- Sherut Avir
Sherut Avir (SA) (in English: Air Service) was the
air force of theHaganah and the forerunner of theIsraeli Air Force .Founding
Sherut Avir was founded in November, 1947, just two weeks prior to the passing of the
1947 UN Partition Plan which dividedPalestine into a Jewish andArab state. [ [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/48iaf.html 1948: The War of Independence, The Jewish Virtual Library] ] It was at this time Haganah leaders recognized the need for an air service if a Jewish State was established. However, Sherut Avir would have to be built from scratch. Because of this, its initial strength in comparison with some neighboring air forces, especiallyEgypt , was quite insignificant. By the time of Israel's declaration of statehood in May 1948, Sherut Avir had only 25 aircraft. Most of them had come from Aviron, the first Jewish airline in Palestine established in 1936. While Aviron itself was not part of the Haganah, they had worked closely together in liaison, reconnaissance, and medical missions. Between late-1947 and mid-1948, as tensions mounted before the1948 Arab-Israeli War , Aviron transferred all of its aircraft to the fledgling air force. [ [http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=440 Israel's Aviation History, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics] ] [ [http://www.iaf.org.il/Templates/FlightLog/FlightLog.aspx?lang=EN&lobbyID=40&folderID=48&subfolderID=318&docfolderID=330&docID=20708&docType=EVENT "Aviron" is founded, Israeli Air Force Official Website] ] The second problem Sherut Avir faced was a lack of trained airmen and ground crew. Only a handful of mechanics, engineers, pilots,RAF servicemen, andHistadrut personnel filled the initial ranks. [101-2 Senior.]Operations
Sherut Avir set up headquarters on
Tel Aviv 'sMontefiore Street and began its air operations just outside atSde Dov Airport . Its first combat came quickly; just before Christmas onDecember 17 ,1947 , pilotPinchas Ben-Porat boarded his single engineRWD-13 to ferry a medical doctor to the small town ofBeit Eshel . Once he completed that leg of the mission Ben-Porat was supposed to fly toNevatim , but learning that 200 Arabs were assaulting it, he removed the doors of his aircraft to install aBren Gun , and with a volunteer gunner and somehand grenade s, took off for the village.Notes
References
*Senior, Boris. "New Heavens: My Life as a Fighter Pilot and a Founder of the Israel Air Force". Potomac Books, Inc., 2005. ISBN 1-57488-679-7
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