Top 11 Biggest Air Battles in War History

Dec 21, 2015 Ian Harvey, Guest Author

Many think of war as either one-on-one combat or trench battle; tending to forget that there were also battles going on above the soldiers’ heads. Many mid-air skirmishes took place over the years of war. Here are some of the top air battles in history.

Mihiel Air Battle – World War I, 1918

Air_Combat_-_Western_Front_World_War_I

Bekaa Valley Turkey Shoot, 1982

IAF F-15 at Tel Nof Airbase, marked for shooting down two Syrian aircraft

Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, World War II, 1944

Fighter aircraft contrails mark the sky over Task Force 58, June 19, 1944

Air Battle over NIS, World War II, 1944

Yakovlev-Yak-3-Normandie-Niemen-White-4-Russia-1944-0A

MIG-29 Vs. Two F-15s, Gulf War, 1991

Black Thursday, MIG Alley, Korean War, 1951

MiG-15s_curving_to_attack_B-29s_over_Korea_c1951

Second Raid on Schweinfurt, World War II, 1943

Boeing B-17F formation over Schweinfurt, Germany, on Aug. 17, 1943. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Battle of El Mansoura, Yom Kippur War, 1973

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Adlertag, World War II, 1940

Flugzeug Messerschmitt Me 110

Ofira Air Battle, Yom Kippur War, 1973

A MiG-17 shot down at Ofira Air Base, Yom Kippur War.

ME-262 Vs. Allied Bombers, World War II, 1945

ME 262-A

“F-15A-658-IAF” by User:Ynhockey – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons.