23 Comments

Aka the Mule. Soundly despised by all that flew it.

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Mule: a Sterile half-breed

I bet the ME109 without the Benz engine lacked the power of the original

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Beware Wikipedia and the knowledge it bears: Mule in Czech is simply "mula," while the "mezek" mentioned there means "donkey" and was standard nickname for Bf 109 among Czechoslovak pilots. As for the the trouble it caused, I remember the Czech book about history of IAF, which specifically mentioned special tool invented by "some smart Yemeniti head" to extract the pilots of crashed S-199 without risking the lives of ground crews. Thus, when the cursed Frankenplane did its all too common roll over the nose, leaking fuel and fumes all around, salvage team brought their bargepole with hook and blade at the end, broke the canopy, cut the seat belt and pulled the pilot out - all from a relatively safe distance.

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neither Czechs (patents) or Israelis wanted to call it what it was. ME109 with a non-German engine

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It had the Jumo 211 in it. I'd post a pic of the text from a book on the Israeli airforce, it basically says the using the engine from the Heinkel He-111 made everything worse.

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Oct 27, 2023·edited Oct 27, 2023

Google Beech Bonanza, Bombs, Israel. Keep in mind, it was a whopping 185hp.

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Fullbore indeed. An example to all. Stand up for yourself and your people.

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Oct 27, 2023Liked by CDR Salamander

Sal, was this the battle in "Cast a Giant Shadow" where Sinatra bombs the tanks with seltzer bottles?

https://youtu.be/3vh8Ei2yMQM?t=72

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Bravery is being scared, but carrying on anyway.

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100% fullbore.

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Fullbore...we may soon have to find that courage within ourselves the way things are headed..

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Oct 27, 2023Liked by CDR Salamander

Lenart was "one of the few" for Israel. The CDR could write a years worth of FbF on the misfit aces and others who gravitated to the IAF from around the world. They did it both as a noble cause and the adventure. As a general rule, they were all just like Lenart.

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101 Squadron flew the Mezek for a while at the beginning of the War of Independence. I've built a couple in 1:72 scale. Its sole redeeming quality appears to have been firepower, when the guns didn't jam (like the Bf.109G6R6, many S.199s had the "gondola" 20mm underwing cannons in addition to the nose-mounted guns).

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rare to have the opportunity; but just read this aloud to my daughter. (hard to do, tearing up)

"Dad, this effects you so much?"

yeah, well.....some of these Fullbore kinda do that to me.

this is one of those.

Mensch, indeed.

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Dang stud.

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This goy has seen "Above and Beyond" and it is a superb film.

The Czech-made Me109s were crated on Curtiss C-46s, flown to Palestine, and the Jewish-American pilots got into them and proceeded to shoot up the Egyptians etc.

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Flew with an IDF Apache pilot in 91. The most amazing thing was the short distance from West Bank to the coast. He stated that his biggest fear was a West Bank attack that split the country in half. I am confident that the IDF has many Lenarts awaiting their opportunity to meet their destiny and step up to save their country.

Full Bore Salute. Timely selection indeed Sal.

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OOHHHRaaa! Semper Fi.

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As pilgrimage sites go, Gesher ad Halom is in a pretty exclusive club of the few places for us heathen Czechs, at least excluding anything beer related. Not a household name, but it's one of those useful counterpoisons against the self-defeating nonsense of "we're just a small country, what can we change" inferiority complex. If I ever make it to Israel, it's right there with Masada et al.

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