 IAF – 117 Squadron “The First Jet”In April 1962 the 117 Squadron was reformed and during the Six Day War, flying the Mirage III CJ, the 117 Squadron destroyed twelve Egyptian Aircraft while losing only three. In the War of Attrition the 117 Squadron lost five aircraft while logging 101 kills. By the Yom Kippur War of 1973 Israel had begun replacing the Mirage aircraft with the IAI Nesher, both of which were replaced by the Kfir C-1 and by the F-15A Eagle between 1975 and 1976. In 1981 eight F-16A aircraft from the 117 Squadron took part in a succesfull mission that destroyed a nuclear facility near baghdad, Iraq. Through the 1982 Lebanon invasion Israeli F-16’s cunducted a number of attacks against Syrian MiG’s, reporting 80 Kills and thirteen losses. The 117 Squadron was upgraded to F-16C and F-16D Variant aircraft in 1987 with the older F-16 variants being assigned to other squadrons. As of 2005, the 117 squadron flew exclusively F-16C aircraft. |
