One of the great ironies of the new State of Israel in 1948 was it's first AF- the IAF- using the hated Nazi aircraft of WW2 as first fighter, the Messerschmitt Me Bf 109 (technically a Czech Avia S.199, which was a new build from old German parts using a different engine, a Jumo 211F). The new IAF needed fighters badly in May 1948 and got an order placed for 25 of the Avias which started to arrive by May 20th. The plane was named the "Sakeen" (Knife) by the Israels but was still recognized as the old Me Bf 109 from WW2. The new engine made it handle badly but the IAF pilots used them well to kill Egyptian armor and halt their advance on Ad-Halom. The 101st FS then attacked the Iraqis by strafing them and drove them back as well. On June 3, 1948 two Egyptian Dakota bombers were downed by the Sakeen and then on June 9th a Spitfire. As more aircraft arrived, the Sakeen performed recon, protected Israeli settlements, and escorted aquired B-17s. More Spitfires and a Syrian AT-6 Harvard were downed. During air and ground missions 3 Sakeens were shot-down and 3 more were lost on the ground due to accidents. Two of the aircraft to be delivered were lost as well- one to a ground transport crash and the other impounded by Rome. Of the 23 delivered, 17 survived but lack of spare parts and poor maintenece grounded most of them until only 4 remained servicable. They were replaced by aquired Spitfires and Mustangs that the original pilots had trained on when the Messers were bought in May (they had to train in Czechoslovakia for 6 days). One of the original aircraft is displayed in Israel at The IAF Museum. Of the aircraft that saw combat they scored 16 kills and dropped 2000 lbs of bombs on enemy armor. They were invaluable early on in the war...

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