The Ein Shemer Airfield ( he, מנחת עין שמר) is an Israeli military airfield and base in northern
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, located approximately 6 km east of
Hadera
Hadera ( he, חֲדֵרָה ) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, in the northern Sharon region, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along 7 km (5&nb ...
. Before 1948 it was operated by the
British Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
(RAF) as
RAF Ein Shemer. During this time, "RAF Ein Shemer was the largest military airfield in the country" and hosted "seven ..RAF squadrons and 1,500 RAF personnel." Between the autumn of 1943 and June 1945, it was home to 78 Operational Training Unit
training general reconnaissance crews, particularly using ASV radar and the Leigh light.
[Sturtivant 2007, pp. 198-206] It served as the workplace for as many as 600, mainly Arab, workers. This made it, in the opinion of its Commanding Officer, ‘the largest camp of its sort for civilian labour in the Middle East’.
Since 2002 the base houses a complete
Arrow 2 Theater Anti Ballistic Missile battery which includes around 150-200 Arrow 2 Block 4 missiles, several launchers, the Great Pine Radar (Green Pine 2 Radar) with a 1000 kilometer range and the Yellow Citron & Brown Nut elements of the system.
In 2008 and again in 2012, the Israeli government proposed closing down
Sde Dov and
Herzlia airports and relocating their
general aviation
General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation service ...
and civilian
flight training
Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills.
Flight training can be conducted under a st ...
activities to an expanded Ein Shemer airfield. Nearby residents however expressed strong opposition to the plan. In June 2019 the National Infrastructure Planning Committee voted to approve the plan but the local and regional municipalities vowed to continue opposing it.
The airfield is also the home of a control station for the
IAI Heron UAV.
IAI's Heron UAV becomes first in world to land at international airport
/ref>
Gallery
4X-ALB-1979 Shaham Aloni.jpg, A Cessna 180
The Cessna 180 Skywagon is a four- or six-seat, fixed conventional gear general aviation airplane which was produced between 1953 and 1981. Though the design is no longer in production, many of these aircraft are still in use as personal airc ...
in the 1970s on Ein Schemer Airfield
Arrow anti-ballistic missile launch.jpg, Test launch of an Arrow 2 missile in California 2004
IAI_Heron_nose.jpg, IAI Heron UAV on display at the Paris Air Show 2009
RAF Ein Shemer
RAF Ein Shemer was a Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
station in Palestine between 1942 and 1948.
No. 78 Operational Training Unit RAF was formed in February 1944 at Ein Shemer to train general reconnaissance crews, particularly using ASV radar and the Leigh light.[
The following Royal Air Force units were based at RAF Ein Shemer between 1945 and 1948:]No. 38 Squadron RAF
No. 38 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was a bomber (and later maritime reconnaissance) squadron formed in 1916 and was disbanded most recently in 1967.
World War I
No.38 Squadron Royal Flying Corps was originally formed at Thetford in early 19 ...
detachment (1946-1947) Avro Lancaster GR3
* No. 178 Squadron RAF (1945) Consolidated Liberator VI
* No. 208 Squadron RAF (1946-1948) Supermarine Spitfire VII and FR18
* No. 214 Squadron RAF (1945) Consolidated Liberator VIII
*No. 621 Squadron RAF
No. 621 Squadron RAF was a reconnaissance squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War II, flying from Somaliland and Aden. It was after the war stationed in Egypt and Palestine and tasked with air-sea rescue and was also active in Operatio ...
(1946) Avro Lancaster ASR3
* No. 651 Squadron RAF (1946-1947) Auster III and Auster AOP6
* No. 680 Squadron RAF (1946) de Havilland Mosquito PR34
See also
*List of Royal Air Force stations
The Royal Air Force (RAF) operates several stations throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. This includes front-line and training air bases, support, administrative and training stations with no flying activity, unmanned airfields used fo ...
*List of former Royal Air Force stations
This list of former RAF stations includes most of the stations, airfields and administrative headquarters previously used by the Royal Air Force.
The stations are listed under any former county or country name which was appropriate for the ...
References
Further reading
*Roy Marom,
RAF Ein-Shemer: Forgotten Case of Jewish and Arab Work in a British Army Camp in Palestine during the Second World War
" ''War & Society'' 39, no. 3 (2020), pp. 189–209
*Lake, Alan. "Flying Units of the RAF".Airlife Publishing. Shrewsbury. 1999.
* Jefford, C.G. ''RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912''. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001. .
External links
Airports in Israel
Israeli Air Force bases
{{Israel-mil-stub