Air Battle of El Mansoura The Air Battle of El Mansoura was an air battle that allegedly took place during the Yom Kippur War between the Egyptian Air Force ( EAF ) base near the town of El Mansoura , in the Nile Delta region . According to Egyptian sources , the Israeli Air Force ( IAF ) launched an air strike on October 14 against the Mansoura air base . Israeli aircraft were said to have been spotted approaching from the Mediterranean Sea . The 104th Air Wing scrambled its fighters , receiving additional reinforcements from other air bases . The air battle began at 15 : 15 and lasted 53 minutes . The Egyptian commander was Hosni Mubarak . Background . The 104th Air Wing had three squadrons equipped with MiG - 21MF fighters ; two squadrons were stationed at Mansoura , tasked with interception and air defense , and the third was stationed at the Tanta air base to defend both air bases . The IAF had made several attacks on the Mansoura air base from October 6 onwards , but failed due to dense Egyptian SAM defenses . At dawn on October 14 , when Egyptian forces made their advance towards the Sinai Mitla and Gedy Passes , the ground forces were given ground support by MiG - 17 s , Su - 7 s , Su - 20 s and Mirage III fighter bombers . These in turn were given fighter cover by the 104th ' s MiG - 21s . Although the Egyptian offensive on October 14 was a failure and culminated in heavy losses , the IAF was determined to destroy the 104th Air Wing ' s capabilities . A massive air strike would be launched against air bases in Salihiya , Mansoura and Tanta . In the aftermath of the Six Day War , when the EAF lost almost all its aircraft on the ground to an Israeli preemptive strike , the Egyptians constructed 500 concrete shelters on 20 major airbases to prevent the aircraft from being destroyed on the ground in a future conflict . Initial contact . On October 14 , when the Egyptians advanced from their bridgeheads along the Suez Canal , an Israeli air strike was expected to come against the Mansoura air base sooner or later , and consequently a number of MiG - 21s were kept at full alert at the end of the runway with their pilots , ready for immediate take - off . As of 15 : 00 , there was still no indication of an impending enemy attack . At 15 : 15 , air observation posts on the Mediterranean Sea notified EAF command that 20 Phantoms were approaching in south - west direction towards the Delta , flying over Port Said . The commander of the EAF , Air Marshal Hosni Mubarak ordered General Naser to scramble 16 MiG - 21s . The EAF command believed the enemy aircraft were only a decoy meant to lure the MiG - 21s away from the airbase , so that further waves of aircraft could attack the air base uninterrupted . Hence the fighter pilots were ordered to create a protective umbrella over the air base . Most importantly , they were instructed not to pursue and engage enemy aircraft before they had reached their target . The pilots were puzzled by the order , not knowing the reason behind it , as they expected to immediately engage the enemy after scrambling . In the event , the Israeli fighters continued to fly in broad circles for some time until , when it became clear the Egyptians would not leave the vicinity of the Mansoura air base , the Phantoms withdrew back to the sea . Battle . Sometime around 15 : 30 , the Egyptian Air Defense Command issued a warning that around sixty enemy aircraft were approaching from the Mediterranean Sea in three directions ; one from Port Said , another from Damietta , and the third from Baltim , to the west of Damietta . Mubarak ordered his pilots in the air to intercept them . The 16 MiG - 21s forming the air umbrella over Mansoura moved against the Israeli aircraft with the objective of breaking the enemy formations and forcing them to disperse . 16 MiG - 21s took off from Mansoura air base to support those in the air , along with eight fighters from Tanta air base , located west of Mansoura . The MiG - 21s intercepted the Israeli formation a few dozen kilometers north of Mansoura . At 15 : 38 , Egyptian radar installations informed the EAF command that a second wave of around 16 Israeli aircraft was coming from over the Mediterranean at very low altitude . The Egyptians scrambled a final eight MiG - 21s at Mansoura , while eight MiG - 21s from the Abu Hamad air base were called upon to assist . The ensuing air battle was intense , involving large numbers of aircraft ; at one point , the battle involved 62 MiG - 21s and some 120 Phantoms and A - 4 Skyhawk s . A few Israeli fighter - bombers reached their target and bombed the runway and the air defenses around the air base . While the final eight aircraft from Mansoura took off , Israeli aircraft were approaching to make their bombing run . Nasr Mousa , piloting one of the eight MiG - 21s , spotted an Israeli Phantom lining up against him . Mousa made a sudden , hard right - hand turn that put him on the Phantom ' s tail . He shot down the Phantom with cannon fire , and no parachutes emerged . Medhat ' Arafa , an Egyptian pilot , recalls " the battle was a frightening sight because I had never seen so many aeroplanes in one area . We were not only dogfighting , but also warning other pilots that they had an enemy on their tail . . . " The Israeli Phantoms had to abandon their bomb - loads in order to dogfight with the more maneuverable MiG aircraft . Egyptian pilots had to land their aircraft , re - arm , refuel and take - off again within a period of seven minutes . Take - off usually took three minutes , but according to Naser , the pilots were able to accomplish it in one - and - a - half minutes during the air battle . At 15 : 52 , radars detected another wave of enemy aircraft , estimated to incorporate up to 60 Phantoms and Skyhawks . Eight MiG - 21s from 102nd Air Wing were scrambled from Inshas air base , near Cairo . Around 20 MiG - 21s that had landed , refueled and re - armed at Mansoura air base were also en route to intercept the Israeli aircraft . An air battle was raging over the Nile Delta village of Dekernis , where Israeli aircraft retreating eastward were being pursued by Egyptian aircraft . A dogfight ensued over this village between the latest Israeli wave and intercepting Egyptian MiG - 21s . The commander of this final wave of Israeli aircraft , realizing that the previous waves had failed in their objectives and there were more Egyptian aircraft in the air than expected , decided to withdraw . The last Israeli aircraft left Egyptian airspace at 16 : 08 , and the air battle was over . Veracity of claims . At 22 : 00 local time Cairo Radio broadcast “ Communiqué Number 39 ” , announcing several air battles that day over a number of Egyptian airfields , the most intensive over the northern Delta area . It claimed that 15 enemy aircraft had been downed by Egyptian fighters for the loss of three Egyptian aircraft , excluding Israeli aircraft shot down near the Suez Canal . The following morning , October 15 , Israel Radio claimed that the IAF had shot down fifteen Egyptian aircraft , a figure later reduced to seven . Following the war , the EAF concluded that 17 Israeli aircraft had been shot down for the loss of six MiG - 21s ; three were shot down by Israeli aircraft , two crashed after running out of fuel before the pilots could land , and one was destroyed after sustaining damage from an exploding Israeli Phantom . The pilot of the MiG - 21 was Lieutenant Mohamed Adoub who claims to have shot down the Phantom with several bursts of 23 mm cannon fire . His aircraft suffered fatal damage from the debris . Adoub and the Israeli pilot parachuted almost alongside each other . The Israeli pilot , upon landing on the ground , was assailed by angry farmers who nearly killed him , but Adoub stopped them . The Israeli pilot was taken into captivity and hospitalized . In all two Egyptian pilots were killed in action , and the remaining four ejected safely . The IAF gave up targeting major air bases by October 15 , although there was another significant air engagement over the Nile Delta that day . Israel Radio claimed , early the following morning , that the IAF had shot down 15 Egyptian aircraft , a figure subsequently reduced to seven . According to historian Lon Nordeen , the IAF lost only two aircraft on October 14 . According to Kenneth Pollack , throughout the war " there were fifty - two major dogfights between the Egyptians and Israelis . In all , the Egyptians succeeded in shooting down 5 – 8 Israeli aircraft while losing 172 of their own to Israeli fighters " . According to Chaim Herzog , a total of 334 Arab aircraft were shot down in air - to - air combat and Egyptian losses accounted for 172 of these . Israeli losses numbered five . The list of fallen IAF pilots mentions no casualties on October 14 . According to Shahdan El - Shazli , daughter of the former Egyptian military Chief of Staff Saad el - Shazly , Mubarak altered the representation of a number of events pertaining to the 1973 war to show a magnified role for himself . In the Egyptian newspaper Almasry Alyoum ( 26 Feb 2011 ) , she claimed that Mubarak altered documents and photographs , and she planned to pursue legal action in this regard . Commemorations . Egypt ' s " Air Force Day " was changed from November 2 to October 14 to commemorate the air battle .