Israeli Mirage III and Nesher Aces

On the evening of 17 October 1973, six fighter pilots arrived at Refidim, in Sinai, to take over responsibility for keeping a force of Nesher fighters on alert at the forward air base. Avraham Salmon, Dror Harish and Gidon Livni were from No 101 Sqn, while Moshe Hertz, Gidon Dror and Ra’anan Yosef were No 113 Sqn pilots. Hertz was the latter unit’s senior deputy CO, while Livni was No 101’s reconnaissance officer. Yosef was a No 113 Sqn EP (emergency posting) pilot, and Salmon, Harish and Dror were reserve pilots. All seasoned veterans they already boasted a combined score of 22.5 kills. Salmon and Harish were aces, Dror, Hertz and Livni were on their way and young Yosef would probably have joined this elite ‘club’ had he been in combat longer.On 18 October the detachment was active as usual, with Salmon and Dror intercepting Egyptian MiG-17s at noon. Dror reported; ‘We arrived over the bridgehead before the attackers. We turned 360-degrees and then saw a four-ship formation of MiG-17s diving from south to north towards the bridges. Avrahamik chased the left-hand MiG but I saw another four-ship formation trailing behind the first. I manoeuvred behind the trailing one, so there were nine aircraft ahead of me – two MiG-17 four-ship formations and Avrahamik in between. I chased the right-hand MiG in the trailing formation and shot it down with a Shafrir 2. Within moments I had shot down the right-hand MiG of the leading formation with my second missile. I manoeuvred behind the remaining three MiGs of the trailing formation. My intention was to use my cannon to shoot down as many as possible. Then Avrahamik called for help. Due to the explosion of the second MiG that I had shot down, his canopy was covered with debris and he could barely see anything. I led him back to a safe landing at Refidim. Six MiGs also returned home safely.’The alert Neshers at Refidim were in action again in the afternoon, protecting the Israeli bridgehead from Egyptian air strikes. In a multi-bogey engagement, Hertz and Livni, with Harish and Yosef, shot down two MiG-17s and five MiG-21s. Two of the kills were among the most spectacular ever captured by the delta-fighter’s gunsight cameras. Flying Nesher 09, Gidon Livni downed a MiG-21 crossing from left to right, while Nesher 10, flown by Ra’anan Yosef, shot down a MiG-21, the gun-sight camera catching it with its braking ’chute deployed – the subject of this cover artwork.‘The attacking MiG-17s and escorting MiG-21s arrived as an armada’, Yosef later reported. ‘I immediately followed a pair of MiG-21s flying in close formation. One “stitch” and I was behind the trailing MiG. I opened fire and hit the empennage. The MiG lost control, its braking ’chute was deployed, and when it was nearly vertical, pointing downwards, the pilot ejected’