Hercules No. 435 is parked on the flight line at the Israeli Air Force’s Nevatim base in southern Israel, waiting for its next mission. It is already in its sixth decade of service and still gets the job done: in the fighting in Lebanon, in the maneuver in Gaza, in the war with Iran. But this aircraft carries not only physical cargo, but also a heavy historical load.
Hercules 435 was the plane that flew Sayeret Matkal fighters to Entebbe in one of the most heroic operations in the history of the IDF. The famous black Mercedes was loaded into the cargo bay where we are now sitting. On the bed in the cockpit, Lt. Col. Yoni Netanyahu, the unit’s commander, took a brief nap before the battle from which he would not return.
Gallery
Lt. Col. O. and retired Brig. Gen. Shiki Shani, Hercules squadron commanders then and now
(Photo: Gadi Kablo)
“I was very impressed by Yoni Netanyahu’s composure,” says retired Brig. Gen. Yehoshua “Shiki” Shani, commander of the air force contingent in the operation and the man who flew this Hercules that night, July 4, 1976. “At one point, Yoni went to rest and asked the navigator to wake him 15 minutes before landing. I knew what he was heading into, and I assume he knew too. I estimated he had a 50% chance of being hit.”
Less than an hour later, as Shani waited for the troops on the runway, Dr. Ephraim Sneh, commander of the medical force in the operation, approached him at the aircraft and told him Yoni had been killed.
On Friday, the State Archives in the Prime Minister’s Office revealed for the first time the classified protocols of Operation Entebbe — the meetings of the government, the Cabinet and the special ministerial team that was established, the drama surrounding the decision to negotiate with the hijackers, the deception and sophistication ahead of the operation and the presentation of the operational plan in minute detail.
The Hercules lands after Operation Entebbe (Photo: Courtesy of the IDF Archives at the Defense Ministry)
Five decades later, Hercules 435 is still in active service. The commander of Squadron 131, “Knights of the Yellow Bird,” Lt. Col. O., estimates it will continue flying until 2040. In fact, three of the four Hercules aircraft that were in Entebbe are still in active service.
To mark 50 years since the operation, we brought together the squadron commander at the time, Shiki Shani, and its current commander, Lt. Col. O. Sitting on bar stools placed in the cargo bay of 435, the two spoke about the legacy passed down from generation to generation.
In the cargo bay that flew the fighters
(Photo: Gadi Kablo)
“Entebbe is constantly present in the squadron,” Lt. Col. O. says. “Entebbe means taking this machine and doing things with it that we never dreamed we would do. Our daring is the daring of Shiki and his generation. It didn’t come with the aircraft manual. It came from the people, from the legacy, from the stories.”
Rabin asked: ‘Can it be done?’ Shani: ‘Sir, go to sleep’
The Air France plane, on a flight from Ben-Gurion Airport to Paris, was hijacked on June 27, 1976, and flown to Uganda.
“That same day,” Shani recalls, “I gathered the senior members of the squadron and said, ‘Let’s think about what we can do if they turn to us.’ Until that moment, no one had approached us. The senior navigator, the senior flight engineer, my deputy and I sat down. I said, ‘All right. Range, distances, fuel, obstacles along the way, radars in the area.’ We prepared an orderly briefing.
“Two days later, the commander of the air force, Maj. Gen. Benny Peled, called me. ‘Do you know where Entebbe is?’ he asked. I told him, ‘Yes, I know a great deal about Entebbe.’ He asked, ‘What do you know?’ And then I poured out data for five minutes. He was convinced it was feasible.”
Lt. Col. O. adds: “That is the squadron’s DNA. Initiative. For example, during the major earthquake in Turkey five years ago. The moment we hear there has been an earthquake, even before anyone contacts us, we are already going to the map and looking — what area is it in? What landing fields do we have there?”
The Mercedes used by Sayeret Matkal fighters
(Photo: State Archives)
Shani responds: “O. spoke about daring. The daring of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin also needs to be mentioned. He decided to send 200 fighters a distance of 5,000 kilometers in planes that no one, except for us, understood what they were capable of doing. The Hercules fleet was still in its infancy. When I presented Rabin with the aerial part of the operation, he looked at me and said: ‘Look me in the eyes, Shiki Shani. Can this be done?’ I told him: ‘Mr. Prime Minister, go home and sleep. We will bring you the hostages in the morning.’”
On July 3, the four Hercules planes took off from the airport at Ofira. “The idea was simple: fly to Entebbe at low altitude and evade the radars. My plane entered first and landed, while the others waited another seven minutes on the Kenyan border.”
In the cockpit, alongside Shiki Shani and Yoni Netanyahu, sat the operation’s commander, Dan Shomron, later IDF chief of staff.
“Dan was a wonderful commander,” Shani says. “He was very calm. He even helped me navigate — lying to my left and looking at the rivers and other terrain features. It’s a shame his role in the operation has been somewhat forgotten over the years.”
Forgotten, or deliberately pushed aside?
“Don’t drag me into politics.”
Shani’s Hercules landed first, and the Sayeret Matkal fighters under Yoni’s command disembarked.
“I saw the Mercedes and the two Land Rovers pass beneath my left wing and said to myself: Watch it, don’t hit my propeller.”
How long were you on the ground?
“About an hour.”
The Entebbe hostages reunite with their families
(Photo: State Archives)
When the takeover of the terminal was complete, during which Yoni was killed, the other aircraft were already on the runway, ready to take in the rescued hostages, the fighters and the wounded. On the way back, when they stopped to refuel in Nairobi, Shani went over to Hercules 420, which was packed with hostages.
“There was a jumble of expressions there: people hysterical, people crying, people laughing. I remember their eyes. When I saw on television the hostages who returned from captivity in Gaza, I remembered the looks of the hostages in Entebbe.”
Shani, 81, was born in the Soviet Union and is the son of Holocaust survivors. He established the Hercules fleet before the Yom Kippur War together with Lt. Col. Amnon Halevy. They personally brought the first 13 aircraft from the United States to Israel. Three of them are still alive and kicking under Lt. Col. O.’s command.
Between Entebbe and ‘Roaring Lion’
O., 37, is married to Or. He completed the pilots’ course as a fighter pilot and later retrained for transport aircraft. His uncle, a fighter pilot, fell in the Yom Kippur War. On October 7, O. was an instructor at the flight school with an emergency posting to Squadron 131. He later served as head of the operations branch in the air force command bunker, and about a year ago took command of the squadron.
“When we go out on the first night of Roaring Lion, I am in the first plane,” O. says. “And also on the second, third and fourth nights. Even when I am in the pilot’s seat, I am commanding the squadron. In wartime, I am in the air every night. I brief the people and get on the plane.”
How far did you get during Roaring Lion?
“Let’s say we flew many hours,” O. says. “The squadron’s role was to bridge the range between Israel and Iran. Whether it was communications, readiness to rescue pilots, intelligence collection or fire activation.”
In the same cargo bay, 50 years later
(Photo: Gadi Kablo)
The Hercules is flown by four aircrew members — two pilots, a navigator and a flight engineer. Another role, unique to the transport fleet, is the loadmaster, who is responsible for the cargo bay and everything that goes on and off the aircraft.
From grandfather to grandson: ‘I knew I had to be on his plane’
Second Lt. T. completed the loadmaster course about a year ago and arrived at Squadron 131.
“The Hercules I love most is 420,” he says. “Every time I’m assigned to it, I say: How great.”
It is no coincidence that this is his favorite aircraft. His grandfather, a transport pilot in the air force and a former El Al captain, flew 420 to Entebbe and back alongside Halevy. It was on that plane that Yoni Netanyahu was brought back to Israel after he was killed.
“I remember coming out of the cockpit and going to see how they were loading the hostages and the black Mercedes, which also came back with us. Then they brought Yoni,” the grandfather says.
His grandson decided to become a loadmaster after dropping out of the pilots’ course.
“There are loadmasters on the Karnaf,” he says, using the Hebrew nickname for the veteran Hercules, “which is Squadron 131, and also on the Shimshon,” the newer Super Hercules aircraft, “which is Squadron 103. I knew I had to be on Grandpa’s plane.”
I asked the grandfather whether his grandson consults him on professional matters.
“What kind of question is that?” the proud grandfather replied. “He doesn’t do anything without me. He consults me on what to do, what to load,” he said, laughing, as his grandson blushed. “But he is good enough to do everything himself. The problem is he doesn’t tell me anything, the little rascal.”
(Photo: Gadi Kablo)
Second Lt. T. adds that he cannot tell his grandfather about everything he does.
“But sometimes I ask him, ‘Do you know this thing? Do you know that part?’ When I learn new material, I come to him and ask: ‘Grandpa, did you also do this in your time?’”
People replace cars every two or three years. How does an aircraft last more than 50 years?
“It is not magic,” Lt. Col. O. says. “It is the hard work of many people. The Israel Aerospace Industries personnel, who maintained the planes at Air Base 27 in Lod and moved with the fleet to Nevatim, invest tremendous effort so I can trust 100% in the plane I fly.”
Shiki also trusts the veteran Hercules aircraft. Although he has not flown one in more than 20 years, he declares: “Let me get into the cockpit now, and I’ll take it up easily.”
“I suggest we start with the simulator first,” Lt. Col. O. says with a smile. Then he adds: “I trust Shiki Shani. The Hercules is part of him.”