Bir Gifgafa Airfield Bir Gifgafa ( also Bir - Jifjafah , Meliz or Rephidim ) is an airfield in the Sinai , 90 km east of the Suez Canal . During the 1960s and 1970s it played a significant role in Arab - Israeli wars , at different times serving both Egypt and Israel . Construction . Bir Gifgafa was constructed by the Egyptian Air Force in the aftermath of the Suez Crisis of 1956 . Assigned base number 244 , it was responsible for providing air cover and close support for Egyptian Army units in the Sinai . The Six Day War . On May 22 , 1967 , as Israel and its Arab neighbours were drawing closer to war , president Gamel Abdel Nasser of Egypt visited Bir Gifgafa , meeting with Egyptian Air Force ( EAF ) pilots and commanders . In a much publicized press conference Nasser announced his intention to close the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and declared that We are now on the verge of a confrontation with Israel , adding that If the Jews threaten us war ? I say to them " Welcome , we are ready for war ! " As the most important Egyptian air base in the Sinai , housing units that could pose a major threat to Israeli aerial supremacy , Bir Gifgafa figured prominently in the Israeli Air Force ' s planning for a pre - emptive strike . On the eve of the war the air base contained elements of the EAF ' s 15th fighter regiment , including part of the 45th fighter squadron flying MiG - 21F - 13s or MiG - 21PFs . A number of transports and Mil Mi - 6 helicopters were stationed there as well . No less than six IAF formations were therefore assigned to attack the base : four Dassault Ouragan formations from 113 Squadron at Hatzor and two 109 Squadron Dassault Mystere formations from Ramat David . When Israel finally launched Operation Focus on June 5 , Bir Gifgafa was the target of the very first formation to take off from Hatzor at 07 : 14 . The four Ouragans , led by Captain Ran Alon , struck the field at 07 : 45 , hitting the runway and destroying several aircraft , including one MiG - 21 which had just taken off . The MiG was downed by Captain David Yariv , who was himself subsequently hit by anti - aircraft fire and killed . The fierce anti - aircraft fire took its toll on the other aircraft as well , with a second Ouragan forced to perform a belly landing upon returning to Ramat David , while Captain Mordechai Lavon became a prisoner of war after ejecting his stricken aircraft over the Mediterranean and swimming ashore at Gaza . By 09 : 05 , when the first wave of operation Focus was concluded , Bir Gifgafa had been hit by three more 113 Squadron formations and by four 109 Squadron Dassault Mysteres . Another 109 Squadron formation arrived at Bir Gifgafa at 09 : 55 , while four 105 Squadron Super Mysteres attacked the field in the afternoon , although by then Bir Gifgafa had been completely disabled and there was little damage to be done . The Egyptian air force had lost as many as 20 MiG - 21s , at least four Mi - 6s and a MiG - 15UTI . Although defended by the 4th Armored Division of the Egyptian army , plus a motorized infantry brigade , these forces were withdrawn as the Egyptian effort in the Sinai collapsed , and the airfield was taken by the IDF ' s 84th Tal Division on June 7 . Once secure , IAF Nords and Dakotas begun flying in supplies for the Israeli army , as well as an MIM - 23 Hawk battery to provide air defence . Several dozen AA - 2 Atoll missiles and nine missile launchers were captured in Bir Gifgafa . Testing proved their compatibility with the Mirage III , and these were pressed into service with 119 Squadron in December 1967 , after several successful test firings the previous month . Rephidim Airbase . Israeli gains in the Six Day War meant that a great distance now lay between the air force ' s air bases and the front lines in the Sinai , along the Suez Canal . Israel therefore decided to employ Bir Gifgafa as a forward operating base . Following Egyptian Air Force incursions into the Sinai , four 101 Squadron Mirages first deployed there on July 26 , 1967 . Bir Gifgafa officially resumed operations in May 1968 as Israeli Air Force Base ( " Baha " ) 3 . It was named Rephidim , after the station mentioned in the Biblical account of the Exodus from Egypt . Despite having the most rudimentary installations at first , the field and its surrounding environs soon became the hub of all IDF operations in the western Sinai , housing various air force , army and logistical units . It was also the IAF ' s transportation hub for the Sinai and was often frequented by the IAF ' s heavy transport aircraft , such as the C - 97 Stratocruiser and Boeing 707 , as well as lesser types . The War of Attrition . As fighting intensified along the Suez Canal , the Israeli Air Force now dispatched its fighter squadrons on regular deployments to the airfield , with four pilots and aircraft rotating every two or three weeks . Two aircraft regularly stood on quick reaction alert ( QRA ) at the base , ready to scramble within 5 minutes . Many of the kills achieved by Israeli fighter pilots between 1967 and 1973 were claimed by the Rephidim QRA aircraft , and many pilots sought to be stationed there during times of tension , eager to improve their chances of achieving a victory . The base was also the forward recovery base for any aircraft damaged or low on fuel , as well as the premier medical station for soldiers wounded in the fighting along the Canal , from which they were then ferried to Israel . Rephidim was permanently at the forefront of fighting between Israel and Egypt during War of Attrition , taking part in every major incident along the Suez Canal , as well as numerous minor ones . On August 26 , 1967 , a pair of Egyptian Su - 7 s struck at the field , damaging the main runway . One was shot down by anti - aircraft artillery , while the second evaded the two 119 Squadron Mirages scrambled to intercept it . The first kill by a Rephidim based aircraft came on October 10 , 1967 , when Avihu Bin - Nun , leading a pair of 119 Squadron Mirages , shot down an Egyptian MiG - 21 over the Sinai . It was the QRA aircraft at Rephidim which provided cover for the rescue efforts following the sinking of INS Eilat , and Mirages from Rephidim also took part in Rimon 20 , the July 1970 air battle which saw 5 Soviet - flown MiG - 21s shot down . The Yom Kippur War . During the Yom Kippur War of 1973 , Rephidim was once again at the forefront of fighting between Israel and Egypt . Although a heightened state of alert had been declared throughout the IAF on October 5 , Rephidim was ill prepared for the Egyptian attack which launched the war . 16 Su - 7s , escorted by 6 MiG - 21s , struck the field at 14 : 00 on October 6 , escaping unharmed . Although the main runway was disabled for four hours , the parallel taxiway was operational within 30 minutes of the attack , allowing Rephidim to join the fighting now raging along the Suez Canal . Two 119 Squadron F - 4 Phantoms ( the squadron had retired the Mirage in 1970 ) launched from Rephidim to assist Israeli units under attack , and pilot Moshe Melnik with navigator Zvi Tal shot down an AS - 5 Kelt launched by a Tu - 16 as well as a Su - 7 . Later in the afternoon , a mixed pair consisting of a Phantom and an IAI Nesher scrambled from Rephidim to down several Mi - 8 helicopters airlifting Egyptian commandos into the Sinai . That same night also saw the IAF deploying several helicopters to Rephidim for medevac ( medical evacuation ) duties . One Israeli CH - 53 was shot down over the field on October 12 , killing five crewmen . Israeli withdrawal and aftermath . Following the Camp David Accords , Rephidim was the very first air base from which Israel withdrew in late 1979 . Although the accords prohibit Egypt from maintaining combat aircraft in the Sinai , Bir Gifgafa is still operational as a dual military and civilian airport . Several derelict C - 97s may have remained at Bir Gifgafa upon Israel ' s departure .