Product Review

For all its well-documented prowess, much about the Israeli Air Force remains shrouded in secrecy.

This film discloses the remarkable story of its origins in 1948, during the desperate struggle for Israeli independence. As late as May of that year, the Israeli military lacked even a single fighter plane or bomber.

Building an air force fell upon a far-flung network of volunteers and operatives, based in the United States, who procured the required planes (including four Messerschmitt fighters), pilots and technicians from abroad.

Their shoestring improvisations - whether buying planes headed for the scrap-heap, smuggling them into Israel in defiance of the American embargo, or training pilots in the heat of battle are recounted here by 25 participants, including Teddy Kolleck (head of the U.S. branch of the Haganah at the time), General Aharon Remez (Israeli Air Force Commander, 1958-50) and the late Yitzhak Rabin (Commander on the Egyptian Front in the Sinai in 1948).

Combining his interviews with period footage, including combat sequences from the 1948 war, director Jonathon Paz sheds new light on these daring pioneers.

Israel, 1988, B&W/Color, 49 minutes.