A four-part documentary series commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. The story of the surprise, the failure, the recovery and the heroism of the fighters of Squadron 201 in the Yom Kippur War, as has never been told before. The series presents new testimonies of pilots and navigators, who stand for the first time in front of the cameras and in frank monologues deal with the open wound left by the war.
Phantom Squadron 201 (“The One”), was the fighter squadron that suffered the heaviest losses in the war – seven of its pilots and navigators were killed, 14 pilots and navigators were captured, 15 of the squadron’s planes were damaged, crashed and abandoned. Despite the heavy losses, “One” took off for 758 sorties, and was the Phantom squadron that managed to shoot down the largest number of enemy aircraft in the war
The series is presented, among other things, through the unique point of view of the journalist Sima Kadmon (Sima Shavit), a young soldier, who served as the squadron’s operations officer. For the past 25 years Kadmon has been a political columnist in the Friday issue of “Yediot Ahronoth”
Many of the veterans of the squadron became, later, key figures in the security, public and political system in Israel, among them – Dan Halutz, Eitan Ben-Eliyahu, Ron Huldai, Gil Regev. The fighters of “HaHat” open their hearts in the series in front of Kadmon and talk for the first time in front of the cameras, 50 years later, about the crisis of command in the squadron, about the conflicts and fractures that refuse to heal even after half a century, about pilots who pretended to be sick, so as not to take off on dangerous sorties, about the torture they went through in captivity and One traumatic foray, which is controversial to this day.
Episode 2: The commander of the “one” squadron takes off for his first sortie only on the fourth day of the war and is replaced four days later. Some of the squadron’s fighters are afraid to take off on dangerous sorties.
Episode 3: 50 years after a traumatic air battle in the depths of Egypt, the participants of the sortie appear for the first time in front of the cameras and raise questions about the conduct of their leader, Eitan Ben-Eliyahu.
Episode 4: A young pilot, whose eagerness to shoot down a Syrian MiG killed his navigator, speaks bravely about the failure and feelings of guilt. And the mystery of his Doron’s death, four years after he shot down the Libyan plane.
