Just think’
ure of their air-defence system. Such things happen, also to us.” After the attack, Saddam Hussein had the commander of the Iraqi air-defence battery executed.
Search-and-rescue helicopters were on standby and the pilots were equipped with survival kits, including wads of Iraqi currency, in case they were shot down or forced to eject.
“As a leader I was concentrating only on the navigation, making sure we identified the target at the right moment and looking out for threats. You don’t feel any fear in this situation. That was also my experience flying missions in the Yom Kippur War, the only time I was afraid was when I flew as number three. The mission leader just has too many things to think about.
“I’m not fully up-to-date on the condition of the Iranian air force,” said Mr Raz, “but at those ranges, it’s not just the opposition that is dangerous. An engine failure or a malfunction of the fuel system or control-computer has totally different implications.
“The Iranians have missile batteries and you can be certain that this time, if there is an operation — and I hope there won’t be — they will lock on.”
But Mr Raz’s misgivings are not based on the danger to the pilots. “They will all be raring to go, despite the dangers, just as we were,” he said of today’s pilots. “The two back-up F-16 pilots were praying that there would be some last-minute malfunction with one of the eight, so that they could take off instead.”
Their enthusiasm did not stop the gallows-humour jokes made at the expense of the youngest pilot on the mission, Ilan Ramon. He would become Israel’s first astronaut and die in the 2003 Columbia disaster. As the last pilot to release its bombs, Ramon was at the greatest risk from anti-aircraft fire. Ultimately, Mr Raz did not believe that Israel will attack Iran. “If Israel was really planning to bomb Iran, we would have done it years ago. Today the IAF is being used as a whip, to pressure the West and the United States to do what needs to be done. I think the way it is being done is quite impres
sive.”