William Fisher, the son of Chaim-Zeev and Frieda, was born in Proskorov in Podolia, a province of Russia, on 28th August 1923, two months after his father died. He was given his father’s name.
In 1924 his family immigrated to Winnipeg, Canada. After completing high school studies, he qualified as a navigator, and served in England until the end of World War II, when he returned to Canada. He went to England once again, at the end of July 1948, en route to Israel, where he arrived at the end of August. He served as a navigator in the Israel Air Force.
On 25th October fellow Canadian Wilfred Canter, piloting a Dakota, was trying to return to the Ekron airbase when the aircraft’s right engine began to overheat. The engine exploded within sight of the airfield, breaking off the wing and sending the plane spiraling into the ground near Kfar Yesodot. The crew included Canadian co-pilot Fred Stevenson, British radio operator Leon Lightman, and IDF liaison officer Michael Wimers.
All aboard were killed and buried in the Rehovot cemetery
On the orders of the Chief of Staff, William Fisher was posthumously promoted to Flight Commander on 29th September 1949.
Article published in The Tablet
See picture of the crew below.
Canadian Jewish News: April 26, 2012
Source: Translated from the Yizkor website by Joe Woolf.
Editor update March 2022: The film below was produced in 2018 in memory of the air crew of the Dakota. יהי זכרם ברוך
With grateful thanks to Wilf Mandel (William Fisher’s nephew) and Tal Naftali-Tal Landman for providing this important visual record.
