Customer Reviews

New Heavens: My Life as a Fighter Pilot and a Founder of the Israel Air Force (Aviation Classics)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book tells, first hand, of Boris Senior's experiences fighting both for and against the Royal Air Force. He tells of his growing up in South Africa and joining the air force there after World War Two broke out and France was defeated. And of his flying missions in Italy in World War Two as a South African member of the RAF. After luckily surviving this, he went on to become a member of the Irgun and then the Haganah (switching in large part because the Irgun had no air force). He became one of the first pilots in Israel's air force.

As Senior relates, the Israeli air force did not get off to an auspicious start. On May 15, 1948, when hostilities began, the entire Israeli air fleet was arranged in neatly parked rows on either side of the Sde Dov airport. They were hit by four waves of Egyptian Spitfires (two of the waves struck before most Israelis knew what hit them). Thus, the Israeli air force was badly damaged in the first hours of the war. Nevertheless, the Israelis rebounded from this terrible day. Perhaps its most glorious time came at the end of the war, on January 7, 1949, when the Israeli pilots shot down five RAF planes without any losses of their own.

I highly recommend this interesting book.

In a very readable style, Boris Senior has put together quite an interesting book--personal recollections of the amazing life he has led, encounters with famous political figures,and raw stories of battle. The story begins with his dive bomber attacks on German installations in Italy, when he was flying as a World War II RAF fighter pilot. The saga continues with his later major conributions to the Zionist cause and, in particular, to the fledgling Israeli Air Force not only as a pilot, but as a mobilizer of aircraft and and people. I recommend this book because it conveys well the sense of how a frail Israel in those formative years had to fight for its existence against incredible odds, and yet managed to prevail.

Judith Friedman Rosen, from CUNY's Graduate Center, tells us that Israel's air force and its advanced aero-technology helped define the country in recent decades, but in the years immediately prior to the country's birth and during its struggle for independence (1946-48), things were rather different. The emerging country was threatened by enemies from within and on all its proposed borders. Fledgling military forces smuggled in contraband armaments, breaking a British-imposed ban. Despite such efforts, the future looked bleak. Only air assaults could secure the national Jewish homeland, but there were no airplanes and no pilots.

Into this situation entered Senior, an experienced World War II fighter pilot for the British Royal Air Force with a Zionist orientation. His autobiography engagingly recounts how a young man from a well-to-do South African family, along with other overseas volunteers acquired a mix of aircraft, learned to pilot them, smuggled them to Palestine, and engaged in battle. Senior recalls his World War II sorties, his flying experiences, and a close brush with death. These events prepared him for the challenges he would face as a fighter pilot for the Yishuv (Jewish settlements in pre-state Israel) and as a builder and founder of what would become the Israel air force.

Senior recounts how his ragtag air force secured victory by personally purchasing aircraft and sneaking them across international borders, and how they risked their lives on unfamiliar and untested equipment. He reminds us of the ingenuity, determination, and resolve that he and the fighters had for the creation of Israel. He emphasizes that the U.S. government was not a friend of the fledgling nation, curtailing the pilots' ability to transfer airplanes to Palestine. In contrast, the Russians rescued the endangered Jewish fighting forces from destruction by permitting "Czechs to assist us (training in and procuring Messerschmitts)." In addition, "Russian diplomatic and political support in the United Nations during that period were instrumental in helping Israel survive." This directly contributed to the success of the war in the air, which, through the efforts of the Mahal overseas volunteers, brought final victory to the nation and led to Senior's ability to initiate and build the Israeli air force.

Boris Senior is a hero of democracy and this is his story.

Makes for great reading.