Fighter Aircraft

Yom Kippur War: October 6 - October 26, 1973

The Yom Kippur War was fought by a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel. The war began with a surprise joint attack by Egypt and Syria on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Egypt and Syria crossed the cease-fire lines in the Sinai and Golan Heights, respectively, which had been captured by Israel in 1967 during the Six-Day War.

The Egyptians and Syrians advanced during the first 24–48 hours, after which momentum began to swing in Israel's favor. By the second week of the war, the Syrians had been pushed out of the Golan Heights. In the Sinai to the south, the Israelis struck at the seam between two invading Egyptian armies, crossed the Suez Canal (where the old ceasefire line had been), and cut off the Egyptian Third Army just as a United Nations cease-fire came into effect.

The Arab World, which had been humiliated by the lopsided defeat of the Egyptian-Syrian-Jordanian alliance during the Six-Day War, felt psychologically vindicated by its string of victories early in the conflict. This paved the way for the peace process that followed. The Camp David Accords, which came soon after, led to normalized relations between Egypt and Israel—the first time any Arab country had recognized the Israeli state. Egypt, which had already been drifting away from the Soviet Union, then left the Soviet sphere of influence entirely.

Israel's casualties at the end of the war amounted to 2,656 killed and about 7,250 wounded. Arab casualties came to about 8,528 - 15,000 killed, 19,540 - 35,000 wounded. According to Israel, the IAF lost 102 planes while the Egyptian Air Force lost 235 and the Syrian Air Force lost 135.

F-4 Phantom II 1960, U.S. / Israel, 1,472 mph
127 Phantoms were in service with the Israeli Air Force at the outbreak of the Yom-Kippur War. In the 18 days that had become known as the "Phantom's War", the four F-4 squadrons bore the brunt of IAF operations. Phantoms shot down about 18 Mig-21s and 7 Mig-17s during this war.

Armed with AIM-9 short-range, heat-seeking Sidewinder missiles, AIM-7 Sparrow medium-range, semi-active radar homing air-to-air missiles and 20mm guns. www.israeli-weapons.com/weapons/aircraft/f-4/F-4 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-4_Phantom_II

IAI Nesher 1972, French / Israel, 1,460 mph
These aircraft were actually French Mirage 5s that were crated to Israel to be built, as to avoid arms embargos concerning Israel.

These aircraft performed well during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, claiming over 100 kills with only 14 losses. One Israeli squadron claimed to have downed59 MiGs with only four Neshers lost. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAI_Nesher

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 1961, Russian/Arab, 1,385 mph
The MiG-21 first faced Israeli Mirage IIICs April 7th 1967 when six Syrian MiG-21's were shot down by the Israeli Mirage IIIs. This was a time of tension leading up to the Six-Day War. By the time of the Yom Kippur War, MiG-21s had to face the IAI Nesher that was really a Mirage 5 and the even more advanced F-4 Phantom.

MiGs are credited with shooting down about 15 Israeli aircraft during the Yom Kippur War. Most of the Phantoms lost were to Surface-to-air missiles. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-21