69 Squadron was reactivated at Ramat David on November 1, 1969, headed by Major Avihu Ben-Nun. A year earlier Israel had ordered 50 F-4 Phantoms, enough to equip two squadrons, and ten IAF airmen had spent March to August 1969 training with the 479th Tactical Training Wing at George Air Force Base. These included five 69 Squadron airmen: Ben-Nun, Ehud Hankin, Rami Harpaz, Shaul Levi and Achikar Eyal. Upon their return to Israel, then in the midst of the War of Attrition, the 69 Squadron airmen flew both training and combat missions with 201 Squadron, the IAF's first "Kurnass" squadron. On one such mission on November 11, Hankin and Eyal shot down an Egyptian MiG-21 to score the Phantom's first aerial victory with the IAF.