The IAF had made several attacks on the Mansoura air base from October 6 onwards, but failed due to dense Egyptian SAM defenses.

Although the Egyptian offensive on October 14 was a failure and culminated in heavy losses, the IAF was determined to destroy the 104th Air Wing's capabilities.

[citation needed] At 15:15, air observation posts on the Mediterranean Sea notified EAF command that 20 Phantoms were approaching in south-west direction towards the Delta, flying over Port Said.

The commander of the EAF, Air Marshal Hosni Mubarak, ordered General Naser to scramble 16 MiG-21s.

[1] The pilots were puzzled by the order, not knowing the reason behind it, as they expected to immediately engage the enemy after scrambling.

In the event, the Israeli fighters continued to fly in broad circles for some time until, when it became clear the Egyptians would not leave the vicinity of the Mansoura air base, the Phantoms withdrew back to the sea.

The 16 MiG-21s forming the air umbrella over Mansoura moved against the Israeli aircraft with the objective of breaking the enemy formations and forcing them to disperse.

[citation needed] At 15:38, Egyptian radar installations informed the EAF command that a second wave of around 16 Israeli aircraft was coming from over the Mediterranean at very low altitude.

[citation needed] The Egyptians scrambled a final eight MiG-21s at Mansoura, while eight MiG-21s from the Abu Hamad air base were called upon to assist.

Around 20 MiG-21s that had landed, refueled and re-armed at Mansoura air base were also en route to intercept the Israeli aircraft.

[citation needed] The following morning, October 15, Israel Radio claimed that the IAF had shot down 15 Egyptian aircraft, a figure later reduced to seven.

The pilot of the MiG-21 was Lieutenant Mohamed Adoub who claims to have shot down the Phantom with several bursts of 23 mm cannon fire.

[6] According to Chaim Herzog, a total of 334 Arab aircraft were shot down in air-to-air combat and Egyptian losses accounted for 172 of these.