Undamaged Tu-16 in its pen, while smoke billows from a destroyed badger
11 Egyptian air bases were targeted in the operation's first attack wave. Target allocation was dependant on flight distance, target priority and each aircraft type's capability. MiG-21 and Tu-16 bases were given the highest priority and were therefore assigned to the Dassault Mirage squadrons, while the Ouragans were tasked with destroying air bases in the Sinai. The farthest air bases, those in Upper Egypt, were targeted by the Vautours, capable of carrying the most ordance over the longest distance. An elaborate and precise timetable was set for the entire operation and for each and every fighter launch, in order that all the aircraft appear over their targets at the same time, avoiding detection and surprising the Egyptian air force on the ground.
At 07:00 on the morning of June 5th, the order was finally given to the IAF to execute operation "Moked".
In flights of 4, 160 aircraft,almost the entirety of Israel's fighter arsenal, took to the air, leaving but a dozen aircraft behind to protect Israeli airspace. Takeoffs were arranged according to the pre-defined plan that called for the aircraft to be over their targets at 07:45, when Egyptian pilots were at their mandatory breakfasts. To ensure the incoming aircraft were not detected before they reached their targets, the average altitude of the raiders was a mere 10m (30ft), the aircraft pulling up for the attack only when they were almost over their targets.
Arriving undetected, the planes pulled up and began their attack on their designated targets, first cratering the runways to prevent any aircraft from taking off an then destorying the grounded aircraft. Nearly half of the Egyptian air force, 187 aircraft, was destoryed in the first few minutes of operation "Moked", practicly winning the war for Israel in its first hour. All EAF bases and aircraft in the Sinai were destroyed, as well as all of Egypt's heavy bombers. The IAF lost 8 aircraft, most from ground fire, but in one base, Abu-Sweir, four Mig-21s managed to take off and shoot down one of the attacking Vautours,
before 3 were downed by Israeli Mirages which had arrived to assist the heavy bombers.
Undamaged Tu-16 in its pen, while smoke billows from a destroyed badger
at 09:34 the second attack wave began taking off, after most aircraft had returned from their first sorties. In 150 sorties the IAF destroyed another 94 Egyptian aircraft, as well as more air bases, command and control centers, radars and electronic warfare equipment. The Israeli leadership had hoped that other Arab nations such as Jordan and Syria would refrain from joining the hostilities once the extent of the damage to Egypt was known. These hopes were soon dissipated, once fighting erupted on other fronts as well. Fed by reports of glorious victories coming from Cairo Radio, Jordan entered the fighting by sending Hawker Hunters on raids against Israeli cities and by sending its forces against Israeli forces in Jerusalem. As a result, operation "Moked" was extended to include Jordan and in 51 sorties, the entire Jordanian air force was destroyed. When the third attack wave was launched, at 12:45, most sorties were directed against Jordan and Syria which had by then joined the war. 53 Syrian aircraft were destroyed by the day's end. Iraq entered the war when it sent its aircraft against Israeli targets, and had its forces attacked too. In the operation's most disastrous mission, a number of Vautours and Mirages were shot down when attacking Iraq's H3 airbase. Lebanon did not enter the war after one of its Hunters was shot down by an Israeli Mirage on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Shadow of an Israeli Mirage over destoryed Mig-21s at Inchas
375 enemy aircraft were destroyed on June 5th alone, assuring Israeli supremacy in the battlefield and paving the way for the Israeli victory in the Six-Days War. Once the threat posed from Arab air forces had been removed, the IAF could turn its efforts towards assisting the IDF's ground forces, its most important role for the remainder of the war.
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