Grandma's army

  I am indebted to Robert Gandt for his fascinating book called “Angels in the Sky”, from which I selected most of the facts in this incredible story. Reviewing Roert Gandt’s book, Walter Boyne, the former director of the U.S. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, wrote: “It is always rewarding to read a book about combat flying written by an author who obviously knows the subject firsthand! Robert Gandt’s book on the infant Israel Air Force fills a real need, and shines new light on one of the most heroic battles in history. The prowess of the IAF in recent years has   caused us to forget just how precarious was its beginning, and how joyfully the battle was joined by a wide variety of pilots flying airplanes better suited for a museum than combat.” A YEAR LATER At the auspicious date of May 15 th , 1949, Israel’s first victory parade was taking place before   a deliriously happy crowd in Tel-Aviv. Perhaps as many as a quarter of Israel’s tiny population, were packed in

  From the early hours, on the Sabbath of January 8 th , pilots were already strapped in their cockpits. They were waiting for the inevitable reprisal attack from the humiliated RAF. The hours crept by as the tension mounted. Contrary to the demands of the RAF squadron leaders who were begging for the go-ahead to launch a massive retaliatory strike against Israel, RAF headquarters withheld permission. Instead, the British Foreign Office fired off a furious protest to the Israeli government, demanding compensation for the loss of airmen and aircraft. Truman was condemning  the British for interfering in the Middle East conflict. The British House of Commons was in an uproar. While they were debating the issue, Winston Churchill demanded an explanation for the unreported downing of another British warplane shot down over the coast of Israel the month before ! Although the British Air Ministry tried to dodge the question, Churchill continued to probe. When finally admitting that the wa