10019 Haifa Arms Exhibition 1957 copper

One of the symbols of joy following the victory in the Sinai War was the weapons exhibition held in 1957, which displayed the weapons used by the IDF in the war alongside the weapons taken as spoils from the enemy in the war. The exhibition, which was the largest in the country’s history up to that time, opened on April 29, 1957 at the Beit Dagan Junction. The IDF’s weapons display at the exhibition included field guns, tanks, including the veteran Sherman tanks, and the AMX-13 tanks that were supplied to Israel on the eve of the campaign and played a central role in it. The Air Force display included the veteran aircraft, from the Auster planes – the “Primus”, the Messerschmitt and Spitfire of the War of Independence, the Mustang of the 1950s, to the Mister 4 that participated in the Sinai campaign.

The military industry exhibited small arms, ammunition and bombs

The main attraction of the exhibition was the looted weapons, Czech cannons, self-propelled guns and T-34 tanks made in the Soviet Union, and the main attraction – a Soviet MiG-15 aircraft with its equipment and armament.

. The exhibition, which was the largest in the history of the country up to that time, opened on April 29, 1957 at the Beit Dagan junction. The exhibition in Beit Dagan closed on May 31, 1957 and was moved to Haifa. On June 19, the exhibition opened in Plumer Square, the railway plaza in downtown Haifa. In Haifa, an additional attraction was added to the exhibition – a visit by the public to the Egyptian warship “Ibrahim al-Awal”, which was taken prisoner with all its crew and turned into a naval ship, the Haifa Navy. To allow the public to pass from the exhibition site and board the ship without crossing the railroad tracks, a Bailey bridge was installed between the square and the Haifa Port

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, before an audience of three thousand people, speeches were delivered by Haifa Mayor Abba Hushi, Northern Command Major General Yitzhak Rabin, and Defense Ministry Director General Shimon Peres. The Commander of the Navy, Major General Shmuel Tankos, cut the ribbon, signaling the opening of the exhibition to the public. In his remarks, Shimon Peres said: “The public will witness this exhibition also on the high seas, and the high seas will be defended by the IDF with all its might.” Israel Post issued a special stamp on the occasion of the exhibition.

The exhibition in Haifa closed on July 20, 1957, after about a quarter of a million people had visited it.