The Machalniks

In 1947, two Jewish American World War II airmen, Mike Kaplan and Paul Schatz, had a plan. They bought two surplus C-46 airplanes to fly Holocaust survivors trying to immigrate to Palestine, over the British naval blockade set up to prevent their arrival.The plan changed when United Nations voted to partition Palestine. Five Arab nations with a combined population of over 60 million, vowed to annihilate the virtually unarmed 600,000 Jews when the British withdrew and Israel declared...
More Description

In 1947, two Jewish American World War II airmen, Mike Kaplan and Paul Schatz, had a plan. They bought two surplus C-46 airplanes to fly Holocaust survivors trying to immigrate to Palestine, over the British naval blockade set up to prevent their arrival.The plan changed when United Nations voted to partition Palestine. Five Arab nations with a combined population of over 60 million, vowed to annihilate the virtually unarmed 600,000 Jews when the British withdrew and Israel declared itself a State on May 14, 1948. Realizing the Jews needed weapons to defend themselves, Kaplan and Shatz purchased increased their fleet to twelve cargo planes, and gathered a volunteer crew of Jewish World War II pilots to fly them. They were called Machalniks, the Hebrew acronym for Volunteers from Abroad.Facing fines, prison, and loss of their citizenship for attempting to break the Mid-East Arms Embargo, they set up a Panamanian airline and slipped the planes out of the United States. They eventually arrived in Czechoslovakia, the only country willing to sell them armaments. Days after Israel proclaimed itself a State, a column of 5,000 Egyptians, in tanks and armored cars were poised on the door step of Tel Aviv, a mere 15 miles away. If Tel Aviv fell, the War of Independence would be over, and the fledgling State of Israel would cease to exist.In untested planes, reassembled only days before from parts smuggled into the country, Kaplan led the only four combat pilots in Israel to engage the Egyptians. They flew the only combat planes in the Israeli Air Force. As they soared into the sky, beneath their wings lay the fate of the newborn nation and its air force.