THE VAUTOUR IN THE IAF SERVICE - SECTION 12

1) The sad side of any aircraft's story is the tragic cost in lives and in losses of airplanes. The Vautours' service demanded its share in accidents (mostly during the first years of service) and in operations.

2) 8 crewmen lost their lives flying the Vautour.
See also the Air Crew page.

3) More than half the fleet (17, two refurbished and returned later to service), of the Vautours were lost: 6 in combat and 11 in accidents. These were the consequences of a harsh and intensive service.

4) Discussion on the accidents' causes is beyond the scope of these pages.

5) Listing losses is one of the most delicate tasks, especially when it comes to human casualties. I hope that the listed data is really well checked. Any corrections or additions are surely very important.

Date	Circumstances & Location	Aircrew Casualties	Lost/Severly Damaged Aircraft
July 26, 1958	Crash landing of a Vautour B , just on its arrival from France	Pilot-Yoash Tsiddon - injured; (navigator E. Brosh got out safely)	Aircraft repaired, entered service (as No. 31) in mid. 1959
July 21, 1959	Air collision between two Vautour A during air-ground strafing, Ramat-Matred range, the Negev. The formation included also Y. Agassi and E. Mor.	Pilot Gershon (Hitzki) Hadar killed; Pilot Gideon Magen ejected safely	2 A (no. 22 & no. 25) lost
January 11, 1961	One of two Vautour N crashed into the sea, flight controls problems, in bad weather, near Nebi-Rubin. The second Vautour was manned by O. Nachman and M. Pundak.	The crew: Shlomo Amiran (pilot) and Micha Ramati (navigator), ejected and rescued by helicopter.	1 N (no. 64) lost
March 27, 1961	Vautour B crashed during take-off, in a "combat day" drill, Ramat David AFB. The aircraft took off without a navigator, and was equipped with two 500 kg. bombs. These caused problems of balancing center of gravity.	Pilot Moshe Pepo killed.	1 B (no. 37) lost
January 25, 1962	Vautour A crashed, during "dog-fight" training in very low height. Near the road Akko-Safed, Western Galilee.	Pilot Amos Avni ejected below safety height and was killed	1 A (no. 11) lost
July 22, 1962	Vautour A burnt in its pen, as a result of Shafrir-1 explosion .	{no casualties}	1 A (no. 23) lost
November 25, 1962	Vautour A crashed during training, flight controls fault, near Ein Ha-choresh.	Pilot Shimon Zimon ejected safely	1 A (no. 15) lost
1962, (m? ,d? )	BR no. 31 damaged in a crash landing Front wheels didn't lock. The pilot approached with a high angle, and after touchdown the aircraft turned sharply sideways, the wing stuck in the ground.	Pilot Yehezkel Somech and navigator Efraim Ronen got out safely	Aircraft repaired. Re-entered service 1963?
April 21, 1963	Vautour N collided a Fouga trainer, over Giv-at Brener, during aproach to landing, at night.	Pilot Guri Palter managed to reach the runway, actually without control ability, and landed. { nav. was Avraham Tsfadia } {The Fouga instructor, Avi Lanir, bailed out, but the cadet Meir Zeitel was killed}	1 N (no. 66) was actually lost, but refurbished and converted to PR, re-entered service 1966.
June 28, 1964	A "Belly" landing of a Vautour A, in a ploughed field near Tel-Noff	Pilot Hertzel Bodinger injured	The aircraft (no. 20) was actually lost , but later overhauled, re-entered service 1970
October 5, 1964	Vautour BR lost during a PR training mission, one engine blew up and controls stuck.	pt. Yigal Yanai and nav. Zvi Har-nevo ejected safely	1 BR (no. 35) lost
June 5, 1967	Vautour A shot down by Syrian AA fire, while attacking Damier AB	Pilot Avraham Vilan-Weiland ejected and captured, POW returned 17/7/67	1 A (no. 07) lost
June 6, 1967	Vautour A was hit by Syrian AA guns. The pilot managed to arrive to Israeli territory, Lower Galilie	Pilot Giora Goren ejected and rescued	1 A (no. 08 ) lost
June 7, 1967	Vautour A was shot down by an Iraqi Hunter, over H-3	Pilot Itschak Glantz-Golan ejected and captured, POW , returned 26/6/67	1 A (no. 14 ) lost
June 7, 1967	Vautour N was downed by an Iraqi Hunter, over H-3	Pilot Shlomo Keren, KIA. Navigator Alexander Inbar-Meltzer ejected but was fatally injured, first declared MIA and finally, body found, KIA	1 N (no. 65) lost
December 1st, 1967	The Vautour BR No. 31 was downed by Egyptian AA fire, during a PR sortie, Suez Canal. The second BR, 33 which also participated in this sortie tried to locate the crew, in vain	Pilot Itschak Artsi and navigator Elchanan Raz both declared MIA, bodies never found	1 BR (no. 31) lost
April 23, 1969	Vautour A shot down by Jordanian AA fire, attacking an Egyptian radar station, Mazar, east to the Dead sea.	Pilot Naftaly Porat KIA	1 A (no. 03) lost
July 5, 1969	Vautour N burnt while turning engines on before take off, Ramat David. One engine exploded and the wing, as well as part of the fuselage, caught fire.	Crew: pilot Rodan (Rodnitzki) and navigator Tovel abandoned the aircraft unharmed	1 N (no, 61) lost

1. Casualties according to periods:
• Till the Six Days War: 3 killed in accidents
• During the Six Days War: 2 Killed In Action, 2 POWs.
• After the Six Days War: 3 (one killed, and 2 Missing In Action)

2. Losses of aircraft according to periods:
• a) Till the Six Days War: 10, all in accidents.
  - [ A - 6 ; (one of these finally repaired) ]
  - [ N - 2 (one lost, the second repaired and modified.]
  - [ B - 2, ( one BR, one B, not yet modified)
• b) During the Six Days War: 4, in combat.
  * [ A-3 ; 2 by a-a fire, 1 in an air battle ]
  * [ N-1, in air battle ]
• c) After the Six Days War: 3
  * [ two ( A-1, BR-1, in operations, both by A-A fire ]
  * [ one N, in accident ]
• TOTAL = 17 ; "Net" Losses = 15 ;

Serial numbers of lost Vautours:
• A : [ 03, 07, 08, 11, 14, 15, 22, 23, 25, (20) ] = 10
• N : [ 61, 64, 65, (66) ] = 4
• B : [ 37, BR - 31, 35 ] = 3
• Total = 17
• Refurbished: 2 [ A 20 & N 66 ]

Sources: [ Amos Dor ] [ aloni ] [ H. Bodinger ] [ Levi Tzur ] [ Y. Terner ]
[ Avinoam Myasnikov ] [ David Lednicer ] [ Ostilio Bonacini ]

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AFTER WAR SERVICE		IAF VAUTOURS - CONTENTS		INVENTORIES

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This page was last updated: June 2, 2002