THE ISRAELI FOUGA CM-170 MAGISTERS OF 147 SQUADRON CAME IN LOW TOWARD THE EGYPTIAN RADAR STATIONS AND COMMAND-AND-CONTROL CENTER NEAR EL ARISH ON THE SINAI PENINSULA’S MEDITERRANEAN COAST.
One by one, the lumbering jet trainers modified into light attack planes volleyed rockets from 200 yards away, knocking out the targets. On the ground, Egyptian anti-aircraft artillery fired enthusiastically, if not very effectively. Although each plane was hit, none were seriously damaged.
The Magisters turned east after their strike. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) planners had the strike aircraft leave the attack area exactly the way they had entered—over the Jiradi Pass. More enemy AA fire rose to meet the escaping planes. Captain Arnon Livnat, deputy commander of the squadron, was hit and slumped in the cockpit, his head lolling to one side. Livnat’s wingman, Zvi Kanor, just 19 years old and only six weeks out of flight school, watched as his flight leader’s plane yawed and dove, uncontrolled, into the desert floor. It was just the first mission of the war and already 147 Squadron had lost
