All Aero

Giora Epstein, who has died aged 87, was an Israeli Air Force pilot who could claim to be the top fighter ace of the supersonic age.
He shot down a total of 17 enemy aircraft – 16 Egyptian jets and one Egyptian Mi-8 helicopter. His 16 victories over Egyptian jets place him third on the all-time list for jet-to-jet combat, behind two Soviet pilots in the Korean war; Epstein holds the top international rank for victories against supersonic fighters.
On June 5 1967, Israel launched what would later be called the Six-Day War, beginning with Operation Moked (“Operation Focus”), a pre-emptive air strike against Egypt in which Epstein, flying the French-built Dassault Mirage III, took part. The Israelis destroyed most of the Egyptian air force, mainly on the ground, within three hours. Some Egyptian aircraft survived, and on the second day of the war, Epstein claimed his first kill by shooting down an Egyptian Sukhoi-7 in the Sinai.

Soon after the Six-Day War, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt’s president, began a war of attrition in which the Israeli Air Force (IAF) played a leading role in bombing targets deep inside Egypt. In this conflict, Epstein shot down four additional aircraft: a MIG-17, a Sukhoi-7 and two MiG-21s.
Two of his kills occurred when Epstein lured a squadron of four Egyptian MiGs into a carefully prepared ambush. These victories increased Epstein’s total tally to five, earning him the title of “flying ace”, a designation given to pilots with five or more confirmed kills.
It was during the October 1973 Yom Kippur War that Epstein cemented his reputation as a cool and brilliant pilot: in one dogfight, facing 20 Egyptian fighter jets, he shot down four aircraft in a single sortie before returning to base to refuel. In this war, Epstein downed 12 Egyptian aircraft overall.
In eight of his 17 aerial victories, Epstein flew a Mirage III. In his other nine, he flew an Israel Aircraft Industries Nesher (“Eagle”), an Israeli-built version of the Mirage 5. Five of his kills were achieved using air-to-air missiles, the rest with cannons.

He was born Giora Epstein, a name he later changed to Giora Even (“stone” in Hebrew), on May 20 1938. His parents, Hillel and Chaya, emigrated from Poland in the early 1930s and settled in Kibbutz Negba, in British Mandatory Palestine.
Young Giora became passionate about aviation after watching RAF manoeuvres over his kibbutz in southern Palestine. He eagerly read books about air battles and the biographies of pilots. While in school, he joined Gadna (“Youth Battalions”), an organisation that prepared young Israelis for military service.
In 1956, Epstein joined the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), but was disappointed when he was rejected from the (IAF’s pilot- training course due to his enlarged heart and low pulse. Instead, he became a paratrooper.
In 1959, Epstein was discharged and returned to agricultural work on the kibbutz, but re-enlisted three years later as a parachuting instructor. He reapplied to the IAF’s flight school and was accepted after gaining medical clearance.
In 1963, Epstein graduated and was assigned to fly helicopters in the IAF’s 124 Squadron. But he refused to fly, and instead walked into the office of the Air Force Commander, General Ezer Weizman, declaring: “I’m going to sit here at your reception until you transfer me to a fighting unit.” Weizman replied: “OK, you bastard.”
Epstein was nicknamed “Hawkeye” because he could spot enemy aircraft from a distance of 24 miles, nearly three times further than a typical pilot. His shorter stature also helped him withstand G-forces during flight.
After the Yom Kippur War, Epstein was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service. In 1974 he was appointed commander of the IAF’s 117 Squadron, and three years later, he retired from active service, having flown 9,000 sorties and amassed 5,000 flight hours.

He continued to serve as a combat pilot in the reserves, and in 1988 he obtained special permission to transfer to the F-16. But to an old hand like Epstein, the computer-controlled aircraft lacked the pleasure of piloting a Mirage. “You are not flying the F-16,” he explained. “The F-16 flies itself… you, as a pilot, are just another input… As a pilot, I like to feel the aircraft. In a Mirage, every flight is a joy.”
After retiring, Epstein worked as a commercial pilot for El Al, Israel’s national airline, until 2003.
In 2018, he was promoted to brigadier-general in recognition of his contribution to Israel’s security. Epstein was the primary focus of the “Desert Aces” episode of the History Channel series Dogfighters (2007). In 2020 he published a memoir, Hawkeye.
He was married to Sarah, who served as an operations officer in his squadron. They had three children.
Giora Epstein-Even, born May 20 1938, died July 19 2025