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Ofira Air Battle

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Ofira Air Battle
Part of the Yom Kippur War

An Egyptian MiG-17, one of the seven downed, in the Ofira Air Base.
DateOctober 6, 1973
Location
Sinai, Egypt
Result Israeli Victory
Belligerents
Israel Israel Egypt Egypt
Strength
2 Phantom aircraft

20 MiG-17 aircraft,

8 MiG-21 aircraft
Casualties and losses
None 6 MiG-17, 1 MiG-21 aircraft shot down

The Ofira Air Battle was one of the of the first air battles of the Yom Kippur War. It took place near the Israeli Air Force (IAF) base in Ofira, Sharm el-Sheikh in South Sinai on 6 October, 1973. It involved two Israeli Phantoms and, according to the IAF pilots, 20 Egyptian MiG-17s, that were on their way to attack Israeli Defense Forces in the area. They were supported by eight MiG-21s fighters. By the end of the brief six-minute battle, seven MiGs were confirmed to have been shot down.[1] The remaining MiGs disengaged and the Israeli Phantoms returned to their base.[2]

Prelude

In the summer of 1973, Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 accidentally flew over Sinai. It was ordered by the IAF to land but refused and was subsequently shot down. The IAF high command feared this might lead to a reprisal against El-Al planes en route to South Africa and back, and deployed two Phantoms at Ofira.[3] Another reason for deploying the phantoms was to watch out for MiGs from Hurghada that periodically threatened the small Israeli navy Red Sea flotilla, and the Hawk missile batteries guarding the Red Sea straits.[4] The base commander was Yak Nevo.[3]

On Yom Kippur, 6 October, 1973, there were two pilots in the base, codenamed "Hemi" and "Shuki", and two copilots, "Bino" and "Mor". All were relatively inexperienced. At 9:00 AM they were given a red alert by the controller. At 1:50 PM the sirens were sounded. The controller ordered them to stay alert but after a few seconds told them he saw several low-flying formations on advancing toward them on the radar. Hemi decided to ignore the orders, told the mechanics to start the planes and took off. Shuki joined him.[5]

Battle

Soon after take off, the MiGs began bombing the runways. Hemi took charge and told Shuki to dump the detachable fuel tanks and to take the west end of the base while he would take the east one. Hemi shot down one MiG with a Sidewinder missile. He turned back toward the base and crossed two MiGs bombing it. They rose and flew away. The base's MIM-23 Hawk battery held fire to avoid hitting the Israeli planes, and two MiGs dived down to destroy it. Hemi started to chase the leading MiG flying as low as possible and fired his Gatling gun but missed. The MiG aborted its bombing mission. Hemi tried to chase it, but found out his right engine was turned off, presumably because the engine's flame died down while he was firing. He tried to start the engine in mid air. He broke away from the MiG to attack its partner's tail. The MiG turned sharply toward him. Hemi pulled up until he was facing the MiG and passed it by and shot it down. The second MiG fled.[6]

Hemi saw another pair of MiG-17s attacking a nearby communications unit near the bay. They were startled and one of them fired its air-to-surface missiles at Hemi, who shot it down with guided missile at a distance of 600 meters. Meanwhile, Shuki shot down three planes and was looking for the fourth. Two MiG-21s attacked. One of them found itself in an inferior position and descended at a speed of 500 knots to sea level, hit water, bounced back up and bounced up again. Then it pulled up and flew away. Shuki was running out of fuel and intended to land on the damaged runway. Hemi was blinded by a by a flash of light reflected by another pair of MiGs trying to escape. Hemi shot it down and its partner fled to the mountains. Hemi had almost run out of fuel and decided not to chase it.[7]

Aftermath

Hemi and Shuki consulted the forward air controller and decided to land on the parallel runway, which was shorter but less damaged. They began preparing the planes for another Egyptian attack.[8] The pilots, later identified as Amir Nahumi, Daniel Shaki, David Regev and Yosef Yavin were awarded the distinguished service medal for their performance in the battle.[3]

The Ras Nasrani Air Base was among other Israeli air bases in the Sinai targeted by the Egyptian air strike on October 6, which involved around 220 aircraft.[9][10] Ras Nasrani was the former Egyptian name for the Israeli Ofira Air Base.[11] The MiG-21 aircraft escorting the MiG-17s in the airstrike against Ras Nasrani were part of the No. 25 Sqn of the EAF's 102nd Air Wing. The MiG-21s did not participate in the ground attack, and according to the pilots no aerial opposition was ever encountered. Total Egyptian losses in the air strike on October 6 were one aircraft and four helicopters.[10]

Egyptian commanders mention that five aircraft were lost in the airstrike; Saad El Shazly, the Egyptian Chief of Staff, stated that total losses from October 6 up to the morning of October 7 were five aircraft.[12][13] According to Simon Dunstan, the air strike resulted in a total of five Egyptian aircraft losses (although Dunstan does not specify which air bases were targeted in the airstrike).[14] Another Egyptian commander, Abdel Ghani el-Gamasy, also reported just five aircraft losses for the entire air strike.

References

  1. ^ Aloni (2001), p. 80
  2. ^ Pollack (2002), p. 125
  3. ^ a b c Welden, Asaf (2003-10). "incontrovertibly". IAF Magazine. No. 153. Retrieved 2008-11-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Template:He icon
  4. ^ Yonay (1993), pp. 318-319
  5. ^ Cohen (1990), pp. 453-454
  6. ^ Cohen (1990), pp. 454-457
  7. ^ Cohen (1990), pp. 457-458
  8. ^ Cohen (1990), p. 458
  9. ^ Hassan El Badri, The Ramadan War, 1973 p.156.
  10. ^ a b Nicolle, David; Cooper, Tom (2004-05-25). Arab MiG-19 and MiG-21 units in combat. Osprey Publishing. p. 38-39. ISBN 1841766550.
  11. ^ Israeli Air Force Air Bases
  12. ^ Saad El Shazly, The Crossing of the Suez p.226-227
  13. ^ El Gamasy, The October War, 1973 p.206
  14. ^ Simon Dunstan, The Yom Kippur War 1973 The Arab-Israeli War of 1973, p.33

Bibliography

  • Aloni, Shlomo (2001-02-25). Arab-Israeli Air Wars 1947-1982. Osprey Publishing. p. 96. ISBN 1841762946.
  • Cohen, Eliezer (1990). The Sky is not the Limit: The Story of The Israeli Air Force. Tel-Aviv: Sifriyat Maariv. Template:He icon (English: Cohen, Eliezer (1994-03-10). Israel's Best Defense: The First Full Story of the Israeli Air Force. Airlife Publishing Ltd. p. 504. ISBN 1853104841.
  • Pollack, Kenneth M. (2004-09-01). Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991. Bison Books. p. 717. ISBN 0803287836.
  • Yonay, Ehud (1993-04-13). No Margin for Error: The Making of the Israeli Air Force (1st ed.). Pantheon. p. 426. ISBN 0679415637.

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