THE VAUTOUR IN THE I. A. F. SERVICE


[ Sections marked @ are disconnected temporarily till revisied]
    CONTENTS:
  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. PURCHASE
  3. CONVERSION IN FRANCE [ under construction ]
  4. FERRIES and ARRIVALS
  5. THE AIRCRAFT LIST
  6. THE SQUADRONS
  7. THE FIRST YEARS [ under construction ]
  8. MAINTENANCE @ [ New - under construction ]
  9. IMPROVEMENTS, UPGRADES and TRIALS [ to be completed ]
  10. OPERATIONS: 1958-1967
  11. THE SIX DAYS WAR [ under revision ]
  12. POST-WAR SERVICE @
  13. LOSSES
  14. INVENTORIES 1957 - 1971
  15. AIRCREW
  16. S U M M A R Y [ under construction ]





Milestones
April 23, 1956 First flights of Danny Shapira with the Vautour in France
June 21, 1956 Evaluation flights by Beni Peled, in France
February 1957 Israeli delegation, headed by D. Shapira, arrives Mont de Marsan. Shapita and Somekh perform test flights on various Vautour prototypes and pre-production subtypes
April 1957 Contract for the purchase of 28 Vautours is signed. Yoash Tssidon is appointed head of the "Vautour project"
May 1957 The first Israeli aircrews arrive to Tour for conversion.
August 1st, 1957 First Vautour arrives to Israel, and stored
April 1958 The Vautour purchase is revealed. The stored Vautours are conveyed to the squadrons
End of 1958 The Vautour squdrons are declared operational and set to alerts
March 10, 1959 The last Vautour of the 28 ordered, arrives to Israel
June 7, 1959 First enemy encounter. 2 Vautours of Sqn. 110 vs. 4 Mig-17
February 23, 1960 The Vautours discover a huge deployment of the Egyptian army in Sinai
July 14, 1961 First nocturnal photo sortie, over several Egyptian airfields
January 23, 1962 A daring, night reconnaissaince sortie to the Egyptian Delta, is caried out
March 16, 1962 The first operational ground attack is taking place, Tauafik, Syrian Heights.
March 20, 1963 The most distant PR sortie, to Ras-Banas, Upper Egypt, is performed
July 1963 The Vautour IIN are transferred to Sqn. 110, and converted to the role of leaders-attackers
October 18, 1963 The existence of SA-2 missiles in Egypt is proved by a Vautour PR mission
November 13, 1964 The Vautours carry out, very successfuly, a massive attack of Syrian posts
June 5 -10 1967 Sqn. 110 Vautours strike, The Six Days War
1968 - 1969 The Vautours participate in attacking terrorist bases in all fronts
July 1969 - August 1970 Participation of the Vautours in long-distance attacks of Egyptian targets, the War of Attrition, operations "Boxer"
August 1970 Sqn. 110 receives its first Skyhawks. A Vautour detachment still active
mid. 1971 The Vautours, except for 3, are withdrawn. The squadron reforms to A-4E.
March Vautours in flying condition conveyed to Sinai, to become "realistic" decoys. The last photo-ecm aircraft end their service.





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This chapter is in process of updating: April-July 2002