The squadron flew the Flying Fortress, an aircraft credited with propelling the IAF into the realm of modern aerial warfare, during both the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and 1956 Suez Crisis.

[3] In early 1948, with the upcoming end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the looming confrontation with Israel's Arab neighbors, the leadership of the Yishuv embarked on a worldwide effort to purchase weapons.

[4][5] By June 16 the story had made it to the press and the fourth plane, whose crew only barely managed to elude the FBI, was impounded in the Azores by Portuguese authorities.

At Žatec the three B-17s, missing bomb shackles and sights, oxygen systems and defensive weapons, were militarized and the squadron that was to operate them, at the time referred to as the "Hammers Program", first took shape.

Ray Kurtz, a former B-17 navigator with 31 missions over Europe, was assigned command of the squadron, staffed by an international crew of World War II veterans who volunteered to fight for Israel.

[6][5] Robert Luttrell, a sailor by trade, flying as a bombardier, recalled that for each mission the B-17s were given new markings and their armament was altered to lead the enemy to believe Israel possessed an entire squadron of the type.

Flying south along the Adriatic, near Crete the bombers separated, with Bill Katz and Ray Kurtz taking the only Fortress with an oxygen system and a proper sight to bomb the Royal Palace in Cairo, and the other two B-17s heading towards the REAF base at El-Arish.

In late October a number of sorties were flown against Tarshiha, in the Upper Galilee, in support of Operation Hiram against Fawzi al-Qawuqji's Arab Liberation Army.

On December 22, Israel launched Operation Horev, its last major offensive of the war, to defeat the Egyptian expeditionary force and expel it beyond the borders of Mandatory Palestine.

As Israel purchased more jet fighters, room had to be made for the new arrivals, and in September 1956 the IAF ordered the squadron to send its aircraft into storage and changed its status to reserve.

Israeli piston-engined aircraft flew few missions in the first two days of the war, but on October 31, 69 Squadron received an order to bomb Rafah in support of IDF Brigade 27 operations.

A repeat of the previous night's lack of communications with Israeli forces operating in the same area again prevented the strike, and the bombers dropped their loads on the outskirts of Gaza.

Still busy forming, receiving new aircraft, training and qualifying fresh airmen, the squadron was soon taking an increasingly large part in the IAF's ongoing battles against Egyptian air defences along the Suez Canal.

The IAF sought to hamper these advances through a renewed SEAD campaign and 69 Squadron saw repeated action against Egyptian air defences and related infrastructure.

Although the IAF possessed no operational answer to the massive air defence array forming west of the Canal, it still enjoyed supremacy in the air-to-air arena.

With no side securing a clear advantage, yet both able to claim military achievements, American pressure soon bore fruit and a ceasefire marking the end of the war came into effect on August 7, 1970.

[34][35] With the next round of the Arab–Israeli conflict deemed a mere matter of time, peacetime saw 69 Squadron engaged in developing new SEAD tactics and weapons and in renewed reconnaissance efforts.

A mission by reconnaissance Phantoms over northern Syria on September 13, 1973, triggered a large scale clash between the two air forces, resulting in the downing of 13 Syrian MiGs, one at the hands of 69 Squadron's Amnon Arad, and the loss of a single Israeli Mirage III.

Seven Phantoms led by squadron leader Yoram Agmon struck the air base at Gianaclis, and although two defending MiG-21s were shot down, the strike failed to cause significant damage.

Flying with outdated intelligence and no electronic screening against mobile SAM batteries and heavy flak, 6 IAF Phantoms were lost, including 69 Squadron's Ehud Hankin and Shaul Levy in Kurnass 123.

[41] The same evening saw appeals for help from the southern front, leading the squadron to fly strike missions against Egyptian bridges and assembly points on the Suez Canal.

The detailed planning and extensive training undertaken before the war had gone to waste and the sustained campaign required to defeat enemy air defences was abandoned in the face of Egyptian and Syrian advances.

The next day the IDF pushed into Syria, and 69 Squadron was at hand striking fuel depots, SAM sites and the air bases at Dumayr, Nasiriya and Damascus.

The Hammers cooperated with Rafael, Israel's weapon systems development authority, in the introduction of the Tadmit electro-optical fire-and-forget guided bomb, a modified version of the AGM-62 Walleye II.

[60] By the spring of 1982 tensions had risen again and the attempted assassination of the Israeli ambassador to London Shlomo Argov on June 3, 1982, prompted Israel to launch Operation Peace for Galilee.

One aircraft was damaged by enemy flak on the first day of the invasion, and two suffered landing accidents, but with poor weather and a shortage of targets, there was initially little fighting to be done.

It was therefore decided to launch a comprehensive assault on the Syrian defences, in order to secure aerial superiority over the area and ensure air support for Israeli ground forces.

It is these capabilities that place 69 Squadron at the forefront of Israel's strategic arm, and it this unit that is reputed to have undertaken Operation Orchard, the destruction of a Syrian nuclear site on September 6, 2007.

According to The Guardian, the refusal raised questions concerning the IDF's operational competence, as the pilots, who fly F-15I Strike Eagle jets, are "strategically crucial" to the Israeli military.

In response, Commander of the Israeli Air Force Tomer Bar and Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi announced they would meet with reservist pilots on 7 March.