The Hercules That Flew to Entebbe Still Carries Its History

At Nevatim Air Base in southern Israel, Hercules No. 435 is still on the flight line and still flying missions nearly six decades after it entered service. The aircraft has supported operations in Lebanon, in Gaza maneuvers, and in the war with Iran, but it is best known for carrying Sayeret Matkal commandos to Entebbe on July 4, 1976, in one of the most famous operations in IDF history.

On Friday, Israel State Archives released classified records from the Entebbe operation for the first time, including government and cabinet minutes, discussions of whether to negotiate with the hijackers, the deception and planning before the raid, and the full presentation of the mission plan. The article revisits those hours through the testimony of Brig. Gen. retired Yehoshua “Shiki” Shani, then the air force commander for the mission, and Col. A’, the current commander of Squadron 131, known as the Yellow Bird Knights.

Shani said he and his team began assessing the mission as soon as Air France Flight 139, flying from Ben Gurion Airport to Paris, was hijacked on June 27, 1976 and forced to land in Uganda. He later briefed Air Force commander Benny Peled, then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and said Rabin asked whether the operation was feasible. Shani recalled answering, “Sir Prime Minister, go home and sleep, we will bring the hostages back in the morning.” He also said he estimated Entebbe would succeed only 50 percent of the time and that he learned of Yoni Netanyahu’s death less than an hour after the raid began.

The article says four Hercules planes took off from Ofira on July 3 and flew low to avoid radar, with Shani’s aircraft landing first and others holding seven minutes over the Kenya border. Mofaz? No, Dan Shomron, who later became IDF chief of staff, sat with Shani and Yoni Netanyahu in the cockpit. On the return via Nairobi, Shani saw the freed hostages in Hercules 420 and later compared their expressions to hostages released from Gaza.

Shani, now 81, helped build the Hercules fleet before the Yom Kippur War with Amnon HaLevi and brought the first 13 aircraft from the United States. A’, 37, said the squadron’s ethos is initiative and daring, from Entebbe to the 2023-24 war, when the unit flew nightly in the campaign the article calls “Operation Iron Swords,” bridging the distance between Israel and Iran. Three of the four Hercules aircraft that took part in Entebbe are still in active service, and current and former crews say the mission remains central to the squadron’s identity.