The Little World

I suggest that you look quickly at the IAF Mosquito in today’s illustrations – it may be the last time that you will see it in such a clean condition. It is just about to be wheeled out onto the hardstand at Schmattarim Air Base to join the museum of aircraft that have been in Middle Eastern wars.

Schmattarim is located in a part of Israel that gets sunshine for 392 days per year and is blasted by winds from three different deserts. The summer temperature hovers between appalling and abominable, and the only liquid for 200 kilometres comes from a natural artesian spring of phosphoric acid. You may wonder why the IAF keeps a base there, but the reason is simple – they cannot get anyone to attack it and take it over. Even when they offer to help… It is the Middle Eastern equivalent of a property in Balga.

Stuck with it, they have decided to put it to some use by making it the museum and resting place for old aircraft. While the planes are out there they undergo subtle changes  – everything bakes dry, fades, crumbles, or blows away. This also applies to the personnel – they still haven’t found the Commandant  from 1957 and they’ve moved all the furniture to look behind it.

Nevertheless, Schmattarim forms a vital link in the chain of defence. It is home to the famed Desert Snails – the IAF’s dedicated logistics and refurbishment unit. You put an aircraft in to them and take a ticket. When you call back in a year they tell you it’ll be ready in three months. Don’t lose the ticket.