Tag Archives: IAI

A Westwind Is as Rare as Rocking Horse Poo!

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The older and less common that planes get, the more interesting they become.  The IAI Westwind is definitely in that category for me now.  I have only seen a few over the years and I have even less that I have photographed.  One was coming to SEA one weekend and that was too good to miss.  It was going to be landing at a time of day which meant I needed a new location to try and get reasonable shots of it.  Being close was also a good thing since heat haze was going to be a problem.

I found a spot I thought might work along with some backup options.  I was able to experiment on the other arrivals to see whether things would work out before the Westwind showed up.  Fortunately, the location proved to be adequate to the task and this low-slung little rocket was soon in my viewfinder and then gone.  This one looked in great condition.

Kfirs

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QB5Y8635.jpgTime for another post on a specific military aircraft. This time it is one with an interesting history. The Israeli Air Force was a customer of Dassault’s Mirage aircraft and had good experience with it. However, Dassault/France declined to sell further aircraft to Israel. Instead, the Israelis decided to make their own version. A combination of covert acquisition of design drawings and the introduction of a new engine resulted in the creation of the Kfir.

CRW_5695.jpgDuring the 1980s, a number of Kfirs were supplied to the US Navy to be operated as aggressor aircraft under the F-21 designation. Their use in service was not terribly long but, once they were withdrawn, they were acquired by private companies to use in support roles for training. I have come across them a couple of times. One was at Pt Mugu in California when an example was shooting approaches. The other time was during a visit to NAS Fallon in Nevada where they were launching on training missions.

QB5Y7331.jpgThe Kfir is quite a mean looking aircraft. The original delta wing design has many good attributes but approach speed is not one of them and they really do seem to be motoring when they come down the approach. I imagine they will remain in service for a number of years to come so I hope to see more in due course.

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