A word from Tom Beattie

Reader Tom Beattie writes:

I am a totally devoted reader of your site. It’s the first thing in the morning I check and the last thing I read before I go to bed.

I feel obligated to weigh in on a comment made [yesterday] by Paul attributed to Lt Gen Thomas G. McInerny that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) was the “best in the world.” I will respectfully have to disagree with the General, but this is simply not true. I too am a retired AF Fighter pilot (F-4s, F-16s). My F-16 squadron in Germany trained with the IAF in 2000. I can not get into the details of the results, but you will have to trust me when I tell you we were disappointed in the simplicity of their air-to-air training requests and the overall lack of flexibility in their air-to-air flying execution. Quite frankly, our guys were bored flying against them.

The IAF seemed to be the best in the world for a long time (post Vietnam) until we too flew against the Arabs. Our air-to -air kill ratio is also perfect against them, and the Serbs for that matter (about 50-0 total). In today’s world rankings, I’d probably rate the IAF # 3, right behind the USAF, # 1 and the US Navy/Marines, # 2.

However, right now today, I am willing to give it up to them as #1 since they are doing such a fantastic job defending their country and killing and disabling our common enemy. I hope they are given the opportunity to bring the road show into Syria and Iran.

Keep up the great work…I tell everybody I know about Power Line!

Tom “Duke” Beattie
Lt Col, USAF (Ret)
Avondale, AZ

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