103rd ("The Elephants") Squadron

Israel / Hadarom / Kuseife /
 squadron (military), invisible, do not draw title

Aircraft Serving:C-130E Karnaf, C-130H Karnaf, KC-130H Karnaf (C-130J Super Hercules)

The 103 Squadron of the Israeli Air Force, also known as the Elephants Squadron, is a C-130E and KC-130H squadron based at Nevatim Airbase.The “Elephants” was first opened in July 1948 on Ramat David Airbase as a bombing and transport squadron. It was made up of three Dakotas that came from "Squadron A" and a Douglas DC-5. The squadron was made up of 12 air crew. Only one of the crew was Israeli, the rest were Jewish and non-Jewish volunteers from abroad. A few days later the squadron received a single Mosquito intended for photography missions. In August 1948 4 Bristol Beaufighters joined the squadron. They were purchased by a front company that claimed to be shooting a film on World War Two. During one of the days of filming they took off to shoot a scene, and instead of coming back to land they headed east...

The squadron's aircraft participated in many operations, including Operation Entebbe and the airlift of Ethiopian Jews. During the First Lebanon War the squadron's first mission was the bombing of aircraft batteries in an effort to clear the path for the attack aircraft. The squadron also carried out transport sorties to the forward landing strips and mid-air refueling. In addition to carrying out flights to aid IDF forces in Lebanon the Hercules squadrons continued to carry out secret operations. Motto: "Slowly, slowly we hurry"

The model variants of the KC-130 used are :
C-130E Karnaf
C-130H Karnaf
KC-130H Karnaf

www.iaf.org.il/4968-33521-en/IAF.aspx
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   31°11'16"N   35°1'48"E
This article was last modified 5 years ago