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Mubarak was born on 4 May 1928, in Kafr-El-Meselha, Monufia Governorate, Egypt. Upon completion of high school, he joined the Egyptian Military Academy, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Military Sciences in 1949. On 2 February 1949, Mubarak left the Military Academy and joined the Air Force Academy, gaining his commission as a pilot officer on 13 March 1950 and eventually receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Aviation Sciences. Hosni Mubarak is married to Suzanne Mubarak, and has two sons: Alaa and Gamal.
As an Egyptian Air Force officer, Mubarak served in various formations and units, including two years when he served on one of the Spitfire fighter squadrons. Sometime in the 1950s, he returned to the Air Force Academy, this time as an instructor, remaining there until early 1959. From February 1959 to June 1961, Mubarak undertook further training in the Soviet Union, attending a Soviet pilot training school in Moscow and another at Kant, near Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan (then a Soviet republic), an airfield that is today home to the Russian 5th Air Army’s 999th Air Base.
Mubarak undertook training on the Ilyushin Il-28 and Tupolev Tu-16 jet bomber, and then joined the Frunze Military Academy in 1964. On his return to Egypt, Mubarak served in wing and then base commander appointments, taking up command of the Cairo West Air Base in October 1966 before briefly commanding the Beni Suef Air Base.
In November 1967 Mubarak became the Air Force Academy’s commander and two years later he became Chief of Staff for the Egyptian Air Force. His military career reached its pinnacle in 1972 when he became Commander of the Air Force and Egyptian Deputy Minister of Defence and the following year he was promoted to air chief marshal in recognition of service during the October War of 1973.
October War 1973
The EAF was involved in the initial raid with over 220 aircraft (including the MiG-21MF) taking part in the surprise attack. Unlike their Syrian counterparts, EAF aircraft evaded Israeli radars by flying below detection height. Their attacks largely went undetected and the IAF’s belated response flew right into the teeth of the Egyptian air defence umbrella.
EAF aircraft were held in reserve after that point, mainly concentrating on airfield defence in conjunction with the SA-3 ‘Pechora’, while the more mobile SA-6 ‘Gainful’ protected Egyptian forces at low and medium level, aided by the ZSU-23-4SP and shoulder-held SA-7 SAMs.
Despite these limitations, the EAF conducted offensive sorties from time to time. The Su-7BM was used for quick strafe attacks on Israeli columns and the Mirage IIIE (sometimes confused with the Mirage 5), donated by Libya, carried out long-range attacks deep inside Sinai at Bir Gifgafa.
However, when Israeli armoured forces used a gap between the two Egyptian armies to cross the Suez Canal (Operation Stouthearted Men), they destroyed Egyptian SAM sites, forcing the EAF into battle against the IAF. The EAF claimed victories and continued to contest IAF operations, while also launching attacks on Israeli ground forces on the East Bank of the Suez Cana. In most of these engagements, Egyptian MiG-21s (of all types) challenged Israeli Mirage IIICJs or Neshers. However, Israel was able to maintain a degree of air superiority, attack Egyptian ground forces more freely, and Egyptian aircraft losses were far heavier than those of the Israelis.
The IAF did not operate freely and did not have the air supremacy it enjoyed during the previous conflict, the 1967 war. Egyptian MiGs were used with better maneuverability than most IAF aircraft in that war to conduct new tactics and lessons learned from the 1967 war[citation needed].
It was during this war that the EAF applied the lessons it earlier learnt from the Israelis. A 32-year-old deputy MiG-21 regiment commander who has been flying since he was 15 recalls: “During the war of attrition, the Israeli air force had a favorite ambush tactic”, he told Aviation Week and Space Technology. “They would penetrate with two aircraft at medium altitude where they would be quickly picked up by radar, We would scramble four or eight to attack them. But they had another dozen fighters trailing at extremely low altitude below radar coverage. As we climbed to the attack they would zoom up behind and surprise us. My regiment lost MiGs to this ambush tactic three times. But we learned the lesson and practiced the same tactics. In the final fights over Deversoir, we ambushed some Mirages the same way, and my own ‘finger four’ formation shot down four Mirages with the loss of one MiG.”
El-Mansourah air battle
During the October War, in the Air Battle of El Mansoura, Israel launched a large scale raid with over 250 aircraft – F-4 Phantoms and A-4 Skyhawks – attempting to hit the huge air base at el-Mansourah. It culminated in an almost continuous dogfight lasting no less than 53 minutes. According to Egyptian estimates over 180 aircraft were involved at one time, the majority belonging to the Israelis. At 10 pm local time, Cairo Radio broadcast “Communiqué Number 39″, announcing that there had been several air battles that day over a number of Egyptian airfields, that most intensive being over the northern Delta area. It also claimed that 15 enemy aircraft had been downed by Egyptian fighters for the loss of three Egyptian aircraft, while an even greater number of Israelis had been shot down by the Army and the Air Defense Forces over Sinai and the Suez Canal. For its part, Israel Radio claimed, early the following morning, that the IAF had shot down 15 Egyptian aircraft, a figure subsequently reduced to seven.
Later on, the Egyptian Government changed the country’s “Air Force Day” from November 2 to October 14, to commemorate the Mansourah air battle.
Libyan-Egyptian War
During the Libyan-Egyptian War, there were some skirmishes between Libyan and Egyptian fighter jets. In one instance, two LARAF MiG-23MS engaged two EAF MiG-21MF that had been upgraded to carry Western weaponry. The Libyan pilots made the mistake of trying to manoeuvre with the more nimble Egyptian fighters, and one MiG-23MS was shot down by EAF Maj. Sal Mohammad, while the other Libyan aircraft used its speed advantage to escape.
