"When Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, the Israeli Air Force consisted of four bastardized Czech versions of the German Messerschmitt.
On May 29, large Egyptian forces had advanced to within 16 miles of Tel Aviv and Israel decided to gamble its entire air force in an attack on the Egyptian advance columns.
As the most experienced pilot, Lenart led the attack, backed by Ezer Weizman, later president of Israel, as one of the other three pilots.
The stunned Egyptian troops, who had been assured that the Israelis had no aircraft, stopped their advance and retreated. Subsequent news reports hailed Lenart as “The Man who saved Tel Aviv.”
After the war, Lenart participated in the airlift of Iraqi Jews to Israel, was a pilot for El Al Airlines and produced six feature films, including “Iron Eagle” and “Iron Eagle II.”
> “bastardized Czech versions of the German Messerschmitt”
From memory, these were produced very late in WWII. At that time, the usual Me 109 engine was not available. So, they had a lot of airframes without engines. They decided to put some bomber engines that were laying around on the front of the airframes. They were supposed to be very difficult to fly because the Center-of-Gravity was in the wrong place. No one who could afford better wanted them after the war.
G-d is watching over Israel.