Aluf (ret.) Herzl Bodinger (Hebrew: הרצל בודינגר; born 1943) is a retired general in the Israel Defense Forces, he served as the former Commander in Chief of the Israeli Air Force and currently serves as a member of the International Board of Governors for Ariel University.[1]
Bodinger was born in Israel and joined the IDF in 1961. He volunteered to attend the flight academy and graduated as a fighter pilot, flying the Dassault Mystère and Sud Aviation Vautour.
During the Six-Day War, Bodinger served as a Vautour pilot and participated in Operation Moked, attacking airfields in Iraq and Egypt and destroying ten Tupolev Tu-16 bombers on the ground. During the Yom Kippur War, he was a Mirage III pilot, and shot down a Syrian MiG-17. During post-war conflicts, he shot down a Syrian MiG-21 over Lebanon.
Bodinger went on to command the Israeli Air Force from January 1992 to July 1996. During his 35-year career, Bodinger accumulated about 6,000 flight hour and conducted 451 aerial sorties.
Following his retirement from the air force, Bodinger was appointed to head RADA Electronic Industries. In the 2000s, he headed a committee appointed by Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz to prepare a plan for Israel's airports.
