SAVIOURS IN THE SKY - RESOURCES III

 

Dr. Otto Felix, an old friend of Ben-Burion, was a Czech-born lawyer. From the start, he was the one who had initiated the arms-buying expedition to Czechoslovakia, including the Messerschmitts.

The lack of fighter planes had become critical. Even after the Czechs had evicted the Israeli airlift operation from their country, Felix decided to call on the Czech government once more. He doubted that they would be agreeable to selling anything at all to the Israelis, but  the desperate need for fighter planes gave him no choice but to try. As Felix anticipated, the Messerschmitt option was finished but - they agreed to sell him something else.

Felix was stunned when they offered to sell him no less than fifty Spitfires! Even though they had been last used in WWII, they were still considered one of the top air combat aircraft. The mystery of this completely unexpected bonanza could be explained by the fact that the Czechs were under the dominance of the Soviet Union.  The Soviets wanted to re-equip the Czech air-force with modern Soviet-supplied jets. The Czechs, who needed the money, were therefore looking for a buyer.

The Israelis were again faced with a familiar dilemma. The Czechs wanted no more trouble from America, or Britain, about Israeli transports flying from Czech airfields. Ferrying the fighters was also out of the question. The Spitfires’ range was not enough to get to Israel without refuelling twice on the way. There were still no Israel friendly fuelling bases for fighters along the route. There was no time to ship them by rail and onto an Israeli cargo ship.

Israel needed the Spitfires now!

One of the few volunteers left in Czechoslovakia was Sam Pomerance who, apart from being a pilot, was a certified aeronautical engineer. After joining the Haganah, he was sent to Europe to be the chief engineer for the Haganah’s  growing fleet of transports and fighters. He came up with an ingenuous plan – to rig external fuel tanks on the Spitfires which might  have the range for the flight to Israel, with only one fuelling stop. To compensate for the extra weight, they would have to strip everything that could be removed from the Spitfire

They still needed to refuel once during the flight. Yugoslavia, the one country which had provided refuelling facilities in the past, had flatly refused. However, when it seemed that the situation was hopeless,  there was a sudden shift of Cold War politics. Yugoslavia broke its ties with the Soviet Union. As a former East-bloc country, Yugoslavia had no trade agreements with the west. In exchange for badly needed aviation-grade fuel for its air-force, they agreed to grant landing rights for the Spitfires. They could refuel at a remote airfield out of sight of international observers. As a further precaution the Spitfires would have to display the markings of the Yugoslav air-force.

Meanwhile, two more modern fighters called Mustangs arrived in crates in the hold of a US registered freighter. These were being secretly assembled and would soon be flyable.