- Yisrael Amir
Lt. Col. Yisrael Amir (
1903 -November 1 ,2002 ) was the first commander of theIsraeli Air Force . Amir was born inRussia , moving toPalestine in 1923 while it was under the British Mandate. Amir then began his military career by joining the newly createdHaganah , aJewish paramilitary group. Following Israel's declaration of statehood onMay 14 ,1948 , theIsrael Defense Forces was formed from the Haganah andJewish Brigade . The air wing of the Haganah.Sherut Avir , was reorganized as theIsraeli Air Force , and Amir was appointed its first commander by Prime MinisterDavid Ben-Gurion onMay 16 . Sherut Avir had operated a small collection of aged and non-military aircraft, so the greatest problem facing the new air force was the procurement of modern military airplanes. Amir immediately secured an order of severalMesserschmitt fighters and USB-17 Flying Fortress which were ferried to Israel through inCzechoslovakia . Amir retired from his military career in 1969.References
* [http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:MgVaFuFx4voJ:www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pagesShArt.jhtml%3FitemNo%3D226171%26contrassID%3D1%26subContrassID%3D0%26sbSubContrassID%3D0+%22yisrael+amir%22+iaf&hl=en&lr=&strip=1 Obituary in "Haaretz"] Google cache version
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