Wayne Peake was an experienced United States Air Force fighter pilot who had flown many combat missions over Germany during World War II. He was one of some 90 non-Jewish fliers and aircrew from overseas who volunteered to serve in the fledgling Israel Air Force in 1948.
While flying for Israel, Peake’s distinguished performance included shooting down a British Mosquito plane flying at higher altitudes than any Israel Air Force aircraft could reach at that time. Probably flying on photo-reconnaissance sorties quite early after May 15th 1948, this mysterious plane was first observed in October over central Israel. Ezer Weizman, who went on to command the 101 Fighter Squadron in April 1949, after Syd Cohen had returned to South Africa, later told the story of how the plane was brought down: “At the time, 101, our first fighter combat squadron, was made up of a number of Spitfires, three Mustangs and the remaining Messerschmitts that were still airworthy. At first we thought the mystery plane was Iraqi. One day in November, we were informed that the plane had been spotted entering Israel from the north. Wayne Peake took off to meet it in Mustang number 40. I sat in the control tower at Hatzor, and looked at the reconnaissance plane’s condensation streaks. I thought it looked like a twin-engine plane. Wayne climbed to 28,000 feet, closed in on the plane from the direction of the sun, and sat on its tail. He opened fire directly over the base. One burst… a second burst… and smoke began pouring out of the plane’s left engine. Wayne was living out every combat pilot’s dream: he hit a plane as all his friends watched from the ground. The plane went into its death throes, and crashed into the sea opposite Ashdod. When the Israel Navy retrieved the remains, it was identified as an ”RAF Mosquito.”
During World War II, one day Peake earned the nickname “the friendly fighter pilot” after a skirmish. After noticing that his opponent’s gun had jammed, he waved to the helpless pilot and let him run home.
In Israel’s wet winter conditions, the dirt airfield at Herzlia was unreliable, so 101 Squadron moved to Kastina (Hatzor). Five Avia S-199s were the first to make the transfer. The last S-199 finally reached the squadron on 26th November. It had remained in Rome inside an impounded C-46 aircraft since 18th July. One of the newer pilots, Wayne Peake, crashed an S-199 on take-off. Peake was unconscious and trapped in the cockpit. The squadron doctor had frozen-up, and Syd Cohen, who had been a medical student in South Africa, performed CPR on Peake until he regained consciousness.
The Avia S-199 continued making sporadic sorties through mid-December; American pilot Wayne Peake flipped one on its back on December 15th 1948.
Peake, who joined Flying Tiger Airlines in 1951, was known for his ebullient nature and endless supply of jokes and quick-witted remarks. “There was probably not a pilot more popular among his peers than Wayne Peake,” said VP-Flight Operations Controller Shad Shadowens.
Peake had been so moved and impressed by the “Battle of Britain” spirit in the IAF during the War of Independence that his last wish before he died of cancer in January 1979 was to be buried in Israel. He expressed this wish to Smoky Simon from his hospital bed shortly before he died, and Smoky put this request to Ezer Weizman on his return to Israel. He is interred in the small non-Jewish section of the Carmel Military Cemetery in Haifa, next to the grave of Canadian George “Buzz” Beurling, the famous fighter pilot ace of World War II.
“When Wayne volunteered to fly for Israel,” said his widow Allene, “it was just something he thought he’d like to do. But after he had been there a short while, he became totally committed to the cause for which he was fighting.
An anecdote from Smoky Simon, related to him by Wayne Peake’s wife Allene:
She was a devout Catholic, and she and her three children always attended Mass at their local church every Sunday. Wayne looked upon this day as his “time off,” and would spend it with his buddies, who were mainly Jewish. He also used to make speeches on behalf of Israel Bonds.
Allene asked Wayne one day to come with her and the children to Mass and he agreed. That Sunday morning he put on a nice suit and got ready to leave, and his son said to him, “Dad, where are you going?” Wayne replied, “I’m coming with you to Mass,” to which his son said “Dad, I thought you were Jewish!”
Sources: Flying Tiger Line Pilots Association, Israel Air Force (www.iaf.o.il); World Machal (www.machal.org.il)