would shoot down the plane carrying Field Marshal Amer and Lt-Gen. Sedky Mahmoud, who were en route from Almaza Air Base to Bir Tamada in the Sinai to meet the commanders of the troops stationed there. In this event it did not make a great deal of difference as the Israeli pilots came in below Egyptian radar cover and well below the lowest point at which Egypt's SA-2 surface-to-air missile batteries could bring down an aircraft. The first Israeli wave attacked 11 bases, catching much of the Egyptian Air Force on the ground and destroying them before they got airborne. The Israeli jets then returned to Israel, were "quick-turned" (refueled and re-armed) in 7 minutes 30 seconds, and left in a second wave that attacked 14 Egyptian bases and returned with only minor losses. They "quick-turned" again and departed in a third wave. The opening stages of Operation Focus were a complete success: Egypt's air force of nearly 500 combat aircraft was destroyed in the space of three hours, with only minor losses to the Israeli Air Force. When Syria, Jordan, and Iraq attacked Israeli targets in retaliation for the airstrike on Egypt, their attacks were mainly directed at civilian targets and were largely ineffectual. In response many of the IAF planes headed for a third strike on Egypt were diverted en route to Syrian and Jordanian targets, and other IAF aircraft were sent against Arab ground forces in support of Israeli ground forces. By the end of the first day of the Six-day War, Israel had complete air superiority over Egypt, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and the entire Sinai desert. 6–10 June 1967 On the second day of the war (6 June) the IAF was used against Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian, and Iraqi ground forces. On the third day (7 June) the IAF destroyed hundreds of Egyptian vehicles trying to flee across the Sinai in convoys and trapped thousands more in narrow Sinai passes. By the end of the third day Jordan's air force of 34 combat aircraft had essentially ceased to exist and the Jordanian military was no longer in the fight. By the sixth and final day (10 June) Syria had lost approximately 100 combat aircraft and the fighting was over. Aftermath During the Six-Day War, the Israeli Air Force, with 250 combat aircraft at its disposal, employing 352 sorties, had prevailed over a coalition with