Failing to follow the appropriate safety checks that would have disarmed his missiles, Yadlin pressed the trigger when he got on the tail of Gilad, and, to his horror, a live missile shot off a launch rail…
Purchased in the mid-1970s to guarantee Israel’s long-term air superiority in the Middle East, the F-15 Baz (the Israeli Air Force’s name for the Eagle) has dominated the region’s skies ever since it entered service in December 1976.
The aircraft scored its first aerial victory three years later in contested airspace over southern Lebanon, during a clash between the Israeli Air Force and Syrian Air Force.
When all-out war erupted between Israel and Syria in June 1982, the Israeli Air Force’s lone F-15 squadron tore through Syrian MiG-21s and MiG-23s. Between June 7 and 11, the Double Tail Squadron was credited with downing 33 enemy aircraft without a single loss. This campaign produced the world’s first—and so far only—F-15 fighter aces.
However, as Shlomo Aloni recounts in his book Israeli F-15 Eagle Units in Combat, the IAF’s Baz fleet saw a downturn in operational activity in the late 1980s. During this period, three valuable F-15s were lost in accidents, and Spearhead Squadron commander Amos Yadlin (who led the second Baz unit, formed in June 1982) was relieved of his post after nearly shooting down his wingman on April 1, 1988.
Yadlin and his wingman, Shai Gilad, returned from an operational sortie in fully armed F-15s that still carried a significant amount of fuel. As was standard practice then, instead of dumping fuel to reach the proper landing weight, they chose to use the remaining fuel to rehearse a one‑on‑one air combat engagement. However, Yadlin neglected to complete the safety procedures that would have disarmed his missiles. When he maneuvered onto Gilad’s tail and pulled the trigger, a live missile unexpectedly launched. Fortunately for Gilad, the F‑15 is among the most resilient fighter jets in the world, and the Baz survived the hit.
Just as Ronen Shapira had managed to land his battle-damaged, single‑engine jet in 1982 and Ziv Nadivi had somehow brought down his F‑15 with only one wing in 1983 after a mid‑air collision during an ACM mission, Gilad also succeeded in returning his Baz safely to base. Yadlin accepted full responsibility for the mishap and stepped down early from his role as squadron commander.
Four months later, on August 15, 1988, Yadlin’s counterpart in the Double Tail Squadron also left his position ahead of schedule, but in much more tragic circumstances. Ram Caller was killed when his F‑15 collided with another Baz flown by Ehud Falk during air combat training — Falk also lost his life in the accident.
The loss of these aircraft, along with the crash of an F‑15B in April 1987 and Guy Golan’s accident in September 1979, left only 46 Baz fighters in active service. To restore the fleet to its ideal strength of 50 jets and further boost the long‑range, multi‑role capabilities of the Double Tail and Spearhead Squadrons, Israel arranged in 1988 to buy five F‑15Ds at the enormous cost of $265 million.
F-15 Eagle Units in Combat is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by Israeli Air Force
