the early 90s. Most of my flight instructors were Kfir pilots transitioning to other planes (I did not finish flight school btw, but there were no more Mirages or Mosquitoes to fly anyway), and all the older ones that flew Mirages said that they were the best.
So, CHEERS to the Mirage IIIc
The French got one right
