Dan Halutz
Posted on 02/22/2005 8:42:24 AM PST by IAF ThunderPilot
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz announced that he would appoint Maj.-Gen. Dan Halutz as the next IDF chief of staff.
Mofaz's recommendation will be forwarded to the Appointments Committee, headed by judge Gabriel Bach and will then be brought before the cabinet for approval.
After his approval, Halutz will began serving as IDF chief in July of this year, after current Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon finishes his term.
At 56, Halutz is the oldest general to be appointed to this top post.
Born Daniel Zedah in Tel Aviv, Maj.-Gen. Dan Halutz is an ace with three downings of MiGs and a helicopter to his credit.
Halutz joined the IAF in 1966 and was in a pilots' course during the Six Day War. He saw action in the War of Attrition as one of the IAF's new F-4 fighters.
Ironically, Halutz decided to quit the IDF to study in the fall of 1973, but then the Yom Kippur War broke out. He flew 43 combat sorties and decided to stay in uniform. But four years later he again left the service and worked as a building contractor. Another war, this time Operation Peace for Galilee in 1982, brought him back for good.
He went on to fly F-16s, head weapons systems, command the Hatzor airbase and eventually became deputy commander of the IAF.
Halutz was promoted to major-general and appointed to the General Staff in July 1998 as head of the Operations Directorate (J-3). He has accumulated around 4,500 flying hours and has a BA in economics from Tel Aviv University.
A chain-smoker, the gaunt former OC Air Force has served as deputy IDF chief since June 2004.
He lives in north Tel Aviv with his wife, Irit, and has three children. His father immigrated to Israel from Iran in 1935 as a child and his mother came to Israel as a child in 1942 from Iraq. When he was three his parents moved to Moshav Hagor, east of Kfar Saba, where he said he lived in extreme poverty.
He is a great man, good luck!
"an ace with three downings of MiGs and a helicopter to his credit."
I thought the generally accepted definition of an ace is 5 kills?
Indeed.
It seems like the Jerusalem Post doesn't aware to the rules :)
Question: What are the minumum IAF requirements to be considered an 'Ace'? In the US it is 5 air-to-air kills -- a number that may never be achieved again in modern air combat. MGen. Halutz has 4, if you count the helicopter. Just wondering if the author was using the term 'Ace' loosely.
From what Ive read about air combat over the past 10-15 years,the term ace is used by the media to refer to any pilot who's ever shot down a plane- so it's different from what it was 30 years ago.
In the United States Air Force and the air forces of several European countries, an ace is a pilot who has shot down 5 or more enemy planes.
The Israeli Air force boasts 39 pilots who shot down 5 or more planes, and 10 of these have shot down more than 8 planes.
One of these (IAF) pilots, Col. (Res.) Giora Even (Epstein), stands out as the unquestioned Ace of Aces, having shot down a record of 17(!) planes in the course of his amazing career, and he is holding the world record of jets shot-downs.
That's the classical definition everywhere-but the media nowadays don't follow it!!!
PS-you really can't blame them for that as the term 'ace' has a certain aura surrounding it which keeps the public hooked & with relatively little aircombat taking place in the past 15 years,the term ace has come to be used loosely.
Don't worry, it will be back again to the media in the next Israeli-Arab war that seems to be coming (According to latest developments in Israel and the Middle East).
Though its a personal feeling and a knowladge of history.
Truly amazing! Can you tell us roughly what years Col. Even's career spanned. I'm guessing he is retired. There aren't many challenges to Israeli air dominance in recent years.
Even the Syrians realize that when it comes to the IAF, "If it flies, it dies." I recall a major furball over the Golan (or was it the Bekaa) back in the early 80's when the Syrians lost over 30 aircraft against no Israeli losses (or was it 1 Kfir?). Things have been pretty tame since then.
Of course I can tell you!
Some info about the achievement of the IAF at the War of Lebanon in 1982:
June 9, 1982- The Peace For Galilee operation (The Lebanon War): The destruction of the entire Soviet-Syrian air-defense system in Lebanon within few hours without a single warplane lost- Syria with the Soviet Union built up an overlapping network of SAMs, and the density of SAM site locations was unmatched anywhere in the world including the Soviet Union itself.
Also the IAF achieved a number of 100 Syrian planes shoot-downs, 88 of them in dogfights, without a single Israeli plane being shot down in dogfights.
The IAF proved that it has learned from the mistakes of the Yom Kippur War and proved once again that it is master of the skies.
The IAF's achievment over the Syrian air-defense system is considered as one of the greatest successes in the history of combat aviation and this operation is learned by Air Forces around the world.
And here is the Biography of Giora Epstein:
His shot downs:
1. The Six Day War, 6.6.67
Location: El Arish, Downed Plane: an Egyptian Sukhoi-7
Time: 04:30 at 6.6.1967
Formation: Lapidot - Epstein. Plane ID: Shahak (Mirage) no. 56.
Location: El Arish.
Result: a Sukhoi-7 is shot down with cannon fire.
2. The War of Attrition, 20.7.69
Location: Ismailia, Downed Plane: an Egyptian MiG-17
Time: 12:15 at 20.7.1969
Formation: Epstein - Bnaya. Plane: Shahak (Mirage) no. 82.
Location: Ismailia.
Result: MiG-17 shot down with cannon.
3. The War of Attrition, 11.9.69
Location: southeast of Bilbis, Downed Plane: an Egyptian Sukhoi-7
Time: 13:00 at 11.9.1969
Formation: Epstein - Gonen. Plane: Shahak (Mirage) no. 59.
Location: southeast of Bilbis.
Result: Sukhoi-7 shot down with cannon.
4. The War of Attrition, 25.3.70
Location: north of Ismailia, Downed Plane: two Egyptian MiG-21s
Time: 25.3.1970.
Formation: Epstein - Tzuk with Marom - Baharav. Plane: Shahak (Mirage) No. 77.
Location: north of Ismailia.
Result: two MiG-21s shot down with cannon.
5. The Yom Kippur War, 18.10.73
Location: Dwer Suer, Downed Plane: Egyptian Mi-8 helicopter
Time: 17:00 on 18.10.73.
Formation: Epstein - Geva. Plane: Shahak Mirage No. 11.
Location: Dwer Suer.
Result: an Mi-8 helicopter shot down with cannon.
6. The Yom Kippur War, 19.10.73 (13:15)
Location: Dwer Suer, Downed Plane: two Egyptian Sukhoi-7s
Time: 13:15 on 19.10.1973.
Formation: Epstein - Dror. Plane: Nesher No. 61.
Location: Dwer Suer.
Result: two Sukhoi-7s shot down. One with a missile, the other with cannon.
7. The Yom Kippur War, 19.10.73 (16:30)
Location: Dwer Suer, Downed Plane: two Egyptian Sukhoi-20s
Time: 16:30 on 19.10.1973.
Formation: Epstein - Dror, Harish - Edres. Plane: Nesher No. 61.
Location: Dwer Suer.
Result: two Sukhoi-20s shot down, one with a missile, the other with cannon
8. The Yom Kippur War, 20.10.73
Location: Southwest of the Great Bitter Lake, Downed Plane: four Egyptian MiG-21s
Time: 16:30 on 20.10.1973
Formation: Epstein - Edres, Geva - Kal. Plane: Nesher no. 61.
Location: Southwest of the Great Bitter Lake.
Result: four MiG-21s shot down. One with a missile, three with cannon.
9. The Yom Kippur War, 24.10.73
Location: west of the Great Bitter Lake, Downed Plane: three Egyptian MiG-21s
Time: 17:00 on 24.10.1973
Formation: Epstein - Sever, Shalmon - Tzuk
Location: west of the Great Bitter Lake.
Result: three MiG-21s shot down, two with missiles, one with cannon.
Epstein, needless to say - is a true IAF icon, and an object of veneration for generations of IAF pilots.
Epstein kept a personal record of his aerial victories in a diary - he scribbled the details in small handwriting, on a pad of paper that became somewhat tattered over the years from being leafed through over and over again. In terse, laconic, almost technical prose, he narrated aerial chases conducted on the last few drops of fuel in the fuel tank; of dogfights in skies swarming with MiGs, from which he always emerged safely, after having shot down a MiG, or two, or three. This diary has never before been published.
You can read about every single dogfight of Epstien, as he described HIMSELF at his diary, in the IAF website:
http://www.iaf.co.il/Templates/Kills/FirstDown.aspx?lang=EN&subfolderID=294&folderID=43&lobbyID=40
Enjoy!
Congratulations!
That's impressive shooting by anyone's standards. And definitely qualifies "Ace" no matter what definition you're using.
Thanks for the pings...I don't think too many guys would've wanted to come up againt this guy in a dogfight!!
You can bet on that! :)
He is the Ace of Aces ;)
Damn, I wish I had his skills
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