Munir Redfa
| Munir Redfa | |
|---|---|
| Native name | منير ردفا |
| Born |
Munir Habib Jamil Rufa 1934 Baghdad, Iraq |
| Died | 1998 |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Nationality | Iraqi |
| Occupation | Fighter pilot |
Captain Munir Redfa (Arabic: منير ردفا), born Munir Habib Jamil Rufa (Arabic: منير حبيب جميل روفا) (1934 – c. 1998[1]) was an Iraqi fighter pilot who defected in 1966 by flying a MiG-21 of the Iraqi Air Force to Israel. In what is considered as one of the Mossad's most successful operations, Redfa's entire extended family was smuggled safely out of Iraq to Israel. The MiG-21 fighter was evaluated by the Israeli Air Force and was later loaned to the United States for testing and intelligence analysis. Knowledge obtained from analysis of the aircraft was instrumental to the successes achieved by the Israeli Air Force in its future encounters with Arab MiG-21s.[1] Redfa's defection was the subject of the movie Steal the Sky (1988).
Redfa was an Assyrian Christian.
Redfa died of a heart attack around 1998.[1]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 Reuven Weiss (May 29, 2007). "The Blue Bird legend". YNet News. .
External links
- Stealing a Soviet MiG, Jewish Virtual Library.
- In 1966, Israeli Intelligence Convinced an Iraqi Pilot to Defect with His MiG-21 Fighter (2016 article by Tom Cooper)