Hatzor Airbase

Hatzor Israeli Air Force Base
IATA: none ICAO: LLHS
Summary
Airport type	Military
Operator	Israeli Air Force
Location	Hatzor, Israel
Elevation AMSL	148 ft / 45 m
Coordinates	31°45′45.00″N 34°43′38.00″E
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 05/23 7,905 2,409 Asphalt 11R/29L 8,040 2,451 Asphalt 11L/29R 8,005 2,440 Asphalt

Hatzor Israeli Air Force Base (ICAO: LLHS), also titled Kanaf 4 (lit. Wing 4) is an Israeli Air Force military airbase, located in central Israel, near kibbutz Hatzor after which it is named.

The airfield was constructed by the Royal Air Force in 1945, during the British Mandate of Palestine, as RAF Qastina after the nearby Palestinian village of the same name.

On the night of 25 February 1946, Irgun militants attacked the airbase and destroyed several parked RAF Halifax transports. Two additional RAF airfields, RAF Lydda (Ben Gurion International Airport) and RAF Kfar Sirkin, were attacked in what became known as the "Night of the Airplanes". Altogether, the attacks destroyed 20 RAF aeroplanes and damaged several others. Following these attacks, the RAF vacated some of its Palestine-based planes to Egypt.

During the Israeli War of Independence, the airfield was evacuated by the British on 15 March 1948 and taken over by Haganah forces.

On the morning of August 16, 1966, an Iraqi MiG-21 jet landed in Hatzor AFB. Munir Redfa, an Iraqi Air Force pilot, had been persuaded by the Mossad (The Blue Bird – Operation Diamond) to fly the flagship of the Soviet export aircraft industry to Israel. The MiG was the most advanced aircraft in Arab inventories at the time.

Units

• 101st Squadron – operating F-16C
• 105th Squadron – operating F-16D