Spencer Andrew Boyd was born on August 16, 1923 in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of a minister. In high school he showed particular aptitude in mathematics, and a keen interest in flying. During World War 2 Boyd served in both the Canadian and United States air forces. He had volunteered to the Royal Canadian Airforce as soon as
the war began, where he successfully completed a course as a navigator was promoted to warrant officer and was sent to serve on a base in Alaska. In 1940, after additional training, he was promoted to flight officer and became an instructor in navigation to both officers and officer-cadets.
In 1942, when the United States entered the war, Boyd resigned from the RCAF and returned to the U.S.A. At first he was posted as an instructor at the Naval Academy, but within three months was transferred to the United States Air Force. To his great sorrow he did not get an appointment as a navigator but served through the war as an air photographer on a B-29 bomber.
After the war, he co-operated with a well-known navigation officer in publishing an instruction book on flying, became interested in the subject, and eventually qualified for a civilian private pilot license.
In 1946 he became director of an airport in New Jersey. During his tenure he qualified as a pilot on heavy aircraft. From there he went to Chicago, entered university and excelled in mathematics.
In the spring of 1948 he volunteered for the Israel Air Force. On July 18th in the pre-dawn darkness he made a forced landing on the sands near Nebi Rubin on the road to Tel Aviv. Five persons, amongst them Spencer, were murdered by a Bedouin gang. After his death he was promoted to flight commander. He was buried in a Protestant cemetery: alongside the cross on his gravestone is an Israel Army insignia. On April 4th 1951 his body was reburied in a special section of the IDF Carmel Military Cemetery.
Prepared by Joe Woolf (edited by Alan Ben-Ami)
Addendum from the AVI Newsletter October 1996:
On the eve of Israel’s Remembrance Day 1996, Israeli television showed a film about how an American non-Jewish pilot, Spencer Andrew Boyd, was killed in 1948 along with some others. The only survivor of the incident agreed for the first time in 49 years to be interviewed. It seems that Andrew, son of a minister, was asked to fly down from Tel Aviv to the Dead Sea Works at Sdom at night. There he picked up a number of passengers, including one woman.
The plane developed engine trouble on the way back and he landed it on the sands, I think about 30 miles south of Tel Aviv. They got out more or less intact but as they were walking north along the shore they were intercepted by a band of Bedouin. The pilot was knifed to death and the others shot. One was not fatally wounded and played dead. He was rescued later that day. The woman medic with the rescue force described on TV how she saw the pilot’s body on the shore with its blond hair being ruffled by the sea breeze.