"Spitfire vs. Spitfire: Aerial Combat in Israel’s War ...." Topic

….of Independence.

"Around noon on January 7, 1949, two patrolling Israeli Air Force (IAF) pilots in Supermarine Spitfires spotted a column of black smoke rising from the Al-Auja–Rafah area of the Sinai Desert. Getting nearer, they saw an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) motorized column under attack by what they assumed were Spitfires of the Royal Egyptian Air Force (REAF). Although one hostile Spitfire had been shot down by IDF gunfire, three others were still circling. The IAF duo raced to the rescue. Minutes later, all three remaining "hostiles" had been shot down. Except they were not Egyptian.

The IAF pilots realized too late that their adversaries were actually British Royal Air Force (RAF) reconnaissance Spitfires whose pilots had also been attracted by the smoke—confusion that led to the fatal misidentification. Like most things in the Middle East at this time, however, the circumstances were much more complex than at first sight. Not least was the fact that one Israeli Spitfire was flown by a Canadian World War II ace and the other by an American former test pilot, both IAF volunteers who had once served with the British….."

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Amicalement
Armand

Brilliant read Tango!

There's a free Wings at War rule set for this conflict called Desert Spitfires

wingsatwar.com/pageBonusGame.htm

Nick