Hatzor Airbase 3.33

Hatzor Israeli Air Force Base, also titled Kanaf 4 is an Israeli Air Force military air base, located in central Israel near kibbutz Hatzor after which it is named. It was opened RAF Qastina in 1942 by the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom of Great Britain in the then British Protectorate of Palestine.HistoryRAF QastinaRAF Qastina, after the nearby Palestinian village of the same name, was an RAF station in Palestine between 1942 and 1948.On the night of 25 February 1946, Irgun militants attacked the airfield and destroyed several parked RAF Handley Page Halifax transports. Two additional RAF airfields, RAF Lydda (Ben Gurion International Airport) and RAF Kfar Sirkin, were attacked in what became known as the "Night of the Airplanes". Altogether, the attacks destroyed 20 RAF aircraft and damaged several others. Following these attacks, the RAF closed some of its Palestine-based planes to Egypt.RAF Units stationed at RAF Qastina: No. 47 Squadron RAF (1946) Handley Page Halifax A.7 & A.9No. 512 Squadron RAF (1945) Douglas DakotaNo. 644 Squadron RAF (1945-1946) Handley Page Halifax A.7 & A.9No. 651 Squadron RAF (1947-1948) Auster AOP6 On 15 March 1948, as the British Mandate for Palestine drew to a close, the RAF evacuated the airfield and it was taken over by Haganah forces.