page_title: Operation Tarnegol
section_title: Interception
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Tarnegol / Interception
caption_attribution_description: English: Avia Av-14t (Ilyushin Il-14) OK-LCA of CSA displayed at the 1957 Paris Air Salon
context_page_description: Operation Tarnegol was an Israeli Air Force operation carried out on the eve of the 1956 Suez Crisis. It witnessed an Israeli Gloster Meteor NF.13 intercept and destroy an Egyptian Ilyushin Il-14 carrying high-ranking members of the Egyptian General Staff en route from Syria to Egypt.
context_section_description: Late on 28 October, half an hour after the Ilyushin had reportedly left Damascus, Tsiddon and Brosh departed Ramat-David in Meteor 52. They had taken off with a maximum fuel load and external fuel tanks, but soon discovered that fuel would not flow from the external tanks and jettisoned both. Heading west over the Mediterranean, Tsiddon was 200 kilometres (120 mi) south of Cyprus when the aircraft's radar picked up a target three miles away at 10,500 feet. Tsiddon closed in on the aircraft, slowed and circled it, counting the windows and attempting to trace the shape of its tail in the pitch-dark night. Clearly identifying it as an Ilyushin Il-14, Tsiddon pulled alongside the aircraft to peer inside. Spotting men clad in military uniform, he was certain he had located the correct target.
  With the aircraft positively identified, IAF commander Dan Tolkovsky authorized Tsiddon over the radio to shoot it down. With a top speed of about 414 kilometres per hour (257 mph), however, the Ilyushin was flying barely faster than the Meteor's stall speed. Tsiddon slipped behind the Ilyushin and opened fire, but his cannons had been loaded with tracer rounds, whose glow temporarily blinded him from seeing the target. One of his guns jammed, and with two cannons firing on the left versus only one on the right, the slow flying aircraft entered a left-handed spin.
  Tsiddon recovered control of the Meteor and closed in on his target again. His initial burst had damaged the aircraft's left engine and had apparently caused an electrical shortage, as no lights were apparent, but the Ilyushin was still flying. Coming in for a second pass, he dropped his flaps and aimed at the tip of the right wing, hitting the body as the Meteor once again yawed to the left. The Ilyushin "mushroomed to a huge fireball" and both aircraft entered an uncontrollable spin. Tsiddon regained control of the Meteor at 1,000 feet, only to see the burning Ilyushin disintegrate as it hit the water.
  Ascending to 15,000 feet, Tsiddon discovered he was dangerously low on fuel. Directed to the closest IAF air base, he landed at Hatzor, his engines flaming out during taxi-in.
caption: Czech Ilyushin Il-14
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