{"id":3542903,"date":"2026-07-03T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T09:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/?p=3542903"},"modified":"2026-10-02T22:38:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T20:38:45","slug":"operation-diamond-mossad-munir-redfa-mig-21-1966","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-diamond-mossad-munir-redfa-mig-21-1966\/","title":{"rendered":"A Spy, a Pilot, and a Stolen MiG-21"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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He had full fuel tanks &mdash; a privilege he had rarely been granted &mdash; and a secret that would have put him in front of a firing squad. Roughly 900 kilometres away, Israeli radar crews were waiting for a single blip to appear out of the east.<\/p>\r\n<p>What happened over the next hour became one of the most celebrated intelligence coups of the Cold War: Operation Diamond, the Mossad mission that delivered the Soviet Union&rsquo;s most advanced fighter into Western hands &mdash; not in pieces, not in photographs, but flying, fuelled and intact.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px 24px;margin:24px 0;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:17px\">Quick Facts: Operation Diamond<\/p><table style=\"border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15px;line-height:1.5\"><tbody><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 14px 6px 0;font-weight:600;white-space:nowrap;vertical-align:top\">Operation<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">Mivtza Yahalom (&ldquo;Diamond&rdquo;), Mossad, 1963&ndash;1966<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 14px 6px 0;font-weight:600;white-space:nowrap;vertical-align:top\">Pilot<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">Captain Munir Redfa, Iraqi Air Force<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 14px 6px 0;font-weight:600;white-space:nowrap;vertical-align:top\">Aircraft<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21F-13, Iraqi serial 534<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 14px 6px 0;font-weight:600;white-space:nowrap;vertical-align:top\">Defection<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">16 August 1966, Iraq to Hatzor Air Base, Israel (~900 km)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 14px 6px 0;font-weight:600;white-space:nowrap;vertical-align:top\">Escort<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">Two Israeli Air Force <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/mirage-iii\">Mirage IIIs<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 14px 6px 0;font-weight:600;white-space:nowrap;vertical-align:top\">Aftermath<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">Jet renumbered &ldquo;007&rdquo;; loaned to the USA in 1968 for the HAVE DOUGHNUT evaluation<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Loneliest Pilot in Iraq<\/h2>\r\n<p>Munir Redfa was, on paper, exactly the man Baghdad should have trusted. Born into a prosperous family in 1934, he was a skilled aviator who had risen to deputy squadron commander flying the newest fighter in the Arab world. But Redfa was an Assyrian Christian in an air force run by others &mdash; and he felt it every day.<\/p>\r\n<p>He was repeatedly passed over for promotion. He was, by most accounts, restricted to flying with small fuel tanks &mdash; a quiet insurance policy against exactly the thing he would eventually do. And he was ordered to fly attack missions against Kurdish villages in northern Iraq, a duty that reportedly disgusted him.<\/p>\r\n<p>The Mossad had been hunting for a <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/mig-21-fishbed\">MiG-21<\/a> since 1963, when spymaster Meir Amit made the fighter a top intelligence priority. Two earlier recruitment attempts in Egypt and Iraq had failed &mdash; the Egyptian attempt ending in betrayal and the hanging of Mossad agents. Then, in 1964, a tip from an Iraqi Jewish contact pointed to a bitter, brilliant pilot in the 11th Squadron.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"max-width:550px;margin:0 auto 28px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?id=1962250338708148460&theme=light\" style=\"width:100%;height:400px;border:none;overflow:hidden\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A Courtship Measured in Years<\/h2>\r\n<p>The approach was patient, personal and extraordinarily risky. A female Mossad operative posing as an American befriended Redfa and, over months, drew out his frustrations. In July 1966 he travelled to Europe, and from there &mdash; in one of the operation&rsquo;s boldest strokes &mdash; he was secretly flown to Israel itself.<\/p>\r\n<p>There, the commander of the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/air-forces\/israeli-air-force\/\">Israeli Air Force<\/a>, Major General Mordechai &ldquo;Motti&rdquo; Hod, personally briefed the Iraqi pilot on the route he would fly. The deal reportedly included around one million dollars (some accounts cite a lower figure), Israeli citizenship and a guarantee that his family would be smuggled out first. His wife and two children left on a &ldquo;holiday&rdquo; to Paris; other relatives were walked across the Iranian border with Kurdish help.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;You know how dangerous this is going to be. The flight is 900 kilometers. If your own colleagues guess what you\u2019re up to they may send planes to blow you out of the skies. \u2026 If you lose your nerve, you are a dead man.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Mordechai &ldquo;Motti&rdquo; Hod<\/strong> &mdash; Commander, Israeli Air Force &mdash; briefing Redfa before the flight (quoted in Eisenberg, Dan &amp; Landau, <em>The Mossad: Inside Stories<\/em>, 1978)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>Redfa&rsquo;s reply, as recorded in the same account, was six words long: &ldquo;I will bring you the plane.&rdquo;<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3LH1bQlkz58\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#777;font-style:italic;margin-top:-10px\">How the Mossad stole a MiG-21 &mdash; the full story of Operation Diamond.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Fifty Minutes That Changed Air Combat<\/h2>\r\n<p>On the morning of 16 August 1966, Redfa took off with full tanks on an authorised navigation exercise &mdash; and simply kept going. He climbed to around 30,000 feet, crossed Jordanian airspace and pressed on toward Israel as ground controllers barked at him to turn back.<\/p>\r\n<p>Two Mirage III fighters rose to meet the incoming MiG. Redfa lowered his landing gear &mdash; the universal signal of peaceful intent &mdash; and followed them down to Hatzor Air Base. By most accounts he landed with almost nothing left in his tanks. The Soviet Union&rsquo;s crown jewel was sitting on an Israeli runway, engine ticking as it cooled.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/munir-redfa-mig-21-007-hatzerim-museum.jpg\" alt=\"Munir Redfa MiG-21 007 at the IAF Museum Hatzerim\" style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:auto\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The MiG-21F-13 wearing its famous Israeli number 007, preserved at the Israeli Air Force Museum, Hatzerim. Photo: Oren Rozen \/ Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What Israel Did With Its Diamond<\/h2>\r\n<p>The jet was renumbered &ldquo;007&rdquo; &mdash; a wink at the espionage that delivered it &mdash; and handed to legendary test pilot Danny Shapira, who flew it within weeks. Mock dogfights against the Mirage III stripped away the MiG-21&rsquo;s mystique: superb at high altitude, easy to fly, but underpowered and short-legged elsewhere. Every Israeli fighter pilot soon knew exactly where the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/mig-29-fulcrum\">Fulcrum<\/a> of its day could be beaten.<\/p>\r\n<p>The dividends came fast. On 7 April 1967, Israeli Mirages shot down six Syrian MiG-21s in a single day without loss. Two months later, the air force that had studied its enemy&rsquo;s best fighter from the inside destroyed the Arab air forces on the ground in Operation Focus &mdash; the opening blow of the Six-Day War.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;It is a basic principle of warfare that to know the weapons the enemy has is already to beat him.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Dan Tolkowsky<\/strong> &mdash; Former commander of the Israeli Air Force (quoted by the Jewish Virtual Library)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>In January 1968 the MiG crossed the Atlantic. At the secret Groom Lake test site in Nevada &mdash; better known as Area 51 &mdash; American pilots flew it under the codename HAVE DOUGHNUT, giving the US its first hands-on look at the fighter it was meeting over Vietnam. The evaluation, and Israel&rsquo;s willingness to share its prize, helped smooth the landmark sale of <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-4-phantom-ii\">F-4<\/a> Phantoms to Israel later that year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/mig-21f-13-operation-diamond-tail-view.jpg\" alt=\"Tail view of the Operation Diamond MiG-21F-13 at Hatzerim\" style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:auto\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Decades in the desert sun: the Operation Diamond MiG-21F-13 photographed at Hatzerim in 2006, before its later restoration. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Man Who Paid the Price<\/h2>\r\n<p>For Redfa, the diamond had sharp edges. Sentenced to death in absentia in Iraq, he lived out his life under a new identity, reportedly moving his family abroad in later years. He died of a heart attack in the late 1990s. His story reached Hollywood in 1988 as the HBO film <em>Steal the Sky<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n<p>The jet wearing 007 stands today at the Israeli Air Force Museum at Hatzerim &mdash; and the type Redfa risked everything to deliver still flies. If you want to feel what nearly 60 years of pilots have felt behind that iconic intake cone, you can: <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/mig-21\/\">flying the MiG-21 with MiGFlug<\/a> remains one of aviation&rsquo;s great experiences.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"max-width:550px;margin:0 auto 28px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?id=1980203142290735311&theme=light\" style=\"width:100%;height:400px;border:none;overflow:hidden\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>Danny Shapira, the first Western-world test pilot to master the stolen MiG, told his side of the story on camera decades later &mdash; worth every minute:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rDJJN1UsLzY\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: Jewish Virtual Library; Black &amp; Morris, Israel&rsquo;s Secret Wars (1991); Eisenberg, Dan &amp; Landau, The Mossad: Inside Stories (1978); The Aviationist; National Security Archive (George Washington University); The War Zone; Wikipedia<\/em><\/p>\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\r\n<!-- mf-faq -->\r\n\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-block\"><style>.mf-faq-block{margin:34px 0}.mf-faq-item:not([open]) .mf-faq-answer{display:none !important}.mf-faq-block h2.mf-faq-h{padding-top:22px;margin-bottom:14px}.mf-faq-item{border:1px solid #e2e8f5;border-radius:8px;margin:0 0 10px;background:#fff}.mf-faq-item summary{list-style:none;cursor:pointer;padding:15px 50px 15px 18px;font-weight:600;color:#1a1a1a;position:relative;line-height:1.45;user-select:none}.mf-faq-item summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mf-faq-item summary::after{content:\"+\";position:absolute;right:18px;top:50%;transform:translateY(-50%);font-size:1.5em;font-weight:400;color:#5C91FF;line-height:1}.mf-faq-item[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mf-faq-item[open] summary{border-bottom:1px solid #eef1f8}.mf-faq-item summary:hover{background:#f5f8ff}.mf-faq-answer{padding:14px 18px;color:#333;line-height:1.6}.mf-faq-answer p{margin:0}.mf-faq-answer a{color:#5C91FF}<\/style><h2 class=\"mf-faq-h\">Related Questions<\/h2><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>What was Operation Diamond?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>Operation Diamond (Hebrew: Mivtza Yahalom) was a Mossad intelligence operation, run from 1963 to 1966, that obtained a flyable Soviet MiG-21 for the West. On 16 August 1966, Iraqi Air Force captain Munir Redfa defected by flying his MiG-21F-13 about 900 km from Iraq to Hatzor Air Base in Israel, delivering the Soviet Union's most advanced fighter intact.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>Who was Munir Redfa?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>Munir Redfa was an Iraqi Air Force captain and deputy squadron commander, born in 1934 into a prosperous Assyrian Christian family. Repeatedly passed over for promotion, restricted to small fuel loads, and ordered to attack Kurdish villages \u2014 a duty that reportedly disgusted him \u2014 he agreed to defect with his MiG-21.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>How did Israel get a MiG-21?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>The Mossad recruited Redfa after making the MiG-21 a top intelligence priority in 1963. On 16 August 1966 he took off on what his squadron believed was a training sortie with full fuel tanks, then flew roughly 900 km to Israel, escorted in by two Israeli Air Force Mirage III fighters to Hatzor Air Base.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>Why did the West want a MiG-21 so badly?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>The MiG-21 was the Soviet Union's most advanced fighter and the standard interceptor of Arab air forces that Israel and the United States expected to fight. Capturing one intact let Western pilots study its strengths and weaknesses \u2014 much as enthusiasts today can experience the type through <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/bob-menery-arbys-cheesesteak-supersonic-mig-21\/\">civilian MiG-21 flights<\/a>.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>What happened to the captured MiG-21 after Operation Diamond?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>Israel flight-tested the aircraft extensively and later shared it with the United States, where it underwent the famous HAVE DOUGHNUT evaluation. The intelligence gained helped Israeli pilots in the 1967 Six-Day War and shaped Western air-combat tactics for years.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>Were there other attempts to steal a MiG-21?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>Yes. The Mossad had hunted for a MiG-21 since 1963, and two earlier recruitment attempts in Egypt and Iraq failed \u2014 the Egyptian effort ending in betrayal and the hanging of agents. Aircraft have long been prizes of espionage, as the Cold War <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/ep-3-hainan-island-incident-2001\/\">Hainan EP-3 incident<\/a> later showed.<\/p><\/div><\/details><\/div>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was Operation Diamond?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Operation Diamond (Hebrew: Mivtza Yahalom) was a Mossad intelligence operation, run from 1963 to 1966, that obtained a flyable Soviet MiG-21 for the West. On 16 August 1966, Iraqi Air Force captain Munir Redfa defected by flying his MiG-21F-13 about 900 km from Iraq to Hatzor Air Base in Israel, delivering the Soviet Union's most advanced fighter intact.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who was Munir Redfa?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Munir Redfa was an Iraqi Air Force captain and deputy squadron commander, born in 1934 into a prosperous Assyrian Christian family. Repeatedly passed over for promotion, restricted to small fuel loads, and ordered to attack Kurdish villages \u2014 a duty that reportedly disgusted him \u2014 he agreed to defect with his MiG-21.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How did Israel get a MiG-21?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Mossad recruited Redfa after making the MiG-21 a top intelligence priority in 1963. 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Capturing one intact let Western pilots study its strengths and weaknesses \u2014 much as enthusiasts today can experience the type through <a href=\\\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/bob-menery-arbys-cheesesteak-supersonic-mig-21\/\\\">civilian MiG-21 flights<\/a>.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What happened to the captured MiG-21 after Operation Diamond?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Israel flight-tested the aircraft extensively and later shared it with the United States, where it underwent the famous HAVE DOUGHNUT evaluation. The intelligence gained helped Israeli pilots in the 1967 Six-Day War and shaped Western air-combat tactics for years.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Were there other attempts to steal a MiG-21?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. The Mossad had hunted for a MiG-21 since 1963, and two earlier recruitment attempts in Egypt and Iraq failed \u2014 the Egyptian effort ending in betrayal and the hanging of agents. Aircraft have long been prizes of espionage, as the Cold War <a href=\\\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/ep-3-hainan-island-incident-2001\/\\\">Hainan EP-3 incident<\/a> later showed.\"}}]}<\/script><!-- \/mf-faq -->\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/the-mig-21-10000-built-60-countries-still-flying\/\">The MiG-21: 10,000 Built, 60 Countries, Still Flying<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/the-mig-25-foxbat-panic-that-rewrote-fighter-design\/\">The MiG-25 Foxbat Panic That Rewrote Fighter Design<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-opera-osirak-reactor-raid-1981\/\">Eight Jets That Erased a Nuclear Reactor<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Operation Diamond: how the Mossad spent three years persuading Iraqi pilot Munir Redfa to fly his MiG-21 to Israel in 1966 &#8211; and how the stolen jet shaped the Six-Day War.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":3542710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3542903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Operation Diamond: How Mossad Stole a MiG-21<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 1966 Mossad&#039;s Operation Diamond persuaded Iraqi pilot Munir Redfa to fly his MiG-21 to Israel, 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