Tel Nof Airbase (, English: Lookout hill), also known as Air Force Base 8, is the oldest and main base of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) located 5 km south of Rehovot, Israel. Tel Nof houses two strike fighter, two helicopter and a UAV squadron. Also located on the base are the Flight Test Center Manat and several special units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), among others Unit 669 (heliborne Combat Search and Rescue, CSAR) and the Paratroopers Brigade training center and its headquarters.

History

British Mandate

Established in July 1939 as RAF Aqir during the British Mandate, it served as the main base for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in Palestine. It was named after the Palestinian village Aqir north of it that perished in the 1948 Palestine war and was located in the area of today's Kiryat Ekron.

Operational units from 1941 to 1948

• No. 6 Squadron between 17 and 24 February 1941 with the Westland Lysander • No. 10 Squadron detachment (1942) Handley Page Halifax • No. 11 Squadron (1941) Bristol Blenheim IV • No. 32 Squadron (1946) Supermarine Spitfire IX • No. 37 Squadron (1945) Consolidated Liberator VI • No. 45 Squadron (1941) Bristol Blenheim IV • No. 55 Squadron (1941) Bristol Blenheim IV • No. 70 Squadron (1945) Consolidated Liberator VI • No. 80 Squadron (1941) Hawker Hurricane I • No. 84 Squadron (1941) Bristol Blenheim IV • No. 113 Squadron (1946–1947) Handley Page Halifax • No. 159 Squadron (1942) Consolidated Liberator II • No. 160 Squadron (1942) Consolidated Liberator II • No. 162 Squadron (1942) Vickers Wellington later Bristol Blenheim IV • No. 208 Squadron (1941) Hawker Audax and (1946) Supermarine Spitfire VIII • No. 211 Squadron (1941) Bristol Blenheim IV • No. 215 Squadron (1947) Douglas Dakota I • No. 221 Squadron detachment (1945) Vickers Wellington XII • No. 227 Squadron (1942) Handley Page Halifax • No. 250 Squadron (1941) Curtiss Tomahawk IIB • No. 294 Squadron detachment (1944) Vickers Wellington IC • No. 335 (Greek) Squadron (1941) Hawker Hurricane I • No. 450 Squadron RAAF (1941) Hawker Hurricane I • No. 620 Squadron (1946) Douglas Dakota and Handley Page Halifax • No. 621 Squadron (1946) Avro Lancaster ASR.III • No. 680 Squadron detachment (1945) Fairchild Argus • No. 76 Operational Training Unit Vickers Wellington - Formed at RAF Aqir on 1 October 1943, equipped with Vickers Wellington Mk.IIIs and Xs to train night bomber crews for squadrons in the Middle East, disbanding on 30 July 1945. 76 OTU, despite operating Wellingtons, were also working up crews for B-24 Liberators. After completion of their course those crews were passed on to Liberator conversion units.

Gallery

Names of the base

After the British withdrawal from RAF Aqir in 1948, the base was renamed Ekron Airbase after the Israeli village Kiryat Ekron north of it and, from 1950, Tel Nof Airbase (English: Lookout hill). The name "Tel Nof" dates back to the 1930s, when the area was known by this name as an urban development area, similar to the then-thriving "Tel Aviv" (English: Spring hill).

First Israeli fighter aircraft

On 29 May 1948, the first four fighter aircraft Avia S-199 of the first aircraft squadron 101 "First Fighter" of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) took off from here for their first mission, an attack on the Ad Halom Bridge in the eastern outskirts of Ashdod, which was in the hands of Egyptian troops. Important was less the modest military success of this operation than the shock to the Egyptian soldiers when they saw with their own eyes that Israel now had an Air Force. On 17 August 1948, Ekron Airbase (later Tel Nof Airbase) was officially and ceremoniously opened. Hatzor Airbase and Ramat David Airbase taken over from the British soon followed. The IAF Flight Academy was installed at Tel Nof in 1955 until it was moved to the newly built Hatzerim Airbase in 1966.

Paratroopers Brigade

During the 1948 Palestine War there was a provisional paratroopers unit in Israel, which was expanded from the beginning of the 1950s into a regular Paratroopers Brigade, whose headquarters and training center is still located at Tel Nof to this day. This brigade and its units has since been involved in many important operations in Israel's wars, such as: the Suez Crisis and the Six-Day War, where the conquest of the Old City of Jerusalem with the capture of the Temple Mount and the Western Wall by Israeli paratroopers was particularly remembered.

Six-Day War

As late as the Six-Day War in June 1967, French fighter jets manufactured by Dassault Aviation played a leading role in the IAF, such as the Mystère IV, the Super Mystère and the Mirage III. Some of these were also stationed at Tel Nof at that time. In the mid-1960s, Israel had commissioned Dassault to build an improved version of the Mirage III that was specifically tailored to the needs of the IAF, as they needed a ground attack aircraft in a desert environment. The first examples of this version, called the Mirage 5, were supposed to be delivered in 1967, but this never happened. The French-built fighter jets – except the Mirage 5 – now on display at the IAF Museum near Hatzerim Airbase: In response to the Six-Day War, the delivery of 50 already produced and largely paid for Dassault Mirage 5 to Israel was stopped by French President Charles de Gaulle, as he no longer wanted to supply new offensive weapons to the former ally. After Israeli commando units blew up 14 Lebanese airliners at Beirut Airport on the evening of 28 December 1968 in Operation Gift, using French transport helicopters Super Frelon from Tel Nof and naval boats supplied by France, de Gaulle then imposed a total arms embargo on Israel.

Yom Kippur War

Despite the embargo Tel Nof Airbase has been steadily expanded over the years, and during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, seven air squadrons operated at the base. While the Six-Day War 1967 was still characterized by French-made fighter aircraft, US ones now dominate. The seven squadrons at Tel Nof during the Yom Kippur War: US-made airplanes, most of them now at the IAF Museum near Hatzerim Airbase:

F-15 Fighter Jets

Arrival of the F-15

From 1976, the then new F-15A/B Eagle Baz fighter jets were introduced with 133 Squadron "Knights Of The Twin Tail", which made Israel the first country in the world outside the United States to possess this aircraft. Because the landing of the first three planes was delayed on that Friday, 10 December 1976, the reception ceremony was also delayed and only ended shortly before the beginning of Shabbat. As a result, some government ministers didn't have enough time to return home before the start of Shabbat. Its "desecration" led to a government crisis and ultimately to the collapse of the coalition of the first government of Yitzhak Rabin.

Nuclear weapons

It is assumed (e.g. by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists) that Israel is in possession of nuclear weapons since the late 1960s and that they are stored at some point at Tel Nof in a specially secured area (presumably here: 31.84789°N, 34.81461°W) and at the neighboring Sdot Micha Airbase in bunkers (presumably here: 31.75578°N, 34.91757°W) near the positions of Jericho missiles. Fighter aircraft that can carry such weapons over long distances, like the F-15 Eagle (see gallery below) and once the F-4E Phantom II (see picture above) have been on alert around the clock at the base since the 1970s. This form of deterrence was one of the lessons that Israel learned from the wars with its neighbors, even though the country has not yet admitted that it has nuclear weapons.

Operation Wooden Leg

On 1 October 1985, under the name Operation Wooden Leg, ten two-seat F-15B/D Eagle Baz from Tel Nof (two of them in reserve) attacked the headquarters of the PLO near Tunis. On their 2,300 km long flight to the destination on the Mediterranean coast of Tunisia the F-15s were refueled several times by two Boeing 707 Re'em. The headquarters were completely destroyed and – depending on the source – 50 to 75 PLO fighters were killed, including many leaders, but not Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The action was condemned without dissent in the UNO, and the USA also criticized it because it strained its relationship with Tunisia. The eight F-15 jets from Tel Nof involved received a corresponding symbol (target cross in the red circle with a wooden leg, see picture in the gallery below).

Variants at Tel Nof

Today

Today (2024), Tel Nof is home to two strike fighter jet and two transport helicopter squadrons as well as a drone squadron. Also located there is the Flight Test Center Manat with one example of all aircraft variants (see F-15I Eagle Ra'am in the gallery above and F-35I Adir in the gallery under "Units"). Several special units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are also located there, including Unit 669 heliborne Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) and the training center for the Israeli Paratroopers Brigade.

Units

Note: IAF aircraft can usually be assigned to their squadron by the symbols on the tail

Accidents