But For The Pilots From The United States, Israel Would Not Be On The Map

By Maxine Scheer

“Above and Beyond” played to standing-room-only audiences at the EAA Museum during AirVenture 2015, and after dozens of rave national and international reviews this past year, “Above and Beyond” will kick-off the AirVenture 2016 Fly-In Theatre Lineup, on Sunday, July 24th at 8:30pm (2030 hours).

“Above and Beyond” is a must-see film from award-winning producer Nancy Spielberg and Director Roberta Grossman, that tells the true story, through interviews with veteran U.S. pilots describing with candor and humor, aviation’s pivotal and, dare to say “undisputed role” in winning Israel’s War of Independence in 1948.

Nancy Spielberg’s first aviation film seized a movie-making moment in time when a group of U.S. pilots who flew the first, key missions in Israel were here to recount details that few people know about.

The film tells the story of how pilots and others with professional military aviation training were recruited in 1947 into the Michal, through clandestine operations, how aircraft were delivered to Israel around world-wide embargos, and how with minimal training and marginally airworthy aircraft, the pilots achieved highly effective missions, thwarting attacks on Israel from the massive, surrounding armies and air power, including the Royal Egyptian Air Force (REAF). The Machal were men and women, from overseas, who volunteered to fight for Israel in the War of Independence.

Pilots featured in the film anticipated getting into P-51s and instead donned German flights suits and climbed into crappy “Messershits” (ME-109s) and Spitfires pieced together from aircraft engines and parts smuggled through Czechoslovakia.

“Above and Beyond” took on a deeper personal interest during my first trip to Israel earlier this year. I had the privilege of meeting one of the Israeli pilots featured in the film, Danny Shapira, who credits his opportunity to fly in the burgeoning Israeli Air Force (IAF) to U.S. pilot George Lichter, whom we also meet in the film. Shapira went on to be an ace pilot with the IAF, retired as Chief Test Pilot for Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI), and is an honorary fellow in the Society for Experimental Test Pilots.

During the week of AirVenture 2016, I will share comments from Shapira on his experience training under the U.S. pilots between 1947-1948, and how this time in Israel’s aviation history helped to shape the highly acclaimed Israeli Air Force.

“Had it not been for the pilots from the United States, we wouldn't be on the map,” is a quote featured at the Machal exhibit in the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv; one very small plaque in a massive museum dedicated to the history of the Jewish people.  But at AirVenture 2016, the accomplishments of these volunteer aviators will be front and center for an audience that appreciates what it means to “do what has to be done in the spirit of aviation".

Aero-News coverage during AirVenture 2015 included an Aero-TV interview with Spielberg and an interview with Bruce Lichtman, Lt. Col. USAF (Ret.), son of Gideon Lichtman, one of the pilots featured in the film.

FMI: http://aboveandbeyondthemovie.com