Editor’s Note: In the summer of 1967, 20-year-old Zvi Kanor earned his wings when he graduated from the Israeli Air Force Academy. One month after graduating, however, the Six-Day Arab-Israeli War broke out, thrusting him into his first days of combat. It would prove to be the opening salvo for a 27-year-long aviation career in the IAF for now-retired Brig. Gen. Kanor, who would go on to serve as a Wing Commander at Tel Nof Airbase. He retired from service in 1993.
Kanor recently sat down to discuss his early days as a fighter pilot, and the importance of transparency and accountability throughout ranks of the pilot community. Here are excerpts from that conversation, lightly edited for space and clarity, as told to FLYING.
