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Fabs, just to completely factual, in the Six-Day War, Israel lost half or more of its planes - but all of them to ground fire. AAA and new Russian-supplied SA-6 missile batteries (a VERY scary missile!) just about wiped them out along the Egyptian border.
So they've lost planes and pilots in combat. But none have ever been shot down by an enemy fighter. In the Bakaa Valley, I think the ratio of kills was something like Syria 0, Israel 248.
For the record, their incredible air-to-air skills were achieved largely (though not completely) in the US-supplied F-15 Eagle. And just to add to the stats, no F-15 Eagle flown by either Israeli or US pilots has ever lost an air-to-air engagement. Score: Them-0, F15- whole damn bunch.
Fabs, I was a combat pilot and I still think like one. It wasn't my job to figure out the politics. It was just my job to beat the other guy and fly home alive. I managed that little chore 300 times - 35 years ago - and I still don't try to figure out the politics.
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