50 years after "the action from the movies" 'When Israel managed to steal sophisticated Russian radar from Egypt, Brigadier General (res.) Nehemiah Dagan recalls in operation • "We acted perfectly"

• Egyptian radar // Photo: Dudu Greenshpan

It was an act that stunned Israel and the world. Against all odds, in the middle of the war of attrition, the paratroopers and Air Force pilots managed to steal sophisticated Russian radar under the noses of the Egyptians.

Under the slightly bizarre name, "Operation 53 Rooster," the IDF embarked on the night of December 26-29, 1969, exactly 50 years ago, for an operation that became one of the IDF's greatest achievements in that difficult war. "As a customer of the film world," as Chief of Staff Haim Bar Heart defined it.

"Our planes were attacking targets in Egypt and each time they were being dropped, it was a hardship," recalled Brigadier General (Res.) Nehemiah Dagan, then one pilot who made history in the same operation. Four days before the operation, he spotted an aerial photo decoder named Rami At a suspicious spot on the western shore of the bay. After his insistence, the photograph was examined and it turned out that it was a well-covered radar, to which no air defense or security systems were installed. So he came up with the next bold idea - to take over the facility by ground raid and fly it to Israel by helicopters.

"Two months earlier, we brought the first scandals to Israel," recalls Dagan, "and they asked me if the radar could be picked up with a helicopter. I asked how much it weighed and I was told that it was two tons. I did my calculations and told them that I could lift 1.9 tons by the tables. After a few minutes they came back and told me that the chief of staff did not have time for my problems, either yes or no. I said we would go over that. "

"Rooster Operation," 1969

And so, the troops went out of their way. Initially the paratroopers embarked on super low altitude super-helicopters, and after a short, heroic operation managed to take over the battery in a matter of minutes. The fighters then disarmed the radar and launched a two-helicopter helicopter on the scene, one of which was flying grain.

"I started to pick up the big box, where the devices were, and I felt the cables being torn down, so I found out that it weighs more than four tons - more than double what you can see in the tables. I started to pick up the helicopter and then the warning lights came on - one of the two hydraulic systems Destroyed. " The significance of the system crash was critical. If the two hydraulic systems are destroyed, the helicopter's rudders freeze and the helicopter crashes, and, since the hydraulic pump is connected to the rotor via cogwheels, there is a danger of a flare that could burn the helicopter quickly.

According to the instructions in the case where Dagan encountered, the helicopter had to be landed without delay, but the pilot refused to surrender: "I sent a mechanic to look, see that there was no fire, and continued to fly." It flew at a low altitude, about 100 meters above the ground instead of 2,500 meters as planned, and landed an emergency landing on Ras Sheratov, the closest Israeli coastal point in the Chinese desert. The second wagon loaded the wagon and antenna, landed with them in Abu Rhodes and sent to collect the second wagon.

"Perfect operation"

The operation was not initially reported in Israel, but Chief of Staff Haim Barel hinted at the incident. "The execution was excellent and the force worked perfectly. This is one of the IDF's special and first operations, "he said.