Israeli Air Force Museum

 aviation, open air museum, military museum

Museum's mission: is to be a national center to preserve the heritage role Force - air, explore it, to instill it, Israeli public as a whole and to future generations of fighters and soldiers of Force - Air in particular, to bring them to the corps and heritage while creating a connection and interaction between them.

The museum represents huge collection of airplanes and helicopters, which were the parts of standard equipment of Israel Air Forces. There are also models from civil aviation of the country. Audiovisual representation about Israel Air Forces, exhibitions- “Roots of the Air Forces”, “1948 - takeoff permitted”, “Air Force commanders” and “Stay alive” - devoted to Israel Air Forces survive. On the museum’s central area placed more than 20 airplanes. Air-defense means are in separate zone.

Open to the public since 1997, the Israeli Air Force Museum is located southwest of Be’er Sheva on the northwest corner of the Hatzerim Air Force Base. Visitors can often hear the roar of engines from the base and a variety of planes, including state-of-the-art F-15s and F-16s, occasionally fly overhead . On holidays and special occasions, historic aircrafts as well as some of Israel’s current fleet conduct air shows for visitors.

The museum takes visitors on a tour of Israeli aviation history. The main part of the museum is an outdoor exhibition of more than 140 aircraft, including helicopters and airplanes. Most of the aircraft are in excellent condition and accompanied with a detailed description of its history and use by the IAF.

The main outdoor display area contains fighter planes, such as Phantom II’s, Skyhawks, Alouette II’s, the Hawkeye radar plane, and combat helicopters such as the Cobra. Also on display are some of enemy aircraft captured by Israel, including Soviet MiGs. In addition to fighter aircraft, the museum has a collection of civil aviation exhibits featuring Dakotas, Stratocruisers, and Cessnas. The Boeing 707 on the grounds was used during the Entebbe Raid, the rescue operation of kidnapped Israelis in Uganda. You can also see the “Bar Mitzvah Twins,” two aircraft whose pilots each shot down 13 enemy aircraft in combat.

www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/...
www.iaf.org.il/5700-he/IAF.aspx
ilmuseums.com/museum_eng.asp?id=158