About 1949: Left to right – unidentified, Leo Gardner, Mrs. Taiber, Rami Taiber, Al Schwimmer
Leo Gardner was born in the U.S.A. In the early 1940s he served as a flying instructor in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and was later transferred to the U.S. Air Transport Command. There he and former T.W.A. captain Sam Lewis became fast friends. They may well have been the only Jewish pilots who ferried U.S.-built warplanes across the Atlantic to beleaguered Britain in World War II.
Early in 1948, Leo and Sam were brought into the Zionist cause by Al Schwimmer, who was then recruiting personnel and buying war-surplus airplanes for the future Israel Air Force. Initially, Leo ferried newly acquired airplanes from their points of purchase to various staging bases, all within the USA for Al Schwimmer’s Panamian airline “LAPSA” (Lineas Aereas de Panama). President Truman had issued a directive that as from 15th April 1948 all exports of aircraft and aircraft parts from the U.S. would have to be cleared by the State Department. Al Schwimmer had registered “LAPSA” for the specific purpose of smuggling planes out of the U.S. in order to avoid this directive.
On February 28th he took off from Millville, New Jersey, to ferry the first of Israel’s C-46 transport planes to Europe, landing at a small airfield in Italy after four overnight stops en route. Before heading back to the U.S.A., he flew the same airplane on a successful search mission over the Adriatic to locate the “Uno” which was carrying munitions bound for Syria.
Upon returning to the U.S.A., he again ferried newly acquired airplanes within the country, and worked closely with Schwimmer in an unsuccessful effort to acquire three Mitchell bombers and 30 Thunderbolts located in Mexico.
Al Schwimmer recalled how, in early July 1948, Leo helped him “retrieve” a B-17 that was seized by federal authorities at Tulsa, Oklahoma, although he had never flown that type of airplane before. The plane was refueled and made airworthy before its seizure, but was now parked in a restricted area on the military side of the airfield. It was a very dark and rainy night when they arrived at Tulsa airport and took a taxi to the military gate, hoping to bluff their way in. At the gate they were greeted by a shout through the rain from the sentry in his booth: “Y’all going to the party?” “Of course,” came the reply, and the barrier was raised. They soon learned that the Oklahoma Air National Guard was having a party there that very night.
Aided by a flashlight, they found the B-17, and Leo familiarized himself with its dashboard and cockpit layout and started the engines. While taxiing without lights to the runway in use, they heard a voice on the plane’s radio coming from the control tower with a warning that the ”unidentified aircraft” get off the taxiway, and then instruct an airliner to circle again because of “unauthorized aircraft” which seemed ready to take off. With Schwimmer in the co-pilot’s seat, they took off and headed east, initially without navigation lights, and at dawn landed at Westchester County Airport. Fearing detection by the F.B.I., the B-17 soon took off, piloted by Irwin Schindler in an unsuccessful effort to ferry it to Israel. This B-17 was impounded in the Azzore Islands off the coast of West Africa, on its way to Israel.
In the weeks that followed, Leo flew ACT C-46s on the air-bridge from Czechoslovakia, bringing military supplies to Israel. In mid-August he was appointed to the high level IAF team planning “Operation Dust Bowl”, the airlift of military supplies from Aqir (Tel Nof) to Ruhama in preparation for the Ten Plagues campaign in October. He then went on to manage the airlift as Air Transport Command’s special operations officer.
Soon after his return to the U.S., Leo was amongst those who were tried in Los Angeles for “conspiracy to violate the Neutrality Act” by exporting ten C-46s and a Constellation to Israel. They were found guilty and fined $10,000 each.
For a time Leo worked for El Al as a C-46 captain, flying cargo between Europe and Israel. In 1950 he and Sam Lewis brought the first of the airline’s Constellations to Israel. When El Al was preparing to retire the Constellations a few years later, Leo and Sam developed a plan to acquire them and start a rapid freight airline. Their plan received a lot of favorable attention, but for one reason or another, it never materialized.
Editor’s note:
In an obituary for Leo Gardner (who passed away on 10th June 2003) it was reported in the Jerusalem Post on 18th June 2003 that “Many of Gardner’s assignments were top secret. He received orders and instructions personally from Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and the defense ministry’s then director-general, Shimon Peres. In 1958, while in the cockpit of an unmarked Israel B-17, Gardner touched down in Bone, Algeria, totally unaware of the fact that the requisite coordination with the French authorities had not been arranged. He was taken into custody along with his three-man crew, one other American, a British subject (Gordon Levett), and an Israeli citizen.”
Source: American Veterans of Israel Newsletter – Fall 2003