When Was The Last Real Dogfight? (And Why It Doesn't Really Happen Anymore)

Airplanes have long played an important role in wars, conducting reconnaissance and bombing missions — as well as fighting each other in the skies. Close-quarters combat between aircraft is known as dogfighting, with pilots attempting to damage or destroy their adversaries, while performing tight and skillful maneuvres to avoid damage. The practice of dogfighting began in World War I, but became increasingly common in World War II as planes became faster and more agile. While jets have only become more advanced in recent years, dogfighting between piston-engine, propeller-driven airplanes ended in 1969. 

The last dogfight of this type was near the end of a four-day conflict between Honduras and El Salvador known as the Football War. When a Salvadoran Douglas C-47 transport and two Cavalier Mustangs dropped bombs over the Toncontin Airport in Honduras' capital, Honduran air forces responded. Captain Fernando Soto and Captain Edgardo Acosta were sent out to defend against a pair of Salvadoran Mustangs. Soto immediately took down one Mustang by knocking off its left wing with a cannon. Soto and Acosta then spotted two Salvadoran Goodyear Corsairs and dove down on them, taking them out with bombs. Two Salvadoran Mustangs joined the action, resulting in an intense fight that forced Soto to counter with a defensive split-S before firing his cannons at one of the opposing pilots. By the end of the dogfight, Soto had racked up three aerial kills. 

Dogfighting continued in wars for decades after the Football War dogfight, but the fights were now between jet aircraft with new and deadly technology. In the 1980s, there were dogfights between the British and Argentine forces during the Falklands War. During a particularly intense fight over British ships, British Harrier jets downed five Argentinian Daggers, five Skyhawks, and two Pucara turboprop aircraft.

During Operation Desert Storm, USAF Col. Cesar Rodriguez recalled a fight against an Iraqi MiG-29. The MiG was using radar to lock onto Rodriguez, so he attempted to confuse its radar by flying downward where the skies weren't as clear. Three miles behind Rodriguez was his gunman, who took a shot at the MiG with a heat-seeking missile. Another MiG was coming in hot from 10 miles away soon after, but Rodriguez wasn't caught off guard this time. They both spiraled toward the desert below, attempting to outmaneuver the radar. The MiG was unable to pull back up in time, crashing into the ground.

Due to the danger and skill of dogfights, we often remember some of the more intense dogfights throughout history, including the Red Baron in World War I and the Dieppe Raid in World War II. 

But air-to-air combat is becoming increasingly rare in the modern age, largely due to improvements in long-range weapons. Carrying a handful of radar-guided air-to-air missiles has largely replaced the need for pilots to engage one another at close range. Another reason is that not many countries want to go head-to-head with the United States' F-35 fighter jets. Said Royal United Services Institute research fellow Justin Bronk to BBC: "After the totally lopsided kill-to-loss ratio attained by the US Air Force and US Navy during the First Gulf War, it is a very rare thing for regimes under attack by the US and its allies to send fighters up in defense — since they know how it will end."

This hasn't stopped dogfights entirely. Ukrainian and Russian jets were captured during in-air combat by a Wall Street Journal reporter in 2022. The modern dogfight had a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 Flanker firing infrared flares at a Russian fighter jet, which had fired an air-to-air missile off-camera — not something you see too a lot anymore. More often, current dogfights are between continuously evolving drones. One dramatic video captures a Ukrainian drone ramming into a Russian propeller drone, destroying them both.