25 Facts About Avraham Lanir

Avraham "Avi" Lanir was a lieutenant colonel in the Israel Air Force.

Avraham Lanir was the highest-ranking Israeli fighter pilot to fall into enemy hands.

Avraham Lanir's image was engraved in the Israeli consciousness as a heroic figure, as a man who gave his life under severe torture in captivity in Syria and did not divulge the secrets of the state in which he was trusted - secrets that probably touched on the subject of "the weapon that Israel never admitted to exist".

Avraham Lanir's father went on to become a senior member of the Shin Bet.

Avraham Lanir enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces in 1959, training to become a fighter pilot.

Avraham Lanir managed to abandon the plane, which was not equipped with an ejection seat, but the camper sitting in the front seat was killed when the plane crashed near Kibbutz Givat Brenner.

Avraham Lanir was thereafter appointed to test pilot the "Technolog," the prototype that preceded the IAI Kfir.

Avraham Lanir flew the Dassault Mirage III with 117 Squadron and on April 6,1967, scored his first aerial kill in a major skirmish along the Syrian border which ended with the downing of six Syrian jets.

Avraham Lanir, flying Mirage 60, downed a SAF MiG-21 with cannon fire after closing in to a distance of 200 meters.

The MiG exploded and Avraham Lanir flew right through the fireball, covering his aircraft with soot.

The scorched aircraft earned the nickname "Black Mirage", and Avraham Lanir flew it during Operation Focus on June 5,1967, when he participated in a strike against the Egyptian air base at Fayid.

In 1971, Avraham Lanir was assigned command of 101 Squadron, operating the Dassault Mirage out of Hazor.

Avraham Lanir scored his second aerial kill on November 9,1972, downing a Syrian MiG-21 while flying Mirage 72.

On October 12,1973, a week after the Yom Kippur War began, Avraham Lanir scored his third and last aerial kill, downing a Syrian MiG-17 in the vicinity of Kuneitra while flying Mirage 58.

Avraham Lanir was most probably not present at the squadron's morning briefing, and was not aware of the location of the mobile missile batteries that the Syrians placed during the night.

Avraham Lanir's Mirage was hit in the rear by an SA-3 surface-to-air missile and began to burn.

Avraham Lanir managed to steer his damaged plane westward until he had to abandon it over Israeli territory.

Avraham Lanir arrived safely on the ground in the area of Mazraat Beit Jinn.

The Syrians, who wanted to stop Avraham Lanir's run, fired several artillery shells at him.

Avraham Lanir was seen being lifted off the ground and put into a Syrian Armoured Personnel Carrier, which sped away to the east.

When news of Avraham Lanir's capture became known, great concern was expressed in the IDF and Israel's political leadership.

Peled comes to the conclusion that the system's secrets were carefully guarded, even though Avraham Lanir was "harshly tortured and interrogated", and recommends that Michal, his widow, would receive the decoration on his behalf.

Avraham Lanir was buried in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl.

Avraham Lanir was damaged, and he was forced to abandon it in enemy territory.

Avraham Lanir was tortured to death by his interrogators and did not reveal any information.