Israel’s fighter pilots are “superbly trained,” “immensely efficient” and “probably the best fighter pilots in the world today,” according to Capt. Peter Townshend, a British fighter pilot who fought in the battle of Britain in World War II. Capt. Townshend’s assessment was made in an interview published in the Liverpool Post in connection with a review of his book, “Duel of Eagles,” an account of how the RAF defeated the Nazi Luftwaffe 30 years ago. Capt. Townshend said his most recent flight in a fighter plane was in Israel a few months ago. “I was reminded that the days of aerial dogfight are not over. Remember, during the Six-Day War. out of 106 Arab aircraft downed, 84 were shot down by Israeli planes, not by missile fire,” he said. According to Capt. Townshend, Israeli pilots do not conform to the image of easy-going informality that characterizes the rest of Israel’s armed forces. “They are very uniform conscious,” he said. “They are highly technical in their approach. The romantic side of it all is absent.”
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