101 Squadron was formed at two air bases simultaneously: IAF Ekron, former RAF Aqir, currently Tel Nof Airbase, and Žatec, code-named "Zebra", in northwestern Czechoslovakia, a former Luftwaffe airfield close to a Messerschmitt production facility.

Pilots received initial flight training on the Avia S-199s, Czechoslovak-built copies of the Bf 109G with 1,320 hp Junkers Jumo 211F powerplants.

During the next ferry-flight a C-46 was used as a navigation guide, and a corvette was readied off the coast in case any aircraft had to be ditched and pilots rescued from water.

[1] Four of these flew the squadron's first mission on 29 May 1948, strafing the Egyptian ground forces near Ad Halom, in the prelude to Operation Pleshet.

The squadron was moved in October to Hatzor Airbase from the strip in due to its unsuitability in rainy conditions, probable loss of clandestine status, fluidity of the front lines which made former British bases safe for use, and a shift in the balance of air superiority towards the Israelis.