Avia S - 199 The Avia S - 199 was a propeller - driven fighter aircraft built after World War II by the two aircraft factories in Czechoslovakia : one of them officially called " závod Avia " ( Avia Plant ) ( 1946 – 48 ) and " závod Avia - Jiřího Dimitrova " ( Avia - George Dimitroff - Plant ) ( 1948 – 49 ) in Čakovice near Prague , as a post - war corporative part of the " Automobilové závody , n . p . " " ( Automotive Works , National Corp . " ) , and the other one called " závod Vysočany " ( " Vysočany Plant " ) ( 1948 – 49 ) in Prague , as a corporative part of " Letecké závody , n . p . " ( " Aviation Works , National Corp . " ) . It was constructed with parts and plans left over from Luftwaffe aircraft production that had taken place under the country ' s German occupation during the war . Despite the aircraft ' s numerous problems and unpopularity with its pilots , it achieved fame as the first fighter obtained by the Israeli Air Force , for use during the 1948 Arab - Israeli War . Czechoslovak pilots nicknamed it " Mezek " ( " Mule " ) , while in Israel it was officially known as the " Sakeen " ( " knife " in Hebrew ) . In practice , the aircraft was more often called Messerschmitt or " Messer " ( which also means " knife " , in German and Yiddish ) . Design and development . Avia continued building Messerschmitt Bf 109G - 6 s after the war under the Avia S - 99 name , but soon ran out of the 109 ' s Daimler - Benz DB 605 engine after many were destroyed during an explosion at a warehouse in Krásné Březno . The S - 199 continued to use the Bf 109G airframe but , with none of the original engines available , an alternative engine had to be used . It was decided that as a replacement for the original engine , the aircraft would use the same engine ( Junkers Jumo 211 F ) and propeller as the Heinkel He 111 bomber . The resulting combination of parts was an aircraft with extremely poor handling qualities . The substitute engine with the propeller lacked the responsiveness of the Daimler - Benz unit and the torque created by the massive paddle - bladed propeller made control very difficult . This , in combination with the 109 ' s narrow - track undercarriage , made landings and take - offs extremely hazardous . The Daimler - Benz DB 605 engine allowed for a central cannon mount ( " Motorkanone " in German ) that fired through the propeller spinner . This was not possible with the Junkers Jumo 211 , and so the S - 199 used a version of the Luftwaffe ' s " Rüstsatz VI " modification kit , which consisted of a pair of MG 151 cannon , one each in a gun pod , one beneath each wing . This further impinged on the aircraft ' s performance . A final hidden danger lay in the gun synchronizer for the cowl - mounted MG 131 machine gun s , which did not work as it was meant to , leading a few Israeli aircraft to shoot off their own propellers . Around 550 S - 199s were built , including a number of conversion trainers designated CS - 199 ( armed ) and C - 210 ( unarmed ) . The first flight took place in March 1947 , and production ended in 1949 . The last examples were withdrawn from Czechoslovak service ( with their National Security Guard ) in 1957 . Operational history . Israeli service . Israeli agents negotiated the purchase of Avia S - 199s from the Czechoslovak government in defiance of an arms embargo that Israel faced at the time . Twenty five aircraft were obtained and all but two were eventually delivered . The price for a fully equipped plane was $ 190 , 000 . The first examples arrived on May 20 , 1948 , six days after Israel ' s declaration of independence and five days after the commencement of hostilities by Egypt . Forming Israel ' s first fighter squadron , they were assembled and sent into combat for the first time on May 29 , attacking the Egyptian army between Isdud and the Ad Halom bridge , south of Tel Aviv . A few days later , on June 3 , the type scored the Israeli Air Force ' s first aerial victories when Modi Alon shot down a pair of Royal Egyptian Air Force C - 47 s which had just bombed Tel Aviv . The type proved unreliable and performed poorly in combat . One Avia pilot remarked " she tried to kill us on every take off and landing . " Furthermore , maintenance problems meant that no more than five were typically airworthy at any one time . The type , however , scored victories over its opponents , including the Spitfire . The Avias were mostly withheld from service by the end of October , at which time only six remained operational . The S - 199 continued making sporadic sorties through mid - December ; American pilot Wayne Peake flipped one on its back on December 15 . Survivors . Today at least three aircraft are preserved . Both S - 199 ( UF - 25 , sn . 178 ) and CS - 199 ( UC - 26 , sn . 565 ) are displayed in Prague Aviation Museum , Kbely and a sole S - 199 example is preserved at the Israeli Air Force Museum at Hatserim Israeli Air Force Base .