Operation Focus
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- Main article Six-Day War.
Operation Focus (Hebrew: Mivtza Moked) was the opening pre-emptive airstrike by Israel at the start of the Six-Day War of 1967. It is sometimes referred to as "Sinai Air Strike" since the focus was primarily on airfields around Sinai.
At 07:45, on the morning of June 5, 1967, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) under Maj. Gen. Mordechai Hod launched a massive airstrike that destroyed the majority of the Egyptian air force on the ground. By noon, the Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian Air Forces, with about 450 aircraft, were destroyed. This pre-emptive strike was code-named Operation Focus, Mivtza Moked. It was also very successful in destroying most of the 18 airfields in Egypt.
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[edit] Summary of the operation
In three main waves of aerial attacks, and several smaller waves in the days following the operation, a total of 452 aircraft were destroyed, most of them on the ground. This left the IAF in almost complete control of the skies, and able to effectively assist the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) ground units.
The astonishing operational success was achieved by concentrating on the initial destruction of the runways with special, rocket assisted cratering bombs, inflicting damage that could not be repaired quickly. Once the runways were disabled, entire air bases' compliments of aircraft were effectively grounded and fell victim to subsequent attack waves, resulting in near-total Israeli air superiority.
[edit] June 5, 1967
Operation Moked was launched at 7:45 am Israeli time (6:45 Egyptian time). Nearly all of Israel's 196 combat aircraft were committed to the airstrike, with only twelve being held back to patrol Israeli airspace. [citation needed]
Egyptian defensive infrastructure was extremely poor, and no airfields were yet equipped with armoured bunkers capable of protecting Egypt's warplanes in the event of an attack. The Israeli warplanes headed out over the Mediterranean before turning toward Egypt. Meanwhile, the Egyptians hindered their own defense by effectively shutting down their entire air defense system: they were worried that rebel Egyptian forces would shoot down the plane carrying Field Marshal Amer and Lt-Gen. Sidqi Mahmoud, who were en route from al Maza to Bir Tamada in the Sinai to meet the commanders of the troops stationed there. In this event it did not make a great deal of difference as the Israeli pilots came in below Egyptian radar cover and well below the lowest point at which its SA-2 surface-to-air missile batteries could bring down an aircraft. [1]
The first Israeli wave attacked 11 bases, catching much of the Egyptian Air Force on the ground and destroying them before getting they got airborne. The Israeli jets then returned to Israel, were "quick-turned" in an incredible 7½ minutes, and departed in a second wave that attacked 14 [citation needed] Egyptian bases and returned with only minor losses. They "quick-turned" again and departed in a third wave.
The opening stages of Operation Moked were a complete success: Egypt's air force of nearly 500 combat aircraft was destroyed in the space of three hours, with only minor losses to the Israeli Air Force. When Syria, Jordan, and Iraq attacked Israeli targets in retaliation for the airstrike on Egypt, their attacks were mainly directed at civilian targets and were largely ineffectual. In response many of the IAF planes headed for a third strike on Egypt were diverted in midair to Syrian and Jordan targets, and other IAF aircraft were sent against Arab ground forces in support of Israeli ground forces. By the end of the first day of the Six-day War, Israel had complete air superiority over Israel, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and the entire Sinai desert.
[edit] June 6-11, 1967
On the second day of the war (June 6) the IAF was used against Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian, and Iraqi ground forces.
On the third day (June 8) the IAF destroyed hundreds of Egyptian vehicles trying to flee across the Sinai in convoys and trapped thousands more in narrow Sinai passes. By the end of the third day Jordan's air force of 34 combat aircraft had essentially ceased to exist and the Jordanian military was no longer in the fight.
By the sixth and final day (June 11) Syria had lost approximately 100 combat aircraft and the fighting was over.
[edit] Aftermath
The IAF, with 196 combat [citation needed] aircraft at its disposal had prevailed over a coalition with approximately 600 combat aircraft. The IAF destroyed 452 enemy aircraft, including 79 in air combat, while losing only 19 of its own. Many students of Israel's military history regard Operation Moked and the Six Day War as the IDF's finest hour.
[edit] Number of aircraft destroyed
Altogether, 452 Arab and 19 Israeli aircraft were destroyed in the operation.
The IAF reports that during the entire duration of the Six-day War, 60 additional Arab aircraft were destroyed in dog fights, 3 more by anti-aircraft fire, and 19 IAF planes were lost (killing 24 IAF pilots). The number of Arab pilots killed or captured is unknown.
[edit] Number of aircraft destroyed by aircraft type
- Combat aircraft
- Bomber aircraft
- Transportation aircraft
- 32 Ilyushin Il-14 'Crates'
- 8 Antonov An-12 'Cubs'
- 4 others.
- Transportation helicopters
[edit] Number of aircraft destroyed by country
- Egypt: 338 aircraft
- Syria: 61 aircraft
- Jordan: 29 aircraft
- Iraq: 23 aircraft
- Lebanon: 1 aircraft
- Israel lost 19 aircraft in the operation.
[edit] Totals by waves
- First wave (7:45am): 101 flights; 11 airfields were attacked by 183 IAF aircraft; 197 Egyptian aircraft and 8 radar stations were destroyed. Five IAF pilots were killed and five more fell captive.
- Second wave (9:30am): 164 flights; 16 [citation needed] airfields were attacked; 107 Egyptian aircraft destroyed; 2 Syrian planes destroyed in dogfights
- Third Wave (12:15pm): 85 flights against Egypt, 48 against Jordan, 67 against Syria and one against H-3 airbase in Iraq.
- Other waves (afternoon & evening): 2 more attacks against H-3; several additional attacks on Egyptian airfields.
[edit] References
- Eric Hammel (October 2002). "Sinai air strike: June 5, 1967". Military Heritage 4 (2): 68–73.
- Danni Shalom, Like A Bolt Out of the Blue: How the Arab Airforces were destroyed in the Six-Day War, BAVIR - Aviation Publications, 2002, 650 pages, hardcover.
- Oren, Michael B. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
