William Guy Gerson was born in Copenhagen, in Denmark in 1913, to a Jewish Zionist family who later immigrated to the USA.
During World War II he served as a transport pilot in the American Air Force in the European theatre of operations.
At the beginning of 1948 he was recruited by Al Schwimmer to ferry a C-46 Commando heavy transport aircraft from the USA to the soon-to-be Jewish state. Because of the United Nations embargo on the movement of military equipment, particularly aircraft, and President Truman’s proclamation that from 15th April onwards all exports of aircraft and their parts, components and accessories had first to be cleared by the State Department, it became essential to move the five C-46s acquired by Schwimmer from the U.S. before this date.
Four of the C-46s took off from Burbank in California for Tuckman in Panama, landing at Mexico City for refueling; they were carrying a gross take-off weight exceeding the maximum. The first aircraft, piloted by Sam Lewis, took off successfully on 23rd April 1948. The second one, flown by Gerson, had one engine fail as the wheels left the ground, and it crashed just before the edge of the runway. Flight engineer and co-pilot Ernest “Glen” King was killed immediately, and Gerson was fatally injured. He died in hospital on the same day. He was survived by his wife and children.
He was buried at the Jewish cemetery in Los Angeles. He was posthumously promoted to Flight Commander.
His comrades of the Ferry Operation collected money as emergency support and sent it to his widow in Los Angeles.
Gerson and King were the first fatalities of the Israel Air Force.
Source: Translated from the Yizkor website with additional information provided by researcher Joe Woolf.