On 15 March 2011, Free Libyan air force aircraft conducted its first air attacks against Gadaffi loyalists, flying six combat sorties. According to the opposition sources, on that day rebel MiG-23BN fighter jet and Mi-24 combat attack helicopter first sank two Gadaffi loyalist warships and damaged a third Gadaffi loyalist warship near the coast of Ajadabiyah, and then bombed Gaddafi loyalist tank columns outside of Brega and Ajadabiyah. Also, on that same day, rebel MiG-23BN fighter jets bombed the Ghardabiya air force base, damaging its runway. On 16 March 2011, pilots of one MiG-21bis and one MiG-21UM fighter jets which took off from the Ghardabiya airport defected with their planes to the opposition and landed in rebel-held air force base in Brega. Free Libyan air force aircraft conducted more air attacks on 16 March, flying three combat sorties with Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters, bombing pro-Gadaffi tank columns near Ajadabiyah—during those combat sorties one rebel Mi-24 combat attack helicopter was shot down by pro-Gadaffi forces near Ajadabiyah, killing three crew members while only one crew member, Ismael Kuttep, survived (among the killed was Hussien Werfalli, commander of rebel helicopter squadron at Benina air force base, who defected to the opposition from Ghardabiya air force base just days earlier).