Israeli Phantom Jet Downed in Raid over Soviet Missile Base; Egyptians Capture Two Pilots

An Israel Air Force Phantom jet was shot down by ground fire in a raid on a Soviet missile base in the central section of the Suez Canal zone today. The two pilots were seen bailing out over Egyptian territory. An Egyptian Army spokesman later confirmed that the two were captured. They were identified by an Israeli spokesman as Yigael Shochat and Moshe Goldwasser. The Egyptian Army spokesman did not say whether the jet was downed by surface-to-air missiles or conventional artillery. Israel conceded the loss of the aircraft which it said was the 16th Israeli plane downed on the Egyptian front since the June, 1967 Six-Day War. Egypt has lost 111 planes in the same period according to Israel’s count. The Phantom was hit at 1:20 p.m. local time, the Israeli spokesman said.

Other Israel Air Force jets continued to blast Egyptian positions in the canal zone today and returned safely to their bases. A storage shed at Kibbutz Manera in Upper Galilee was sabotaged early this morning by infiltrators from across the Lebanese border. Mortars were fired at Metullah from Lebanese territory last night. Two Israeli soldiers were wounded last night when an Israeli position on Mt. Hermon was fired on from Lebanon. Lebanon said one civilian was killed by Israeli return fire. The capture of the two downed Israeli pilots today brought to 14 the number of Israeli prisoners held by Egypt. Nine are Air Force personnel. The other five include an Israel Army officer. Dan Avidan. two sergeants and two civilian canteen workers captured by Egyptian forces in commando raids across the Suez Canal.