The Dassault M.D.450 Ouragan (French: Hurricane) is a French fighter-bomber developed and produced by Dassault Aviation.
While in Israeli service, the type participated in both the Suez Crisis and the Six-Day War.
During the 1956 Suez Crisis, Ouragans principally flew ground-attack missions, but also flew escort missions. In the early hours of 30 October 1956, a pair of Ouragans shot down four hostile de Havilland Vampires in the Mitla Pass area. The two documented encounters between the Soviet-built MiG-15 fighters and the Ouragan (which were also powered by the Nene engine but furnished with a more modern swept wing) ended with one Ouragan surviving several 37 mm (1.46 in) cannon hits to fly the next day and one MiG-15 being heavily damaged by cannon fire after it entered a turning dogfight with the Ouragans. The poor training of the Egyptian pilots who were consistently unable to realize their advantage in numbers as well as the MiG-15’s speed and climb characteristics, helped Ouragans to survive despite their inferior performance.
On 31 October 1956, a pair of Ouragans armed with rockets strafed the Egyptian destroyer Ibrahim el Awal (ex-HMS Mendip), contributing to the capture of the ship. According to Munson, Israeli Ouragans were responsible for the destruction of a major proportion of the hostile tanks and military vehicles that came under aerial attack during the conflict, while only two Ouragans were lost during the five days of fighting, both of which were attributed to small arms fire. The Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is reported to have later stated “The Ouragan was a much better aeroplane than had been thought”