posing with D-207
It was one of the most critical moments in the war of 1948; the Egyptian Army was in Ashdod, waiting to charge towards Tel Aviv. Four faltering planes went out on a mission and against all odds managed to block the Egyptians. 58 years later, Lou Lenart, a pilot in that attack in 1948 and now a Hollywood producer, is working on a book and movie depicting the heroic battle.
Almost 60 years have passed since that fateful day, but Lou Lenart still remembers every minute of it, as though it happened yesterday. Those were trying times for the budding Jewish nation, and Lenart was faced with a task of great importance.
It was May 29, 1948, only two weeks after the declaration of independence. The Egyptian Army was camped outside Ashdod, and its commanders were hard at work preparing the attack on Tel Aviv. Israel needed to defend itself in an conclusive way. This historical move was Lenart’s responsibility: the IDF’s first aerial attack.
Lenart is now 85 years old. In his home in north Tel Aviv, he finds it hard to stop the flow of words when remembering that day. For him, he says, that was the shining moment of his life. He came to Israel as a decorated US Air Force pilot with a record of dozens of flights and attacks against Japanese forces. Despite that, the war for Israel’s existence held a heavier, more crucial meaning for him.
Lenart, who had the most expansive operational flying experience In the new air force, led the four pilots. The other three were Ezer Weizman, Modi Alon and Eddie Cohen. The four Messerschmitt aircraft had been gathered from leftovers of the Nazi Luftwaffe in the Czech Republic, reassembled In Israel, and were each equipped with a machine gun and four 70 kg bombs. This was a far cry from the standards Lenart was used to in the USAF.
We didn’t knew if we could use the planes. We didn’t even know if they would start,” he remembers, “but Air Force Commander Aharon Remez told us we had to do everything possible to stop the Egyptians. I knew they were in the Ashdod area, but we didn’t have up-to-date maps or radios. Modi Alon had to give me directions with hand signals. We headed south until we saw the Egyptian forces from above. There were thousands of troops, tanks and hundreds of trucks. We flew lower, dropped the bombs, and started shooting at anything we could spot. The Egyptians should have shot at us, but they were stunned. They didn’t even know Israel had an air force. The Arabs had everything, we had nothing. And we still won. When I’m asked how we did it, I say, we just didn’t have a choice. That was our secret weapon.”
The mission was a success: The Egyptian forces were blocked, and main command in Tel Aviv could breathe a sigh of relief. Eddie Cohen was killed in the attack, and Modi Alon lost his plane. “In one battle we lost 25 percent of our pilots, and 50 percent of our aircraft,” Lou recalls. Modi Alon was later killed in a tragic accident.
Following that historic attack, Lenart decided it was time for the world to hear the story of that day’s events. A book and a documentary film based on the story are already in production, and negotiations are underway to turn the story of the Israel Air Force’s debut performance Into a high-budget Hollywood film.
The miracle of the oil
Lenart was bom in Hungary, and emigrated to the USA with his parents when he was 10-years- old. After graduating from high school in the summer of 1940, he joined the Marine Corps with one target: “Killing as many Nazis as possible.” He was the only Jew in boot camp. He served as a foot-soldier for a while before being accepted to flight school. He had a bad training accident, but recovered and took part In the battles against the Japanese kamikaze pilots on the Pacific Ocean front. He was discharged as a captain after the war, and came home to discover that 14 members of his family, including his grandmother who had remained in Hungary, were murdered by the Nazis.
In early 1948 he attended a lecture on the importance of the Zionist cause. At the end of the lecture he approached the speaker and asked to join the Haganah. A few weeks later he received a phone call with his first assignment: To fly a freight plane from Italy to Israel. In Rome he met a mysterious, beautiful woman named Carolina, who introduced him to members of the Italian Mafia. The Mafia, it turned out, was hired by Israel to assist in the purchase of freight planes for Israel. A few days later, Lenart was already on a Norseman craft. The only problem was that the distance between Brindisi, the departure point, and his destination in Israel, was 1,300 miles. The plane’s maximum flight distance was 350 miles.
“0ur solution was to turn the plane into a flying fuel tank,” Lenart tells us. “We took out all the seats in the back of the plane, and replaced them with a giant rubber tank full of fuel, connected directly to the plane’s fuel tank. I could barely take off due to the added weight. In addition, I didn’t have any maps, parachutes or radios. I was facing a strong wind, and I was afraid I would run out of fuel before we reached Tel Aviv. Finally, after a harrowing 11-hour flight, my co-pilot Coleman Goldstein¹ and I arrived. The landing was good, but as I got off the plane I told myself I would never fly another flight like that one. To this day I have no idea how we didn’t run out of engine oil. It was our miracle of the oil.”
(link to Avia S-199 story)
After the dangerous mission was over, Lenart decided to remain in Israel. Later on in the war, he became one of the pillars of the Israel Air Force. After the war, he took part in an operation (“On the Wings of Eagles”) to bring 100,000 Jews from Iraq to Israel. He tells us that throughout his service he formed a strong friendship with Ezer Weizman. “Ezer was a savage, but a very brave pilot. I remember that in 1951 I came to Ben-Gurion’s office to report a top secret mission I had taken part in. Before the meeting Shimon Peres told me that I would be asked for my recommendation for Commander of the Air Force at the meeting. When Ben-Gurion asked me I had my answer prepared. I told him I thought it was very important for young pilots to have a commander who was a fighter and would be an inspiration to them, and that man is Ezer.”
Was the friendship maintained once he was elected president?
“We had a very close and warm relationship all through the years, to the very end. His son Shaul stayed with me for a few months when he visited the USA. When he was president I used to joke around with him. “Remember you were my number three.” To this day I am close to his wife and grandchildren. I think he was one of the best men Israel ever had.”
Forgetting Entebbe
In the late ’70s, Lenart decided to try his luck in the film industry. He was involved in several Hollywood productions filmed in Israel, including “Thunderball,” “Cherbourg Ferries,” and the “Iron Eagle” series. He also took part in the production of “Entebbe: Operation Thunderbolt,” Menahem Golan’s movie about the Entebbe operation. He would rather forget those memories. “Golan is the type of person you only work for once,” he says. “It wasn’t easy taking the money from him for that production, even though Rabin only approved the IDF’s cooperation because of my involvement with the movie. When Golan and Globus came to Hollywood and held a press conference, the headline in “Variety” quoted them: “Golan and Globus will teach Hollywood how to make movies.” I just couldn’t believe it.”
While working on the project about his War of Independence experiences, Lenart is also busy producing a movie based on Shlomo Nakdimon’s book about the bombing of the nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981. One of the pilots in that operation was Ilan Ramon, whom Lenart knew well. “Ilan even invited me as his guest to attend the mission departure, but I was in the USA at the time and told him, I’ll see you on television. I dedicate this movie to his memory.”
Who will portray you in the War of Independence movie?
“I don’t care. The book and documentary are more important to me, so the real information will be out there. But if so, I hope it will not be Brad Pitt. I’d prefer someone with a more Jewish look”.
Adapted from an article appearing on Y-Net News.com
Researcher’s note:
¹ Coleman Goldstein was a Machalnik from the USA.