Aside from the very beautiful desert scenery and perhaps the old town and the Bedouin market there isn’t all that much to do in Beer-Sheva. There is, ofcourse, the Israeli air force museum which I’ve managed to successfully avoid all these years. But, since I was in the area, and it was already an hour before closing, I figured – why not go have a peek and see what all the excitement is about. After all, even if you don’t like all the patriotic war history babble it does offer, well, planes. And who doesn’t like planes?
As I’m known for my somewhat OCD photo taking, I made it my goal to snip-snap as many of those old war planes in the time that was left. It was the middle of the week, and it was therefore not surprising that the museum was completely empty. It was me, and the planes, staring at one another aimlessly (and helplessly).
So, are you ready for some planes? Here it comes…
We can start from the hijacked James Bond mig that Israel received as a gift from a ‘lost’ enemy pilot that landed in Israel ‘by mistake’…
On to the utterly catastrophical and somewhat miserable failure of the Israeli military industries to do their own next-generation jet fighter- the Lavy.
And on to various other jets that were quite successful in the Israeli confrontations with the neighbors…
You do have, ofcourse, the older lighter planes as well…
(were those really older? I can’t tell. Okay, maybe they’re more light warfare, or for training, who knows)
Not bored yet? How about some helicopters?
And, the airforce doesn’t just have planes and helicopters, it has… anti-air fighting machines…
What does it all look like from above? Go up to the observation tower…
Exciting?
Location :
If you’re into planes and Israeli war history, you might get a kick out of this place. For the rest of us, I’d say that the 45 minutes I spent there were more than enough.
Actually, thanks to Jewish National Fund, theres a lot to do in Be’er Sheva: World Class Abraham’s Well Visitor’s Center, running, biking, picnicking, in the 1,300 acre Be’er Sheva River Park, shows at the 12,000 seat amphitheatre and soon to come– a lake