SAVIOURS IN THE SKY - AIRMEN VIII

 

Just before the ceasefire, the Israeli armoured column was caught by surprise when they heard a wave of enemy warplanes suddenly appearing - killing several soldiers. When another wave came along, the gunners were ready, and hit at least one of the fighters.

McElroy, one of the two veteran WWII pilots who were sent to engage in an air battle with the enemy, succeeded in gunning down two of their  Spitfires. His fellow pilot, Goodlin, was caught up in a dangerous duel with another enemy plane, in which he was successful. Neither of the pilots was Jewish. Happening to glance at the Spitfire’s fuselage, Goodlin couldn’t credit what he was seeing!  It was a distinctive large blue, white and red round emblem.

The emblem of the British Royal Airforce.

It transpired that the  British had been sending armed scouting flights over the battle area since the day before. Two Mosquito aircraft with four Spitfire escorts had flown over the battle zone, without being challenged. Another two of the downed RAF pilots had parachuted directly over Israeli positions, and were captured. 

McElroy was devastated - he had just killed one of his allies and comrades in arms. Goodlin, on the other hand, asked the obvious question. Why were the Brits sending armed fighters into Israeli air space in the middle of a war?

The cease fire was supposed to begin in an hour. Four fighter pilots, with Ezer Weizman at their head, were insisting on flying one last mission.  This time, none of the pilots knew whether it would be Egyptian or British pilots they would be up against.

At the same time, four enemy Spitfires were setting off. Accompanying them were two flights of modern Tempest fighters. Seven were assigned to cover the Spitfires while another eight were to fly top cover. They appeared to be carrying bombs and entering Israeli air space.

With twenty-three fighter planes clashing together, it was every man for himself - each one fighting for his life. There was no further doubt about the identity of the invaders. The distinctive RAF emblems were visible on all the enemy’s planes.  

By the end of the uneven battle, Weizman tallied up the day’s score: “Five planes, the property of the British Empire, were now buried in the desert sands. Two British pilots were killed, we captured two others, and one of them walked back to his base.”

In a mission impossible, four patched up fighters had taken on nineteen modern warplanes of a world power. They had blown one out of the sky, seriously shot up another, and scattered the rest. Except for the bullet holes in the tail of Weizman’s Spitfire, the other three had been untouched!