[rossmum]

we bought whatever we could get our hands on but not everyone was happy to sell
five veaufighters were bought from the uk but in order to get them to sell it they told them it was for a war movie and they ware smugeld here. most plane were second hand like spitfires from the chech republic
and dont forget that before israel declerd indipendece it was under the control of the british empire so after they left a lot of spare parts were left behind.
but the first fighter the israeli air force had was the avia s-199 that's a version of a me109.
and four of them were assembeld 20 may 1948 piloted by two isrealis and two volentires and went on a ground attack mission on egyptien armor.

Apparently a rather handsome reward was offered for any RAF pilot who would simulate an engine failure and belly-land on the beaches without damaging their aircraft beyond repair, though it seems no pilots accepted the offer... in my Spitfire book it has an account by one of the pilots stationed at Ramat David just before they packed up, they were attacked by Egyptian Spits (Mk.IXs) as the local Arabs and the Israelis alike were under the impression that the aircraft would simply be left for the other side. I think the exact reason was a navigational error, but nonetheless it's an interesting story...