SAVIOURS IN THE SKY - RESOURCES I
By now, the Egyptians knew that Israel had fighters and they knew the whereabouts of the airfield. A new, secret base beyond the range of Arab guns was hastily prepared. It was constructed in a patch of sand dunes and the orange groves of the sleepy farm community of Herzliya. The pilots all hated the treacherous Messerschmitts, but they were still the only fighters available. In fact, the Israeli forces were short on everything – except for resourcefulness. They had already used scraps from tanks, guns, warships, etc. to cobble together weapons. Why not a fighter? When the British withdrew, they left behind a scrap heap containing the remains of Spitfires. Even better was the almost intact Egyptian spitfire ditched on the first day of the war. Three months before the War of Independence, a brilliant mechanic named Jack Friedman, defected from the RAF and joined the Haganah – even giving himself a Hebrew name. He, and his ragtag team of mechanics, had to stitch to...