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AT THE ISRAEL AIR Force base adjacent to Ben Gurion International Airport, bulldozers push aside the still-burning jets that litter the field, allowing three surviving IAF F-16s to take off in the direction of Northern Sinai in an attempt to head off a massive Egyptian mechanized infantry force headed to Tel Aviv.
From his bunker in what is left of IDF headquarters in the Kirya, the Chief of Staff orders the Air Force to stop the Egyptians at all costs.
“Jerusalem is lost,” he tells the head of the Air Force. “We must save Tel Aviv. Throw everything you have at them.”
The head of the Air Force, whose heart will give out within hours, victim of a cardiac condition he concealed for a decade, gives the order.
“Roger that,” answers the wing commander as three planes break the sound barrier. His face is still adorned with traces of lipstick.