Operation Nickel Grass

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An M60 tank is unloaded from a USAF Lockheed C-5 Galaxy during Operation Nickel Grass

The Operation Nickel Grass (from the English phrase Throw a nickel on the grass , about to throw a coin into the grass ) was a strategic air transport - operation during the Yom Kippur War of October 12 to November 14, 1973 with Israel was supported by the USA . On 567 flights, the US Air Force (USAF) supplied Israel with 22,325 tons of tanks , guns , ammunition , supplies of all kinds and fighter planes . Heavy transport aircraft of the types Lockheed C-141 Starlifter and Lockheed C-5 Galaxy were in use. The Operation Nickel Grass made a major contribution that the armed forces of Israel quickly rebounded from the initial losses of the war. The nine-hour flights led from the east coast of the USA across the Atlantic and Mediterranean with a stopover on the Portuguese Azores island of Terceira to Israel.

prehistory

Israel was taken by surprise by the attack by Egypt and Syria on October 6, 1973, but was able to halt the Arab advance by October 14 and then launched a counterattack. The losses and the consumption of military material were great on the Israeli side. On October 9, Israel’s Prime Minister Golda Meir made a call to the states of the world to support the country under attack. Shortly before, the Arab states had threatened to stop supplying oil to any state that would support Israel. Nevertheless - and not least because the Soviet Union, for its part, began delivering arms to Egypt and Syria - US President Richard Nixon was the only one to immediately promise his country's support.

First, civil airlines should take over the transport. However, apart from Israel's national airline, El Al , there was no company willing to do so, as they feared they would lose their landing permits in the Arab countries. Although the first El-Al machines landed in Israel with supplies on October 10, the company only had passenger planes that could only be used for this purpose to a very limited extent. In addition, vehicles and larger weapon systems could not be transported with them.

procedure

On October 14th, the final standstill of the front, President Nixon decided that the US Air Force should take over the transport and send everything "... that can fly ...". Nine hours after this instruction, the first planes took off for Israel. In view of the Arab oil boycott threat, most European states denied US planes overflight and landing rights, so planes took off before it was clear whether and where they could land on the way to Israel for the necessary refueling. Only Portugal offered its support. While the planes were in the air, the US Air Force Base Lajes Field on the Azores island of Terceira was chosen as the refueling station. In addition, the European countries forced the US armed forces to divert supplies for their troops on the continent via Lajes. Within a short time, the base on the island was expanded so that it could accommodate 1,300 additional members of the airport staff.

An A-4E lands on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Mediterranean Sea en route to Israel

From Lajes, the transporters flew with escort by US Air Force combat aircraft . They could only move across the Mediterranean in a corridor between the skies of the European and Arab states. US Navy ships were stationed every 300 miles in the Mediterranean and an aircraft carrier every 600 miles . Unidentified Arab fighter planes made multiple threats over the radio, but they never actually attacked. Around 150 miles off the coast of Israel, McDonnell F-4 Phantom II and Dassault Mirage III and IAI Nesher of the Israeli Air Force took over the escort to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv . After landing, US and Israeli soldiers unloaded the supplies. Among other tanks were of the type M60 , M109-propelled howitzers , ground-based radar systems , Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion - helicopters , artillery , ammunition , AIM-9 Sidewinder -air-air missiles and components of fighter-bomber of the type Douglas A-4 supplied Skyhawk . Another 36 A-4s from the US Navy were flown direct to Israel. They were refueled three times in the air on the way to Israel and stopped for the crews overnight on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt , which was cruising south of Sicily.

The Israeli air force had lost numerous combat aircraft during the Arab offensive, especially because the Arabs surprisingly used the then new Soviet mobile anti-aircraft missile systems 2K12 Kub . Israel therefore bought 36 used McDonnell F-4 Phantom II fighter aircraft from the United States , which came from the stocks of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). The planes were flown by US pilots to the Israeli airport Ben Gurion, where Israeli pilots took them over and only applied new national emblems to the original USAF camouflage . The machines often flew a few hours after being handed over to the front. With these reinforcements, Israel was able to carry out strong counterattacks on land and in the air just nine days after the attack by the Arabs.

After the end of the Yom Kippur War with the armistice of October 24, 1973, the supply flights continued to a lesser extent until November 14, in order to bring the Israeli armed forces back to their pre-war strength. In the end, the US airlifted 22,325 t of all kinds of supplies to Israel, and by October 30, a total of 33,210 t had been delivered by sea . During the same period, the Soviet Union sent 12,500 to 15,000 t by air, of which more than half went to Syria, and another 63,000 t by ship , again mainly to Syria.

Effects

The Arab states acted on their threat and immediately cut back their oil production via OPEC and declared an oil embargo on the USA, so that prices soared, which led to the first oil crisis .

The US military strategists had been exposed to the dependence of their air force on landing sites for refueling. The USAF recognized this as a weak point that absolutely had to be eliminated if similar missions were to become necessary again. As a consequence, air refueling capacities were expanded and new aircraft models designed for long-haul flights. Accordingly, all Lockheed C-141 Starlifters in use have been rebuilt or modernized.

The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy transport aircraft had proven itself . During Operation Nickel Grass, the voluminous machine carried only 145 of the 567 flights, 48 ​​percent of the total cargo, including bulky items such as tanks and helicopters that did not fit into any other aircraft model. This legitimized the controversial armaments project and the US government commissioned the improved model C-5B, which is still in use today when it has been modernized.

Meaning of the operation name

The name of the operation "Nickel Grass" goes back to a phrase from the jargon of American fighter pilots "Throw a nickel in the grass, save a fighter pilot's ass." And this in turn comes from a custom from the time when a call from a public telephone turned a nickel cost. Throwing a nickel into the grass enabled someone who might need it urgently to make a phone call and B. the happy homecoming.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert G. Weinland (1978): SUPERPOWER NAVAL DIPLOMACY IN THE OCTOBER 1973 ( Memento from November 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive )