At a quarter past three on the afternoon of 14 October 1973, Egyptian radar operators in the Nile Delta watched a formation of Israeli jets sweep in from the Mediterranean near Port Said. Over the next 53 minutes, the sky above the Delta filled with more fighters than most of the pilots involved had ever seen in one place.

Egypt remembers what followed as the Air Battle of Mansoura, its greatest air victory. The date is now Egyptian Air Force Day. Israel and most Western historians tell a very different story. Few air battles of the jet age are as large, or as fiercely disputed.

Why Israel Went for the Delta

By mid-October 1973, Egypt had crossed the Suez Canal and the war had turned into a grinding struggle. After losing much of its air force on the ground in 1967, Egypt had built around 500 hardened aircraft shelters across some 20 air bases. The Israeli Air Force wanted to neutralise the Egyptian 104th Air Wing, and launched strikes against the bases at Salihiya, Mansoura and Tanta.

Commanding the Egyptian Air Force was Air Marshal Hosni Mubarak, the future president. According to Egyptian accounts, he first ordered 16 MiG-21 to orbit over the base as a protective umbrella rather than chase the first Israeli wave of around 20 Phantoms. When a much larger second wave arrived from three directions, he committed more fighters from Mansoura and Tanta.

The Operations Room reconstructs the battle and explains why its outcome is still disputed.

53 Minutes Over the Delta

At the height of the fight, Egyptian sources count 62 MiG-21s engaged against well over a hundred Israeli F-4 Phantoms et A-4 Skyhawks. A third wave arrived just before four o'clock, met by MiG-21s from Inshas near Cairo and by Mansoura jets that had landed, refuelled and taken off again. The Israeli formations withdrew east at 16:08.

For the MiG-21 pilots, this was close-in, turning combat, short on fuel and long on chaos. One Egyptian pilot, Lieutenant Mohamed Adoub, claimed a Phantom with cannon fire, but his own MiG was fatally damaged by debris from the explosion.

Two Scoreboards

This is where the stories split. Cairo Radio's communiqué that evening claimed 15 Israeli aircraft for three Egyptian losses. After the war, the Egyptian Air Force settled on 17 Israeli aircraft shot down for six MiG-21s lost: three in combat, two that ran out of fuel and one destroyed by debris. Some Egyptian accounts give even higher figures.

Israel's version is very different. Israel Radio first claimed 15 Egyptian aircraft, later revised to seven. Historian Lon Nordeen puts Israeli losses that day at just two aircraft, and the official list of fallen IAF aircrew records no deaths on 14 October. Across the whole war, Western historians credit Israeli fighters with an overwhelming kill ratio over Egypt.

The truth probably sits somewhere neither side likes. The Israeli strike packages were mainly attack missions against well-defended bases, and Egypt's MiG-21s did not let them through untouched. Equally, the Egyptian claims have never been matched by Israeli loss records.

Why Egypt Celebrates 14 October

Whatever the numbers, Mansoura mattered to Egypt. Six years after the humiliation of 1967, when much of its air force was destroyed on the ground in a few hours, Egyptian pilots had met the Israeli Air Force head-on in a large air battle and returned to their bases claiming victory. Egypt moved its Air Force Day from 2 November to 14 October in the battle's honour, and the anniversary is marked every year.

Fifty-three years on, Mansoura is a reminder that air wars are fought twice: once in the sky, and again in the record books.

An Arabic-language documentary on the battle from Egyptian channel Elplatform, telling the story as Egypt remembers it.

Sources: Wikipedia (Air battle of Mansoura), Egypt Today, Kenneth M. Pollack, Arabs at War (2002), Lon Nordeen, The Operations Room