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Avia S-199 Mezek
1948-1949

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   Avia S-199 Mezek is based on the famous german fighter Messerschmitt Bf 109.

• Type: Single seat fighter
• Country of origin: Czechoslovakia
• Performance:
• Speed 590 km/h;
• Range 850 km.

   In May 1948 desperate for an answer to the enemy's rule of the skies, Israel bought 25 inferior Czech versions of the famed Luftwaffe fighter for the princely sum of $1.8 million. The IAF's first fighter made history immediately, stopping the Egyptian advance towards Tel-Aviv at Ashdod. Within a few days Moddy Alon scored the IAF's first aerial victories in his S-199. Despite these achievements pilots complained that the fickle Messerschmitt was so difficult to handle that "she tried to kill us on every takeoff and landing".

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