The story of the hardest-fought air war of the jet era, where highly trained Israeli air forces almost met their match against Egypt and Syria's high-tech MiGs and missiles. The Yom Kippur War, or October War of 1973 was perhaps the most intensive and savage air war in history. It pitted more than 300 Israeli combat aircraft – including modern US-built Phantoms and Skyhawks – against nearly 1,000 advanced Soviet-built jets from Egypt, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. During a war lasting just 19 days, each side flew an average of more than 1,000 sorties per day, and both sides lost around one-third of their aircraft. Veteran Middle East aviation historian Shlomo Aloni explains how, in contrast to the striking success of the Six-Day War, Israel’s prewar plans failed in 1973. Since the Six-Day War, Israel had modernized its air force and planned in detail for this air war. But the IDF underestimated the effectiveness of the latest Soviet air defense technology and doctrine, particularly the new SA-6 missile system. With archive photos, spectacular combat artwork, 3D diagrams, and maps, this book unravels the complexities of one of the fiercest air wars of modern times, and explains how Israel's eventual victory was achieved against the odds and at a grave cost.

From the B-17 Flying Fortress and PBY Catalina, via the F-4 Phantom to the F-15I Thunder, Israeli Air Force 69 Squadron, the Hammers, have always been the long-range, heavy bombing element of Israeli air power. 69 Sqdn. fought in six wars and flew thousands of missions. The first Hammers mission was the bombardment of Cairo in July 1948. The final B-17 missions were flown during the 1956 Suez War, the last of the Flying Fortresses to bomb operationally anywhere. From 1969, the Hammers flew the legendary F-4 through participation in the War of Attrition, the Yom Kippur War and the Lebanon War. Flying the F-15I since 1998, the Hammers story of operations, aircraft and persons is the essence of this book that unveils, for the first time ever, the full story of Israeli B-17 operations, the complete story of how the Israeli Phantoms defeated the Syrian SAM network in Lebanon, the thundering introduction of the F-15I into Israeli service, and much more.

The French Vautour was designed to serve as an attack aircraft, bomber and nightfighter. Israel purchased all three versions and was the only nation to operate all three types. Sqdn.110 recon Vautours collected imagery crucial for IAF Operation Focus, the pre-emptive strike that opened the June 1967 Six Day War. It was during this war that Sqdn. 110 attack Vautours spearheaded the IAF air superiority offensive.

Israel acquired sixty-one Dassault Mystere IVA combat aircraft from France that were delivered to the Israeli Air Force from April to September 1956 and were issued to two units: Squadron 101 at Hatzor, in the south, and Squadron 109 at Ramat David, in the north. From 1956 until 1959, and to a lesser extent from 1959 until 1962, the Mystere was the ILAF's cutting-edge interceptor. From 1959, the Mystere's main mission shifted from air-to-air to air-to-ground, as more modern interceptors-Super Mystere from 1959 and Mirage from 1962-entered Israeli Air Force service. At the same time, the Israeli Air Force initiated an effort to introduce an attack aircraft to succeed the Mystere. The Squadron 109 Mystere era therefore covered mostly air-to-air from 1956 until 1962 and mostly air-to-ground from 1962 until 1968.

In the years that preceded the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel invested heavily in the creation of a heavy attack force of four F-4 Phantom/Kurnass squadrons. They would fly 3,000+ sorties, claim 80+ kills, and suffer 30+ losses during the nineteen days of one of the most intensive, savage wars in modern military history. This book delves into the details of individual Israeli F-4 Phantom/Kurnass crew missions and their day-to-day operations during the war. This is a must for anyone with interest in F-4 Phantom operations, Israeli Air Force heritage, and modern military history.

On one day in June, the balance of air power in the Middle East was turned upside down by perhaps the most ruthlessly effective air superiority campaign in history – Operation Moked, or Focus.

In 1967, the Israeli Air Force was outnumbered more than two to one by the jets of hostile Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq. Operation Focus was Israel's ingenious strike plan to overturn the balance. At 0745hrs on June 6, Israeli jets hit Egypt's airfields simultaneously, first bombing runways and then strafing aircraft. Another 20 follow-up missions were already in the air, initially scheduled to hit every five minutes.

This new history of Operation Focus explains how the concept for Focus was devised and meticulously planned, the astonishing rate of serviceability and turnaround speed it required from ground crews, and how the relentless tempo of strikes shattered one air force after another. It is the story of how Israel's victory in the Six-Day War began with a single, shocking day.

By participating in 1956 Suez Crisis Israel exploited an opportunity to join forces with France and the United Kingdom in an attack against Egypt in order to accomplish diplomatic, military and political objectives: to open the Red Sea international shipping lane to ships sailing from and to Eilat; to strengthen its alliance with France; to end - or at least to scale down - Egyptian hosted Palestinian terror attacks against Israel; to launch a preventive war in order to crush Egyptian military power before its completion of the transition to Soviet weapons could tempt Egypt to attack Israel and in order to accomplish a profound victory to deter Egypt from pursuing a another round of war policy. Operation KADESH was the Israeli part in the Anglo-French attack and this title chronicles Israeli Air Force operations along the timeline of Operation KADESH- from day 1 on 29 October 1956 until day 11 on 8 November 1956 - in thus far unmatched depth and detail; all known Israel Air Force missions and sorties are listed and described and all air combats between Israeli Mysteres and Egyptian MiGs and Vampires are presented and analysed. The large variety of aircraft flown - Dassault Mysteres, Dassault Ouragans and Gloster Meteors; B-17 Flying Fortresses, P-51 Mustangs and De Havilland Mosquitoes; T-6 Texans (Harvards) and T-17 Kaydets (Stearmans); Nord 2501 Noratlases, C-47 Skytrains (Dakotas), Pipers and Consuls and even a pair of Sikorsky S-55 helicopters - are all covered in this title, which presents Israeli Air Force operations during the Suez War in a depth and detail unseen in previous publications. The text is supported by numerous photographs and colour profiles. Middle East@War - following on from our highly-successful Africa@War series, Middle East@War replicates the same format - concise, incisive text, rare images and high quality colour artwork providing fresh accounts of both well-known and more esoteric aspects of conflict in this part of the world since 1945.