The Story of the Hijacking that Changed the Fate of a War

If anyone asks a question to the ChatGPT on "how to steal a jet fighter?", most probably will get a response like this: "It is not advisable or legal to steal a fighter jet. Such an action would be considered theft, which is a criminal offense. Additionally, fighter jets are heavily secured and have multiple safety protocols in place to prevent unauthorized access or use. It would likely be extremely difficult to successfully steal one." But real life doesn't go in the same direction as ChatGPT... 

Israeli Air Force Commander Mordechai (Motti) Hod summoned the squadron leader, Ran Ronen, and the number pilot of a Mirage-III squadron for a special assignment. General Hod was a former Air Force Commander who passed away on June 29, 2003. During the 1967 Six Day War, he was the commander in chief of the Israeli Air Force. Hod told Ran, "When you take off today, while you are standing in your patrol area, there will be a foreign fighter jet approaching you. Do not shoot at it. Your mission will be to escort that plane and land it safely at Hatzor Air Base. I repeat: Do not shoot at that plane. What I want you to do is to see to it that it comes home. That's your mission!"

In accordance with their air assignment, the two Mirage-IIIs were indeed waiting in their patrol area when they suddenly saw an unusual aircraft approaching them. It was an Iraqi MiG-21 fighter jet entering Israeli airspace from Jordanian airspace. They exchanged hand signals with the pilot. The Iraqi pilot followed the Mirage-III in front, while the other Mirage-III followed the Mig-21 from behind. In the end, they guided the MiG-21 pilot to land at Khatzor Air Base without any problems. The landing was safe.

The MiG-21 was a famous fighter aircraft of the 1960s. It was seen as the equivalent of F-4s and Mirage-IIIs. NATO code name Fishbed was a supersonic jet fighter/interceptor designed and built by Mikoyan Gurevich Design Bureau. The single-engine MiG-21, which made its first flight on June 16, 1955, could reach Mach 2. The Soviets wanted to fill the skies with thousands of simple, light, reliable jets. In retrospect, the MiG-21 is known as the most produced supersonic jet aircraft in aviation history, with a total of 11,496 units.

In the 1960s, the Israeli Air Force Command was focused on developing a tactic to counter the numerical superiority of the Arab countries, which equipped their Air Force with Soviet weapons. Therefore, they had to familiarize themselves with the MiG-21, the best fighter plane of the time, exploit its weaknesses and 'use' it against the enemy. For this, it became essential to learn and study this aircraft.

Mossad agents were given an almost impossible task: "to find a way to commandeer one of the most capable aircraft (MiG-21) in the enemy's possession." 

The Mossad made several unsuccessful attempts to find a way to accomplish this mission, but this resulted in the capture and deaths of several Israeli agents. The Mossad was not deterred by these failures. Continuing its attempts, the Mossad was told by an Iraqi Jew living in Tehran that he was having an affair with an Iraqi woman from a wealthy Christian family. The knowledge that the Iraqi Christian woman's family included an Iraqi Air Force fighter pilot named Munir Radfa gave Mossad the opportunity to open the door. The Iraqi Christian pilot considered himself to be a highly successful pilot, but he believed that his religion made it almost impossible for him to be promoted in the Iraqi Army. He also did not agree with the policies of the Iraqi regime and wanted to find a way to defect to the West. 

Having received this information from a Jewish businessman in Tehran, Mossad operatives immediately intervened. Radfa, an Iraqi fighter pilot, was on vacation in Greece. While on vacation, Radfa was approached by a man who introduced himself as a former Polish pilot who opposed the Communists. He won Radfa's trust and friendship. A few days after they met, the Mossad operative told the Iraqi pilot that he was Colonel Zeev Liron of the Israeli Air Force. One day, while flying a MiG-21 over Iraq, he offered Radfa, a MiG-21 pilot, to fly his plane not towards Iraq, but towards Israel, crossing Jordanian airspace, and land it at an Israeli Air Force airbase. He offered Radfa a large sum of money and Israeli citizenship in exchange for flying the MiG-21 to Israel. Although Radfa initially said that such a defection was impossible, when he saw the detailed 'hijacking' plan explained to him, he was easily convinced that he could carry out the mission.

There was, however, a major obstacle in Radfa's mind. Naturally, he feared what would happen to his family if he hijacked the plane. If the Iraqi government found out that Radfa had hijacked the plane to Israel, the family he had left behind would surely be persecuted. They could even be shot. 

Understanding Radfa's concerns, the Mossad agreed to take all members of this extended family in Iraq to the West or to Israel. Some were thus taken on what they thought would be a journey to Europe, while others were smuggled across the Iranian border by the militia of Mustafa Barzani, the leader of Iraq's ethnic Kurdish tribes, who rules his own autonomous region in northern Iraq. The final confirmation was encrypted in the Voice of Israel radio broadcast. Listening to the radio, Radfa learned that his family had been taken to safety. So there was no worry in his mind. Then it was time to carry out the mission. On August 16, 1966, Radfa took to the air for a training flight and flew his MiG-21 to Israel with almost no difficulty.

The hijacking of the plane to Israel was dubbed "007" in homage to the well-deserved fame of James Bond, the 'legendary British spy' of cinema, now 61 years old. Danny Shapira, the chief test pilot of the Israeli Air Force at the time, flew many flights with this aircraft. The vulnerabilities of the MiG-21 were revealed. As a result of these flights, it was possible to develop tactics that were later used with great success by Israeli Mirage-IIIs against MiG-21s.

Munir Radfa, who smuggled the plane from Iraq to Israel, lived in Israel with his family for several years. He maintained a friendship with Zeev Liron, who served the Mossad. In Israel, he served in training squadrons as an instructor pilot. Later, at the insistence of his wife, he moved to Europe and lived there. In 1998, he died in Europe as a result of a heart attack.

The Israeli Air Force, which had the opportunity to learn the MiG-21 to the finest detail, owed its great success in the Six Day War in 1967 to this 'hijacking' plan. Sun Tzu said, "If you reach your enemy's weak points, you will be able to advance, you will be absolutely irresistible..."

And that's exactly what Israel did. The MiG-21 that Radfa missed paved the way for victory.

In the same years, the US Air Force was also in trouble with MiG-21s in Vietnam. Despite their F-4 Phantom fighter jets, they were unable to defeat the MiG-21s. After the end of the Six-Day War, Vietnam agreed to "lend" the MiG-21 to the United States, at its request, to allow American engineers to explore its capabilities. As a reward for this intelligence-sharing decision, the United States is said to have decided to provide Israel with Phantom-II aircraft.

Reference:

Alexander Rusinov, https://www.quora.com/Can-a-fighter-jet-be-stolen (E.T. 8 Haziran 2023)

Raif BİLGİN, STRASAM, Gökyüzünün İki İkonik Efsanesi F-4 ve MiG-21 Gökyüzüne Veda Aşamasındalar, https://strasam.org/savunma/havacilik-ve-uzay-sanayii/gokyuzunun-iki-ikonik-efsanesi-f-4-ve-mig-21-gokyuzune-veda-asamasindalar-1377