Anybody know if the IDF used their Avia S-199s for ground attack? I’ve seen a color plate showing one with an ETC 50/ VIID (?) rack and 4 SC50 bombs. I cant find any photo confirmation . Real thing or flight of fancy? ( I know the S-199 was a BF 109G airframe, so it sounds logical. )
I have the White Crow book on the S-199 in the IAF by Yofe and Nyveen. I don’t see any clear shots, but there are several that seem to show something under the fuselage and they refer to bombing missions with a couple of 70 kg bombs.
Michael 
So there is some basis in fact. Here’s the color plate I saw. (there is another on the Wings Pallette site) . Also saw a model of of one with a bomb load … but it also had the Czech blown hood , which were not on the ships provided to IDF, which makes the accuracy suspect . As for bombs, would the Czechs have provided old German bombs with the aircraft? Or Soviet ones? British ones left from Mandate days?
Indeed. As a matter of fact, the first two combat missions of these airplanes were flown against Egyptian and Iraqi (some say Jordanian) ground forces. Sources do mention strafings and bombings.
In any case, I did find this photo:
By the end of the war, the S-199 “Sakin” (Knife) fleet was also credited with five aerial victories: two Egyptian Dakotas and a Spitfire, a Syrian Harvard and a Jordanian Rapide.
Bombs look like SC50s to me, though it doesnt look like the bomb rack is installed. Must be at a museum. As far as I can tell the green/brown camo was not used on them in service. Need to add a few S-199s to the tally. I saw that the sycro mechanism had a habit of malfunctioning and several pilots shot their own props off. Oops!
