Posted on 07/22/2015 10:44:12 AM PDT by Borges
Louis (Lou) Lenart, an American fighter pilot hailed as “The Man who saved Tel Aviv” during the opening days of Israel’s War of Independence, has died.
Lenart died Monday at his home in Raanana, Israel, of heart and kidney failure. He was 94.
His funeral on July 22 at the Kefar Nachman Cemetery in Raanana will be attended by high-ranking officers of the U.S. Marine Corps and Israeli Air Force, according to Lenart’s wife, Rachel Nir.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
RIP.
Rest in Peace. Semper fi...........................
I hope that is true and the CIC doesn't shut it down.
"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.”
I sent this to my airplane friends.
Sounds like a true hero to me. May God grant his survivors peace, and welcome him home.
'“I owe so much to the United States and the Marine Corps, which gave a young Jewish immigrant sanctuary and an opportunity to excel'
> “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.
That appears to be an F4U corsair but the three bladed prop...? May be an early F4U? Thats a monster radial engine - has to be a Super Wasp.
SEMPER FI
G-d is watching over Israel.
Reminds me a little of the story of Arabs at Safed mistaking the noisy Davidka mortar in a rare thunderstorm for an atomic bomb, causing them to flee fortified positions.
It is a Double Wasp engine. The 4 bladed prop did not get put on the Corsair until later, pretty sure after WW II had ended.
Thanks for the added insight and information.
Always and forever. Amen.
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