A JUNKYARD TREASURE

 Born in 1916, Alex Zioni was a member of the Haganah in his youth. When WWII broke out, Alex volunteered for the British Royal Airforce, where he eventually attained the rank of Major.

In November 1947, he was appointed, in secret, as the Chief of Staff of the “air service” of the Haganah. Not for nothing was Alex considered the founding father of the Israeli Airforce. He invested all his time and energy in his new job and worked towards a detailed programme of how the future Airforce would function - from the minute the new state would arise.

From the beginning of 1948, the military situation in Israel was desperate. The “air service” was in its early stages and consisted of only a few light planes. The British were busy withdrawing their army and armaments from the Yishuv (Jewish Palestine). Amongst the surplus military equipment they were auctioning off, were 20 wrecked, one-engine light planes, called Austers.

Early in January 1948, a light plane from the Israeli airforce club appeared in the sky. When the pilot was given permission to land, Alex Zioni presented himself to the commander of the British base as a representative of the Jewish Agency. He explained that the Jewish Agency is interested in purchasing the plane wrecks purely for civilian use.

When he added that he was a former member of the Royal Airforce, it made a favourable impression on the commander. of the British base - who agreed to allow him to examine the planes. They looked like pieces of junk, but Alex knew that the “air service” would consider them a veritable treasure.

The officer responsible for the auctions viewed Alex with suspicion and asked a lot of questions. He then demanded the astronomical sum of 10,000 lira - which Zioni succeeded in reducing to 7,500. The officer hesitated, and in the end said: “I agree, but on two conditions. First, that the money will be on my table within one hour and second, that I will be able to buy, in another few months, one functioning plane from the Jewish Agency”.

Someone else would have thrown up their hands - but not Alex. He ran like a madman all the way to the building of the Jewish Agency, burst into the office of finances and told the astonished employees that it was a matter of “life or death”, and that they need to let him have a huge sum of money, immediately. After deferring to higher authorities, the large safe was opened, and almost emptied out. Alex rushed all the way back, and placed a large bag of money on the table, in front of the astonished British officer.

The following was no less dramatic. Over 20 trucks acquired by the “airforce service”, were loaded with every wrecked plane and spare parts - which were piled onto the trucks. Just before setting off, literally at the last moment, an emergency situation arose.

The Arabs, who heard that the Jews were taking out tens of planes , began an uproar which didn’t take long to reach Jerusalem, and even to London. Just before the convoy began to move, the Jewish commander received a frantic telephone call from the British airforce headquarters in Israel. “Stop the convoy! The deal has been called off!!”

The officer from the “air service” sat in the commander’s office, on whose desk lay the documents authorising permission for the planes to leave the base. He had heard the conversation, and was sure the game was up. He was able to breathe a sigh of relief when the local British commander informed the general in Jerusalem; “I’m sorry sir. They’ve already left the base”.

At the end of January 1948, the trucks arrived at a deserted Templar underground wine cellar in the small village of Sharona. The whole campaign was carried out in complete secrecy, and in extremely stressful circumstances. The British could have discovered them at any time. At the end of two months of intensive non-stop work on the planes, supervised by Alex, the technical teams succeeded in rehabilitating 14 Austers from among the 20 wrecks.  

The Auster planes have  been commemorated twice. On a stamp by the artist Eliazer Weisshof, and from the “Coin and Medallion Co.” - one of the 14 medallion series called “Aeroplanes that have made history”.

                               

 

In the words of Yitzhak Sadeh (commander of the Palmach and one of the founders of the IDF) “If Zioni had not succeeded in organizing the Auster planes when the Arabs invaded Israel, the state of Israel would not have arisen, and the Yishuv would have been annihiliated”.

Alex finished his army service in 1960, and continued to work for the good of Israel in a number of fields. In 2021 - at the age of 107 - he was awarded the rank of Colonel in an emotional ceremony.

When asked what he has to say to the people of Israel as it approaches its 75th anniversary, he answered: “The words of the Israeli anthem that express expectation and hope for the future - when we would become a free people in our own country, should be changed. We are already a free and proud people who live in sfety in our own country”