In the afternoon of July 30, 1970 four Israeli Mirage IIIs crossed into Egyptian airspace, flying in tight formation so as to appear as a single aircraft. As expected, four Soviet-flown MiG-21s were scrambled to intercept
They were soon joined by an additional eight MiGs
As the Soviet fighters closed in on the Mirages, they were ambushed by four Israeli F-4 Phantoms and eight Mirage IIIs that had been lurking undetected at low altitude. the four Mirages were each armed with a pair of AIM-9D Sidewinders.[8][10] It took 11 minutes[4] but the Soviets eventually fell for the ruse and scrambled their fighters to intercept the Israeli aircraft. additional 12 MiG-21 reinforcements soon arrived. By the end of the close-quarters dogfight, five Soviet MiG-21s had been downed with no Israeli losses.Egyptian military leaders were pleased with the outcome of the battle because the Soviets had long been criticizing Egypt's aerial losses to Israel and attributing them to a lack of skill among Egyptian fighter pilots. The Soviets kept quiet about the incident so as to avoid the embarrassment of their defeat. It was one of the final engagements of the War of Attrition and is widely believed to have contributed to its conclusion.
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