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Above and Beyond: American Pilots and founding the Israeli Air Force


gwb123
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http://aboveandbeyondthemovie.com/

 

Just came across references for this movie. It has been circulating in specialty theaters for some time. Directed by Nancy Spielberg, sister of Stephen Spielberg.

 

It is the story of American pilots coming to the aid of the new Israeli state in 1948, many of them WWII veteran pilots who secretly learned to fly ME-109's!

 

This is available for pre-order from Amazon.com, and will be out in October. (and yes, I know the cover art with the Mustangs is wrong.)

 

http://www.amazon.com/Above-Beyond-Harold-Livingston/dp/B00XZCK67W/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1435549827&sr=1-2&keywords=above+and+beyond

 

 

 

 

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I actually had a chance to watch this last night thanks to Netflix on-line.

 

It is primarily an interview based documentary, with several of the surviving pilots and crew relating their stories.

 

It is appropriate to mention here because a good number of the original volunteers were ex-US servicemen from the USAAF, USN and USMC.

These men risked not only their lives but also their citizenship by violating US neutrality laws.

 

Despite the restrictions, a number of larger cargo aircraft were procured through US surplus sales. One of the interviewees describes how he

was given $5,000 in cash and told to go buy a C-46. Apparently in the immediate post war era, if you were a vet, you were allowed to buy

one surplus aircraft. The planes were gathered stateside and then registered to a phony Panamanian airline. They were flown south,

then across to Morocco, through Italy and then to Czechoslovakia, which became the staging base for the Israeli assets.

 

Most of the nations of the world were enforcing an arms embargo to the Middle East, which gave the previously armed Arab countries

a disadvantage. The film notes that the Czechs were badly in need of cash, and were more than willing to sell arms to Israel.

 

One of the pilots recounts reporting to a Czech airfield for training, and finding himself in a cobbled together version of the ME-109, wearing

a former Luftwaffe flight helmet, parachute and flight suit that still had a Nazi breast eagle on it (which he quickly removed!). The irony

for many of the pilots was all too obvious, especially since they would soon be flying against Egyptian Spitfires!

 

Just hours before the declaration of the State of Israel, four ME-109's were disassembled and flown into the country. As they were being

rebuilt (in a fashion) in one hanger, the hanger next to them was destroyed by bombing.

 

Along with a gaggle of Piper Cubs, Nordsmen, and cargo planes, these four fighters were the backbone of the IAF in the first weeks of the

fighting. Incredibly, they managed to hold the tide with supply drops and quick airstrikes.

 

The movie is worth watching, and answers the question for many of "What did you do AFTER the war?" While it features a lot of historical

still and motion photography, it does rely on CGI for most of the action sequences. It does suffer a bit when some of the footage is mixed in

on unrelated events (like the scene where they are discussing Israeli B-17s and briefly show a crew loading into a WWII B-24), but this can

be tolerated for the rest of the story. The antics of the pilots and flight crews are also a worthwhile story on their own.

 

The movie from the start is told from an Israeli perspective, which should be expected. But overall it is worth the viewing.

Above and Beyond 2.jpg

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Starring Pee-Wee Herrmann to, which is hard to imagine :)

 

Paul Reubens is not the star of the film. His father was a pilot in the fledgling Israeli Air Force noted for his bravery. He lost his life while serving, and his wife and son Paul told his story in the movie.

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Thank you for posting this.

 

That unique US history is not well known, or understood for that matter. The IAF probably/surely would have come into being, eventually, but those Americans were the only hope Israel had in the earliest critical years.

 

Here are a couple of books which give some background details:

 

"No Margin for Error" by: Ehud Yonay

"On Eagles Wings" by: Ezer Weizman

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