Steal the Sky is a 1988 TV movie directed by John D. Hancock starring Ben Cross and Mariel Hemingway. It is a loose dramatization of the events of Operation Diamond, a Mossad operation to obtain a then-state-of-the-art Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 fighter for the Israeli Air Force.
The following weapons were used in the film Steal the Sky:
An Iraqi guard appears to be armed with an Uzi submachine gun. While this is unlikely in real life, it appears that almost all of the non-flying scenes were shot in Israel.
At least one of the Iraqi soldiers is armed with an Norinco Type 56.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingM22, early milled receiver model without under-folding ("pig sticker") bayonet - 7.62x39mmError creating thumbnail: File missingAn Iraqi guard with his Type 56. Note the stamped receiver, hooded front sight, and compensator. The airfield scenes were shot in Reno, Nevada, so they would not have access to authentic Soviet AKs.
Iraqi MiG-15 fighters are supposed to be armed with a pair of Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 cannons. But since the FAA does not allow civilian aircraft to be armed, these are more likely gas-powered replicas.
In reality, Captain Munir Redfa of the Iraqi Air Force defected with a MiG-21, which was quite an intelligence coup in 1966. As the filmmakers didn't have any MiG-21s available to them, they used MiG-15s. The production had three Polish-built MiG-15s on hand, two single seaters and one two-seater.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingUsing MiG-15s in place of MiG-21s didn't stop their Soviet adviser from describing the fighter as "the finest plane in the world." The secrets of the MiG-15 were revealed to the West years earlier in 1953 after the defection of a North Korean pilot.
Canadair CT-133
In reality, Munir Redfa was met by Israeli Air Force Mirage IIIs, which, like MiG-21s, were unavailable. The production had to make due with Canadair CT-133 trainers, which was a license built copy of the Lockheed T-33, which was a two seat trainer version of the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star. Although they had decals to suggest they were armed F-80s, these trainers were unarmed. Israel never actually operated either the T-33 or the F-80.
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