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Israeli Thunderbolts
Hello,
What truth is there in this story ?
Quote -
"In late 1948, five P47Ds landed at Ramat David to be put into Israeli use. The next day, they were joined by a sixth which had encounted minor mechanical difficulties, forcing it to fly in later. They joined the First Fighter Squadron which was still flying Avia S-199s at the time. Over their olive drab, a generic sand color was applied haphazardly to camouflage the Jugs. In addition, wing mounted rocket tubes were procured to make the Thunderbolts more valuable ground attack machines. In less than a month, Egyptian infantry and armored columns were shocked when they weare strafed and rocketed by two of the ground attack Jugs. Because of problems procuring spares, however, no more than two Thunderbolts ever attacked a ground target at the same time.
These ex-Brazilian Air Force P47s were flown from Italy to Switzerland (ostensibly) to be modified for civil use as fire bombers carrying external chemical tanks. Instead, they were then flown to Austria (where they were given another bogus registry), and to Czechoslovakia before they were able to cross over to Israel. In this way, the pilots flying them were able to stay one step ahead of any officials who might have been too curious about the Jugs presence."
Alex
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