The Ofira Air Battle was one of the first air battles of the Yom Kippur War. On 6 October 1973, Egypt launched a massive surprise attack on Israel that included over 200 Egyptian aircraft participating in an opening airstrike. In one of the first engagements near Israeli Air Force Base Ofir at Sharm el-Sheikh, on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, two Israeli Phantoms engaged 20 Egyptian Air Force MiG-17s and their eight MiG-21 escorts on their way to attack Israeli positions in the area. By the end of the brief six-minute battle, seven MiGs were confirmed to have been shot down. The remaining MiGs disengaged and the Israeli Phantoms returned to their base.
Read more about Ofira Air Battle: Prelude, Battle, Aftermath, Egyptian Account
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And call upon my soul within the house;
Write loyal cantons of contemned love,
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Halloo your name to the reverberate hills,
And make the babbling gossip of the air
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—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The battle which I witnessed took place in the Presidency of Polk, five years before the passage of Webster’s Fugitive-Slave Bill.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)