Many a tale of MiG-killing F-4s has been told over the decades, including numerous accounts from various conflicts involving Israel. Among the more interesting, and controversial, of these is the story of two Israeli F-4 MiG-killers at Ofira.
The Yom Kippur War
On the afternoon of 6 October 1973, the Yom Kippur War began with a massive Egyptian air attack on Israeli military installations. Among the targets was Israeli Air Force (IAF) Base Ofira, near Sharm el-Sheikh on the southern coast of the Sinai Peninsula.
The Egyptians caught the Israelis unawares, as the attack took place on Yom Kippur, one of the holiest of Jewish days. The nation of Israel was at rest. But not all were sleeping.
Egyptian military activities during the previous weeks had led to suspicions of an impending attack on israel. The morning of Yom Kippur, warnings to those in government from the night before saw the Israeli military placed on alert.
At IAF Base Ofira, two McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms of 107 Squadron stood alert, ready to take off in minutes.
Named ‘Kurnass’ (Heavy Hammer) by the Israelis, the F-4 was relatively new to the IAF inventory. The Israelis had done well in combat with their French-supplied Mirage IIIs. But a French arms embargo during the late 1960s forced Israel to look elsewhere for aircraft.
The war in Vietnam had produced many F-4 MiG-killers, and Israel had taken note. Soon a deal was struck with the USA, and the first F-4E Phantoms were delivered to Israel in 1969.
Orders? We Don’t Need No Orders!
One Kurnass was crewed by pilot Amir Nachumi and navigator Josef ‘Yossi’ Yavin. The other was flown by Daniel Shaki with navigator David Regev in the back seat. Each jet was armed with several AIM-9 Sidewinders and the 20mm cannon built into the snout.
Shortly before 2PM, a force of unknown aircraft was detected on radar, approaching Ofira from the southwest. These turned out to be 20 Egyptian Air Force (EAF) MiG-17s with an escort of 8 MiG-21s.
But the base ground controller at Ofira was hesitant to scramble the F-4s.
Amir Nachumi didn’t wait for the word. On his own initiative, he taxied out to the closest of Ofira’s two runways, followed by Shaki. The controller was yelling at him, saying that orders from a higher command did not allow for a scramble.
In Nachumi’s words:
“I decided that the orders were 400 kilometers away and they didn’t know what was going on. I cranked the engine and told my number two to do the same and to scramble as quickly as possible.”
One account tells of how Nachumi simply ignored the controller, and switched the radio off. Your author hasn’t been able to confirm whether this actually happened or not, but he’d like to think that it’s true.
Anyway, the pair of F-4s immediately took off to the northeast. And just in time.
There Were Almost No F-4 MiG-Killers at Ofira
Looking behind him during the climb-out, Nachumi saw multiple smoke plumes along the runway where the F-4s had been just moments earlier. ‘Twas a narrow escape.
The pair headed east, out over Tiran Island, to take stock of the situation before turning back toward Ofira. Nachumi directed Shaki to the west of the airfield, while he himself went to the east.
Quite quickly, each Israeli pilot latched onto two different MiG-17s.
Israeli F-4 MiG-Killers Get to Work
Heading northeast, away from Ofira, Nachumi knocked down the first MiG with an AIM-9 Sidewinder. With this victory, Nachumi gained membership to the relatively small, exclusive club of Israeli F-4 MiG-killers.
Avoiding fire from his victim’s wingman, Nachumi then turned back toward the airfield, shaking his antagonist and searching for more MiGs.
Approaching the field, he came across a pair of MiG-17s making an attack run from the north. Seeing the big Kurnass coming at them, the MiG pilots aborted their run and climbed away to escape.
Meanwhile, Shaki, who’d chased his MiG all the way back to Ofira, finally bagged his quarry with a Sidewinder. The flaming MiG slammed into the ground near the entrance to the airfield. One more member of the Israeli F-4 MiG-killer club.
Guardians Guarding Guardians
Operators of a Hawk surface to air missile (SAM) battery guarding Ofira held their fire, so as not to hit the F-4s. Seeing another pair of MiG-17s lining up on the SAM site, Nachumi gave chase.
These MiG pilots also spotted their antagonist and took evasive maneuvers in an attempt to escape to the northeast.
Nachumi made a gun pass on one of the MiGs, which turned hard port to evade. Turning with the MiG, Nachumi took a shot with the 20mm, but nissed. He then felt a ‘thump’ from somewhere in the airframe, and thought that the jet was hit.
Continuing his turn and losing track of the MiG, Nachumi headed back to Ofira once more. He soon sighted yet another pair of MiG-17s approaching the field from the north.
At this point he noticed that the Phantom was unable to keep up with the MiGs. He and his back-seater, ‘Yossi’ Yavin, soon realized that their starboard engine had gone out.
A brief brainstorm lead to the conclusion that the engine probably stalled while ingesting expelled gasses from the gun.
After a quick re-light, Nachumi gained on the MiGs, caught them south of the field, and nailed one of ’em with an AIM-9. The MiG came down right at the coast, not too far from the airfield.
F-4 MiG-Killer Forces a MiG’s Mistake
Turning back to the northeast, Nachumi then spotted another pair of MiGs making a run on the base communications area. Unlike the other Egyptians, these two turned into Nachumi’s approach,and headed straight for him in a head-on pass.
One of the Egyptians let loose with the unguided rockets his jet was carrying. The rockets impacted the ground in front of Nachumi, but caused no damage to his Kurnass.
It’s speculated that the pilot may have mistakenly fired the rockets instead of his guns. We’ll never know, though, because the only guy who knew for sure isn’t around to tell the tale.
Nachumi fired another Sidewinder which probably went straight up the jet’s intake, turning the MiG into a flaming mass of burning flame. It came down east of the airfield.
That was now three down for Nachumi.
F-4 MiG-Killers Mop Up
Off to the West, Shaki had just bagged his second MiG-17, joining an even more exclusive club. Both Saki and Nachumi had now become double F-4 MiG-killers.
But they weren’t quite done yet. Turning port, to the west and away from his second kill, Shaki was bounced by a pair of MiG-21s. Coming in too fast, they overshot and Shaki blew the wingman out of the sky with a Sidewinder.
Maneuvering hard to evade the Kurnass, the lead MiG-21 led Shaki out over the water at wave-top height. In his frantic attempts to escape from the F-4, the MiG driver apparently bounced off the water one or twice.
Some accounts state that he went in. Whatever the case, Shaki was now running low on fuel and turned back north, toward the airfield.
Nachumi was at this time engaged with a final pair of MiG-17s over the east end of the field. He downed one of them with a Sidewinder, his fourth kill of the day. This MiG came down not too far from Nachumi’s third victim.
Low on fuel, both F-4s recovered at Ofira, along with four IAI Neshers of 144 Squadron from Etzion Airbase. The Neshers had been sent to help out, but missed the show by minutes. Goin’ jessie in afterburner the whole way, they were also low on fuel.
The two Kurnass crews had claimed seven Egyptian MiGs: six MiG-17s and one MiG-21. And apparently the entire scrap lasted just six minutes.
It probably seemed like an eternity to the F-4 MiG-killers of Ofira.
