The A/C in question is the Avia S-199, which was a Czech built Me-109 copy.
The Aircraft aquired the nickname Mule from it pilots - the Czech pilots had previously flown Spitfires & in comparison the poorly engined (J211F) S-199 handled like a “Mule”.
Avia sold the S-199 to Israel, where it was called “Sakeen” (knife), which is presumably in connection with good old Willy’s last name.
I doubt that Willy would have been much enamoured by Israelis using his baby.
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The Avia S-199 was a fighter aircraft built after World War II by the Avia Company (Avia Akciová Společnost Pro Průmysl Letecký Škoda), a branch of the enormous Škoda Works in Czechoslovakia. It was constructed with parts and plans left over from Luftwaffe aircraft production that had taken place under the country’s German occupation during the war. Despite the aircraft’s numerous problems and unpopularity with its pilots, it achieved fame as the first fighter obtained by the Israeli Air Force, for use during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Czechoslovak pilots nicknamed it Mezek (“Mule”), while in Israel it was officially known as the Sakeen (“knife” in Hebrew). In practice, the aircraft was more often called Messerschmitt or Messer (which also means “knife”, in German and Yiddish).
OK, we’re close enough! The S-199, a BF-109 G-6 built by Avia, but with Jumo 211 bomber engines was sold to the Israelis. The pilots, who fought against it during WWII, continued to call it a Messer, short for Messerschmitt. Messerschmitt means Knife Smith. Hearing it being called a Messer, which means knife it somehow became a legend that the Israelis called it a ‘Sakheen’, which is Hebrew for knife. As I’ve read, this is an urban myth. Milairjunkie - as you were first, over to you!
This rather hopeful (for its day) A/C program had at least two fatal accidents & nine engines.
Name the A/C, its immediate successor & the A/C which eventually made the original request a reality.
The Rolls-Royce Flying Bedstead, which, lead to the Kestral, thence, the Harrier series, which, of course, made the concept a reality (as the Falklands proved).
Along the correct lines, however the aircraft in question & the one which eventualy met the requirements (some decades later) are in now way connected.
The Kestrel? the prototype concept aircraft for the…Harrier
I have a feeling you should be looking across the ditch.
Yes, that would be correct & The A/C which made the request a reality came from across the pond.
The A/C that made the request a reality has nothing to do with the first A/C or the program that it was involved with.
I was seeing triangles, but it turned out to be an illusion…
Cryptic or what?
Since you know, you are probably as well as going for it? Or do you, like me find the answers easier than the questions?
Hi Milairjunkie,
I’m not actually going for it, I’m just dropping the odd cryptic clue when there’s a couple of wrong guesses, and apologise for crashing in on your question. I guess I’m playing along without actually playing.
I know I’m not playing strictly by the rules and if anyone has a problem with this, plese let me know and I’ll refrain. [:)]
Phil_H,
I have no problem with that at all, you carry on all you want, as I dont like to see this thread dropping of the end of the second page - I find it quite entertaining.
Its sometimes hard to figure if there are limited / no responses due to nobody being interested, or because the question asked was difficult / stupid in the first place. Either way intervention like yours keeps the thread going.
The Mirage V/STOL that had 9 engines, and I believe 2 fatalities (including a USAF officer), but which is more similar to the F-35 than the Harrier, in having dedicated lift engines?
Correct,
The Mirage Balzak 5 & then Mirage IIIV were developed in response to a NATO request for a supersonic VTOL strike fighter - the request was ahead of its time & was not realised at that time.
In more recent years the F-35 has managed to combine VTOL & supersonic performance.
Interestingly enough, the Soviet Yak-38 “Forger” did it first, over 30 years ago.
During the 1940’s this country, finding it had enough capacity, sold top of the line aircraft to a number of other nations. Just a short while later it went to war with one of these nations, and thus, was in the unusual position of it’s top of the line aircraft fighting near identical aircraft, including aircraft of the same model series. What was the aircraft, and the model designation?
OK, I should have been a bit more thorough with my research, the Yak-38 was VTOL + supersonic in 1971ish.
BUT, it’s Soviet, it’s pot ugly & it couldn’t be called a strike fighter as it seems it could carry Fuel or Weapon, but rarely both at the same time. Unless it planned to strike the ship it was launching from, It wouldn’t be striking much.
True enough [:D]
Is my question too hard?