Angels in the sky: How volunteer airman saved the State of Israel by Robert Gandt.2017

  Angels in the sky: How volunteer airman saved the State of Israel  by Robert Gandt.2017 387pg  18/11/2018 

The book starts off with the story of the 4 Messerschmitt's that just arrived in Israel  brought in a transport plane and reassembled and before the pilots got to know them well went to attack the Egyptians who were stuck at a blown up bridge only 17 km from TA at Ashdod. Of the 4 one never returned and one crash landed on return. The mission seemed to be a failure but later they discovered that the Egyptian petrol supply had been hit and the Egyptian started digging in instead of advancing.

In the US Al Swimmer bought Constellations  and flew  them to Panama from New Guernsey.. Schindler had a registered transport company that he had never been able to use called Service  Airlines. They had to get the planes out of the US while they could. The same pilots flew to Burbank, California and took 4 loaded planes but in Mexico city one crashed on takeoff killing 2 pilots. The Panama govt. thought the country would be an airline hub then the planes flew to Africa. The planes flew 11 hours to Dakar then to Casablanca where they heard the news of Israel's independence, then onto Sicily.

Meanwhile near Prague 10 Messerschmitt were bought but they did not have the original engine and were difficult to maneuver, the pilots were trained there while the Communists were taking over.

After the declaration of independence Sde Dov and Tel Aviv were attacked and planes lost there. 2 Egyptian pilots were shot down and landed Spitfires that could be fixed up. Ramat David airfield was attacked but the British were still there and shot down 5 Egyptian planes.  2  of F47s landed at night in Egyptian territory and were the first to be taken prisoners to Cairo.

The Iraqis and Jordanians were only 10km from Netanya and plane bombing them slowed them down. One Messerschmitt was hit here and the pilot baled out over the sea, people of Kfar Vitkin thought he was an Arab but he yelled "Gefilta fish" the only Yiddish he knew.

The pilots were asked to bomb Amman as there was to be a meeting of the head of the Jordanian army and it would have an effect.  Amman was lit up when 3 light planes threw incendiary bombs out the window and returned.

Then the Egyptian navy with 3 boats was heading towards Tel Aviv, planes bombed them and one was hit and they turned around and headed back home.

The book describes the Altelena  affair that the volunteer pilots would have no part in a civil war,Yigal Allon bombed it from the beach

The night before the month long UN truce ended Israel bombed the enemy as they had to get Egypt out of the Negev and the Syrians and Jordanians were too close. 2 Messerschmitt were lost as they tried to attack as their propeller and guns were not coordinated and destroyed the propeller.

Al Swimmer  in trouble with the FBI and knew he would end up in jail so decided to move to Israel.

  Three B17s spirited out of the US were now refitted with bomber  equipment and it was decided that they would fly directly from Zatec, Czech and bomb El Arish, Rafiah and Cairo at the same time. The plane that flew to Cairo where all the lights were on, it pretended to be a commercial flight and dropped the bombs which landed in the compound of  Faruk's Abdeen Palace, causing enormous  havoc in the entire city. They also bombed Damascus just before the ceasefire came into effect.

Emmanuel Zur bought 2 Mosquito fighters in England. Later Beaufighters. were bought and their original weapons were smuggled out of England. A movie was made with crowds watching the pilots saying goodbye to their loves and 4 took off at the same time and flew to Israel.  

During the ceasefire the transporters carried supplies at night over at  the Egyptian army Israeli troops  cut in  off the Negev to the settlements there and landed on a strip built with the help of tractors and a bulldozer of the kibbutzim. The problem was they were running out of aviation fuel and the ship was on its way from Mexico.

The Czechs had 50 Spitfires they wanted to sell as Russia wanted to change to  Russian weapons, to fly them to Israel they had to add special tanks for fuel and got permission to land in Yugoslavia as politics there had changed. 2 Spitfires landed in Rhodes and the pilots were arrested. In 1948 Greece was in a civil war and as they had come from a communist country the Greeks thought they might be hired to transport weapons to the communists KKE.

The Hawker Sea Fury was the last propeller driven fighter made in the UK.

With an organized  squadron of bombers and fighters they attacked El Arish and destroyed Egyptian airplanes on the ground as well as the railway track.

Israeli's were the ones in charge now with the more skilled Mahal people under them. Moti Aron was killed on landing a Messerschmitt and a South Africa Syd Cohen took over. Their base was Hertzlia  and they spent time in a Kfar Shmaryahu pub.

Iraq Suwedan was an Egyptian fortress and it had to be taken to get through to the Negev. It was bombed with incendiaries and finally combined units attacked it and occupied it without loss.

In the north Kuogi a blond Arab who had won a German Iron Cross in WW1 led a militia and the IDF then drove them out as well as many Arabs who fled to Lebanon.

Shufti(Spy in Arabic) Kites a high altitude British Mosquitos spying over Israel and finally they got a Mustang  that was equipped with oxygen to shoot it down from Hazor where the squadron 101 had now moved. Egypt had both Spitfires and Italian Maachis. Only one Egyptian had fighter pilot experience from WW2 and he was shot down.

They got a Harvard Dive Bomber this was not an action used any more but you had pilots who had fought in the Battle of Midway in the Pacific. The diver bombed El Arish and Rafeah,

Both Russia and USA were against pushing Israel out of the Negev in a UN resolution. Yigal Allon was about  to cut El Arish off from the rest of  Egypt. Yigal Yadin stopped him as Egypt could  ask British help as there is the Anglo-Egyptian Defence Pact of  1936. The Egyptian army abandoned Gaza and El Arish.

Three RAF Spitfires attacked and Israeli convoy and one was shot down as it past the 2nd time, another 2 were shot down by Israeli Spitfires piloted by Canadian non Jews. This happened over Israeli territory and none of the combatants were Jewish, Israeli or Arab. An hour before the final ceasefire 2 Israeli Spitfires found 8 Maachis fighters with bombs, these bombs were jettisoned and the Maachis fled.

After that ceasefire on 7Jan 1949, 2 Israeli Spitfires one piloted by Ezer Weizman saw a squadron of 19 RAF fighter patrol crossing the border they scattered them and 2 RAF planes were shot down.

Finally troops went south to take Elath.

Saving the Faluja Pocket 4000 soldiers was an incentive for Egypt to agree to peace. During the 9 months Nassar was in command of these troops he met officers and planned to later oust King Faruk.

One of the reasons that so many Jewish airmen volunteered was that Jews were not able to get pilot jobs at TWA and Pan Am. Many non Jews volunteered for the challenge of flying again.

 After the war most returned home and succeeded in their various careers. Most never talked about the period as they had done something illegal as the FBI was looking for them. Others remained in Israel and trained the next generation of Israelis, joining El Al, Arkia. Flew refugees into Israel. Some non Jews married Israeli women and converted to Judaism. This narrative is hardly known by young Israeli's

Of the pilots who died in Israel's War of Independence 14 Israeli, 9 USA, 5 Canadian ,3 British, 2 South African.

Of the 33 deaths 8 names look non Jewish?

 

According to Smokey Simon who gave a talk in 2018 he was 92 years old. 4800 volunteers came to Israel. In WW2 almost a half million Jews fought in the different allied forces including Poland.10th June 1948 a DC3 owned by 3 South African Jews was used to drop bombs on Damascus it took 6 flights around the city giving the impression that there was a whole airforce, before it returned to SA. 6500 Israelis were killed in 1948.  Jordanian civil aircraft kept flying over Israeli territory and was warned not to. Ezer Weitzman shot it down.

Col. David (Mickey) Marcus by Zipporah Porath 2010 36pg  

Born to a family in the Lower East Side of New York and graduated from West Point  in 1924. He then went onto studying law and became a NY municipal judge. When WW2 broke out he volunteered and became a ran a Ranger Training School for soldiers to be with Mc Author in the jungle.. As a full Colonel was involved in Normandy planning, later involved in the Nuremburg Trails. Other Jewish Generals approached could not help as they were army men and it would effect their careers and pension but he was a civilian.

On May 1948 he was appointed the First General of the Israel Army by Ben Gurion and in June 11th was shot accidently by a nervous guard. He is the only American soldier buried at West Point who died fighting in a foreign country.

40 Americans and Canadian died fighting in Israel in 1948 including 7 non-Jews. The story of Machal (Volunteers from Abroad) has not yet been fully told in their countries of origin as they risked their lives and citizenship and even imprisonment. The Israel authorities especially the army considered that the nation building narrative that the Yishuv succeeded in the struggle for independence. Especially since most volunteers left the country.

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Am I my brothers keeper: American volunteers in the war of independence 1947-1949  by Craig and Jeffrey Weiss 1998 336ppg14/7/23 

Airforce Initially there were 2 dozen foreign  pilots and not enough planes for them. The 101 Flying Squadron had Messerschmitt's 109  so the each had a turn . These ME 109s were heavier and weaker than what was used in WW2 and on take off they pulled to the left . They were bought from Czechoslovakia and had a problem that they shot through the propeller and this was not always well coordinated and caused them to crash. Operation Yoav was under way to relieve Negev settlements by raiding Egyptian bases.

The forth Anti tank Squad was based on the Carlson Raiders and had 20 Americans. One was Slade a  American Indian  who during WW2 had a Jewish commanding officer and was treated by a white man so volunteered to fight for Israel. Margaret Bourke- White the famous  Life magazine photographer to whom he gave an interview.

1947 November the UN passed a resolution favoring partition of Palestine Over a thousand men and women all for different reasons left wives, children university studies . Israel Declared independence in 1948 May 14th the country only had 60, 000 Jewish residence. With 3 separate Jewish underground fighting forces - The Haganah, Irgun and Lechi. and their were 30,000 part time soldiers in its ranks. The British had ruled for 28 years. With Independence Ben Gurion declared the Israel Defense Force (IDF) The navy had 14 ships as a legacy of Aliyah Bet.

In the US the Haganah had created 2 organizations that worked clandestinely and illegal. Land and Labour for Palestine to recruit soldiers and Materials for Palestine tho purchase arms.  Mickey Marcus a West Point graduate became Israel  first army general and Paul Shullman an Annapolis graduate the Israel  first naval commander. Canadian Ben Dunkelman commanded one of Israel 12 brigades. Canadian Lionel Druker commanded the IDFs first tank. Marlin Levin from Pennsylvania broke the Jordanian armies code.

Why did they volunteer.? By 1948 everyone knew that a third of world Jewry had been wiped out and sympathy for a Jewish state could not be higher as a guarantor for Jewish survival.. Not all volunteers were Jewish some were  observant Christians and some wanted to recapture the glory and adventure of they war time experience. They had to face cultural and linguistic barriers . The army quickly abandoned the idea of units comprised of entirely foreign nationals. Many Israelis  spoke English for the British mandate but Hebrew was the language used. Many could also speak Yiddish. The air force was entirely in English. Less they 10% of the volunteers stayed afterwards but their contribution was way above their numbers. US veterans of the Merchant Navy did not qualify for education benefits under the US bill of rights, and many were not ready to return to civilian jobs.

The Irgun set up the American League for Free Palestine and advertised attacking the British for not allowing Jewish immigration to recruit sea men. Aliyah Bet (illegal immigration to Palestine was attracted by the availability of war surplus ships that were suitable. The Irgun was  interested in men with seamen's paper. Ben Hecht put on a play A flag is born to raise money and he also wrote propaganda speeches and helped in publicity campaigns on behalf of the revisionists.  This Ben Hecht play starred Paul Muni and Marlin Brando, it was the most anti British play staged in the US and raised a $ million. Where Haganah seamen pretended to be refugees the Irgun ship they identified themselves and Americans but the British quietly put them in Akko prison and deported them after 5 weeks avoiding the diplomatic crises that that Irgun had planned. Meanwhile they gave the Irgun and Lehi imprisoned, a camera and other equipment that helped 120  them escape afterwards. A few of these American returned sailing Hagana ships later.

The Exodus carried 4515 Aliyah Bet passanger and it was at this time that it had caused an international crises .All these ships were US surplus navy , gunboats , ice breakers that were redone in France or Italy so that refugees could fit in and set out from there to Palestine. There had also been Spanish sailors, loyalist from the Civil War..