Long Range Airstrikes During Operation Moked on 5 June 1967 (Six-Day War Day 1)

[yahya]

I recently read Shlomo Aloni's book Six-Day War 1967: Operation Focus and the 12 hours that changed the Middle East. It elaborates the IAF airstrikes from the 5 June 1967 Operation Moked that decapitated Arab air forces of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq.

I am particularly interested in the long-range airstrikes conducted by the IAF against the Luxor, Ras Banas, Hurghada, and H-3 airfields. These missions were flown mainly by the single-seat Sud Aviation Vautour IIA from the 110th Sq. based at Ramat David AB.

The book quotes the airmen, who participated in these missions, and who claim that they were flying "straight line from Ramat David" to their targets. The book also mentioned that the low level flight had to be maintained to avoid adversary AD radars. Radio silence was also universal, but it's unclear whether it was limited to comm radios or to IFF, as well. There was no mention on navigation aids or instruments used in Operation Moked except the waypoints listed below, which were devised for the IAF strike pilots.

• Point Telem and Point Boaz (surprisingly at sea)
• Point Hagan in Sinai
• Point Gimmel close to the Dead Sea (perhaps close to the modern NEOMI aviation waypoint)
• Point Tiach at the border between Israel and Egypt

While the weather in the Middle East is almost always clear, the book mentioned, however, the morning mists, which could hamper navigation and aiming, eg. as happened over the Beni Suweif AB.

Given the long distance from the departure base to the targets and the alleged scarcity of intel eg. on the H-3 airbase in Iraq, will full respect, would it be really feasible for the airmen to find their distant targets while relying only on dead reckoning and using no navaids at low altitude? Did the IAF indeed rely on 5 June 1967 only on VFR and dead reckoning, or did they also use the ADFs, which were present on all IAF jets in that time?

 

[dan_inbox]

These missions were flown mainly by the single-seat Sud Aviation Vautour IIA

AFAIR, each flight included at least one two-seater, precisely to deal with the navigation issues.

 

[yahya]

Do you happen to know which exactly were these two-seater versions of the Vautours and what kind of on-board navigation equipment could have been used on them in June 1967? Were they the IIB two-seat bombers with glazed nose position for bombardier/observer or the IIN two-seat all-weather radar-equipped interceptors?

The Vautour II are known to have used an on-board NR-AG-2A ADF. Wonder which NDB or a broadcast station they were tuned to in June 1967.

The French IIN versions were equipped with TACAN, but doubtful such equipment was provided to IAF by the French. There were no TACAN stations in that time in Egypt and Iraq.

The IIN were also equipped with the Totalisateur d’estime Garnier-Crouzet Type 31 equipment, which was a sort of a mechanical navigation computer. I do not know if the IAF jets received such an equipment.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5KaoHLhkX8

 

[dan_inbox]

All the Vautours were heavily modified by heyl ha avir once in service, like all other planes. And by 1967 they'd been 9 years in service. Additionally, the IIN were converted from night fighting to attack/formation leader role (with radar removed and other equipment changed) and transferred from the Atalef squadron to the Aviri hatzfon in 63-64. So we can forget about the original navs.

Practically:
The missions to H-3 basically used the old ‘H’ pipeline from Mafraq AB to H-3 as a nav aid.
(Why look for complications, habibi... )

The mission to Luxor (2nd wave) included all three types of Vautours:
IIN #65 Shlomo Keren + Alexander Inbar, IIA #14 Herzl Bodinger, IIB #33 Jacob Rafaeli + Shabtai Ben-Shua

I wouldn't say that "missions were flown mainly by the single-seat Vautour IIA". All 18 serviceable planes were pressed in (#61 missing, at IAI in major repairs).

 

[yahya]

Do you know what kind of mods were applied to the IAF Vautours precisely, especially in terms of nav equipment? What was added, and what was removed apart from the AI radar on the IIN?

I doubt any significant updates were applied eg. to the Mirage IIICJ prior to the Six-Day War. They were flown basically with the original avionics perhaps with exception to the French IFF. I presume that the French NR-AI-2 were substituted with the AN/APX-6A or -25.

 

[dan_inbox]

Do you know what kind of mods were applied to the Vautours nav ?

No I don't know the details.

I doubt any significant updates were applied eg. to the Mirage IIICJ prior to the Six-Day War.

The Mirages did get some upgrades before 6DW, for ex to the fuel system and armament. Of course much less than the 9-y.o. Vautours.