Dropping the Hammer, Operation Opera by Rick Herter

Early in the evening of 7 June, 1982, eight Israeli Air Force F-16’s appeared in sky near Baghdad, Iraq.

The target was the Osiris Nuclear Reactor at the Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center. In this scene, the last jet in the formation flown by Ilan Ramon has just dropped his bombs. The mission had been months in the planning stages and was led by IAF Col. Ze’ev Raz. The F-16’s chosen for the mission had only been in the IAF inventory for a little over a year and the airplane had never been flown in combat prior by either the United States or any of the allies operating the Fighting Falcon.

The operation was thought to be a one way suicide mission by several of the pilots, but after the successful strike, all the aircraft returned home and landed without a scratch. The threat to the nation of Israel neutralized!