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"Bomb-chuckers".(Israel at Sixty: The War(s) of Independence)

Article Excerpt
How do you execute the necessary air bombardments during your war of independence when you do not have bomber airplanes? Here is the story of the imaginative ways the emerging Israel Air Force handled this dilemma and some of the interesting characters involved. I was privileged to be a part of this adventure by being a flying cadet in the first pilot course in Israel.

At the time of Israel's War of Independence the country barely had an air force. Moreover, all the pilots were trained elsewhere. A significant proportion had served with the Allies during World War II, including Ezer Weitzman, a future President, who had served in the British Royal Air Force. Several South African Jews who had previously served in the African branch of that same British air force also came to help Israel. There were American pilot volunteers as well, both Jews and non-Jews, and a number of others. Some Israeli and future Israeli pilots were trained in Czechoslovakia (under Communist rule at the time). There were interesting interactions among these groups and between them and us, the first Israelis to be trained as pilots in Israel.

Israel had acquired some World War II fighter planes but could not get serviceable bombers. The...

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