Sherut Avir

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Sherut Avir

Sherut Avir (SA) (in English: Air Service) was the air force

Air force

An air force, also known in some countries as an air army or historically an army air corps , is in the broadest sense, the national armed force or armed service that primarily conducts aerial warfare....
of the Haganah

Haganah

Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces....
and the forerunner of the Israeli Air Force

Israeli Air Force

The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the Israel Defense Forces. The current Commander in Chief is Aluf Ido Nehoshtan. The Israeli Air Force has approximately 700 aircraft....
.

ut Avir was founded in November, 1947, just two weeks prior to the passing of the 1947 UN Partition Plan

1947 UN Partition Plan

The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine or s:United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 was a plan adopted by a decision of the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947....
which divided Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. It is derived from a name used already much earlier for a narrower geographical region, mainly along the coastal region....
into a Jewish

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
and Arab

Arab

An Arab is a person who Identity as such on linguistic or cultural grounds. The plural form, Arabs , refers to the Ethnocultural group at large....
state. It was at this time Haganah leaders brought the Palmach

Palmach

The Palmach was the regular fighting force of the Haganah, the unofficial army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine....
's air branch, Palavir

Palavir

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Encyclopedia

Sherut Avir (SA) (in English: Air Service) was the air force

Air force

Haganah

Israeli Air Force

The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the Israel Defense Forces. The current Commander in Chief is Aluf Ido Nehoshtan. The Israeli Air Force has approximately 700 aircraft....
.

Founding

Sherut Avir was founded in November, 1947, just two weeks prior to the passing of the 1947 UN Partition Plan

1947 UN Partition Plan

Palestine

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
and Arab

Arab

Palmach

The Palmach was the regular fighting force of the Haganah, the unofficial army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine....
's air branch, Palavir

Palavir

The Palavir, an acronym for Plugat HaAvir was the air force for the Palmach, based in Tel Aviv. Little is known about the Palmach's flying platoon due to its short life and its secrecy during the British Mandate....
out of hiding, recognizing the need for an air service if a Jewish State was established. However, Sherut Avir would have to be built from scratch. Because of this, its initial strength in comparison with some neighboring air forces, especially Egypt

Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
, was quite insignificant. By the time of Israel's declaration of statehood

Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel

The Israeli Declaration of Independence , made on 14 May 1948 , the day the British Mandate of Palestine expired, was the official announcement that the new Jewish state named the Israel had been formally established in parts of what was known as the British Mandate for Palestine and on land where, in antiquity, the Kingdoms of Kingdom of I...
in May 1948, Sherut Avir had only 25 aircraft. Most of them had come from Aviron, the first Jewish airline in Palestine established in 1936. While Aviron itself was not part of the Haganah, they had worked closely together in liaison, reconnaissance, and medical missions. Between late-1947 and mid-1948, as tensions mounted before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War

1948 Arab-Israeli War

The 1948 Arab-Israeli War, known by the Israelis predominantly as War of Independence and War of Liberation , and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe , was the first in a series of wars fought between the Declaration of Independence State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict....
, Aviron transferred all of its aircraft to the fledgling air force. The second problem Sherut Avir faced was a lack of trained airmen and ground crew. Only a handful of mechanics, engineers, pilots, RAF servicemen, and Histadrut

Histadrut

The Histadrut or HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael is the Israeli trade union congress.It was founded in December 1920 in Haifa as a Jewish trade union which would also provide services for members such as an employment exchange, sick pay, and consumer benefits....
personnel filled the initial ranks.

Operations

Sherut Avir set up headquarters on Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv-Yafo , usually Tel Aviv, is the List of largest cities and second largest cities by country List of cities in Israel in Israel, with an estimated population of 390,100....
's Montefiore Street and began its air operations just outside at Sde Dov Airport

Sde Dov Airport

Sde Dov Airport , also known as Dov Hoz Airport is an airport located in Tel Aviv, Israel which mainly handles domestic flights to Eilat and northern Israel ....
. Its first combat came quickly; just before Christmas on December 17, 1947, pilot Pinchas Ben-Porat

Pinchas Ben-Porat

The IAF 101 Squadron to which Pinchas Ben-Porat belongedPinchas Ben-Porat was one of Israel's original aviators. He was involved in the Palavir, Sherut Avir, the IAF's 101 Squadron, and EL AL....
boarded his single engine RWD-13

RWD-13

The RWD-13 was a Poland touring plane of 1935 in aviation, three seater high-wing monoplane, designed by the RWD team. It was the biggest commercial success of the RWD....
to ferry a medical doctor to the small town of Beit Eshel. Once he completed that leg of the mission Ben-Porat was supposed to fly to Nevatim

Nevatim

Nevatim is a moshav in southern Israel. Located in the northern Negev desert around 8 kilometres south-east of Beersheba, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council....
, but learning that 200 Arabs were assaulting it, he removed the doors of his aircraft to install a Bren Gun, and with a volunteer gunner and some hand grenade

Hand grenade

A hand grenade is an anti-personnel weapon that explodes a short time after release. The word "grenade" is derived from the French word for pomegranate, as shrapnel reminded soldiers of the seeds....
s, took off for the village.