Giora Romm, the Israeli Air Force's first jet ace, passed away Friday night at the age of 78 after a bout with cancer.
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Romm, born in 1945 in Tel Aviv, is widely considered one of the greatest combat pilots of the Israeli Air Force, earning the first “ace” title by scoring five kills during the 1967 Six-Day War.
At the start of the war, he shot down two MiG-21 planes over Egypt, and on the same day, he shot down a MiG-21 over a Syrian airfield that he had just bombed. The next day he was wounded in the leg by Syrian anti-aircraft fire, but the day after that he escaped from the hospital, and on the same day - June 7, 1967 - he shot down two Egyptian MiG-17 planes.
Two years later, during the War of Attrition, his plane was shot down by Egyptian forces and he was injured and taken captive. He spent three months in an Egyptian prison before being released as part of a deal between Israel and Egypt. After gradually returning to flying, he participated, among other things, in bombing runs during the Yom Kippur War.
Romm served for decades in the Air Force and in the early 1990s was appointed as Israel's military attaché in the United States, after failing to clinch the role of Air Force commander.
After his extensive military career, Romm served as director-general of the Infrastructure Ministry, the Jewish Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority. His last public position was as chairman of the board of directors of the National Road Safety Authority. In 2019, Romm ran for state comptroller.
Romm holds a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Bar Ilan University and a master's degree in business administration from UCLA.
Romm's widow, Miriam, posted a photo on Facebook Saturday morning showing him in his hospital bed, shaking hands with the Air Force Commander Major General Tomer Bar. Beside the image, she wrote, "Giora's last smile, our beloved."