U.S. Veteran Helped Get IAF off the Ground
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Today we celebrate Veterans Day in the United States. We salute all of the brave men and women of who have fought for our freedoms and defended us against our enemies for more than two centuries. Recently, Rabbi Eckstein wrote about a new documentary – Above and Beyond – that tells the story of volunteer airmen who went to the newly independent Jewish state in 1948 to help fight off the Arab attack that followed Israel’s declaration of independence. These pilots not only turned the tide of the war in Israel’s favor, they laid the groundwork for today’s Israeli Air Force.
Today, we would like to tell you about one of these men, an American veteran of World War II and a Jewish-American who stood for Israel. Milton Rubenfeld was born in 1919 into a Jewish family in New York. While he attended college and teaching aerobatics, World War II broke out. The United States, however, was not yet involved in the conflict. Eager to fly combat missions, Rubenfeld joined the Royal Air Force and flew with England. Once the U.S. declared war on Germany, he signed on with the U.S. Army Air Force.
After World War II ended, Rubenfeld – a seasoned veteran of combat – was asked by the Haganah (the predecessor to the modern-day IDF) if he would volunteer to fly for the new state of Israel. Rubenfeld agreed. This was 1948 – when the American and Russian superpowers had already entered the jet age. But the only fighter plane Israel could procure was the Avia S-199. The S-199 was a Czech-built variant of the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the Nazi fighter plane flown by the Luftwaffe. Not only was this aircraft a symbol of the enemy that had hoped to wipe the Jewish people from the earth, it was also seriously outdated and notoriously difficult to fly.
Five volunteer pilots – Milton Rubenfeld and four other men who had combat flying experience – and four of these S-199 aircraft were all that made up the Israeli Air Force when the Jewish state declared its independence.
This little air force had been unknown to Israel’s enemies. When a large group of Egyptian ground forces heading to Tel Aviv were attacked by the volunteers, their commander, they were frightened and turned back. The Israeli pilots were also a secret to other Israelis, as when Rubenfeld was forced to parachute from his stricken aircraft, he was shot at by Israeli farmers while he swam to shore in the Mediterranean. The farmers thought he was an Arab pilot, as they knew nothing of this small, but brave band of airmen defending the Holy Land.
The bravery of Milton Rubenfeld and the other pilots helped turn the tide of Israel’s fight not only by unnerving their enemy, but by bolstering their own people. The very farmers who had fired at Rubenfeld later salvaged the guns from his downed fighter plane and used them against the enemy.
Rubenfeld returned to the United States to recover from his injuries. There he and his wife raised three children, including a son, Paul Ruebens, the actor who plays Pee-wee Herman. When he died in 2004, Rubenfeld’s obituary read, “He never took ‘no’ for an answer and lived his life with great gusto and swagger.”
Despite this gusto and swagger, like so many combat veterans, Milton Rubenfeld did not discuss his exploits. Yet his bravery is remembered in Israel, where his plane has been restored and is displayed at the airport in Tel Aviv.
Today we remember all of those like Milton Rubenfeld who have, through the years, fought so bravely for our freedoms. To all of you, we say “Thank you. Todah robah.”
Author: Stand for Israel | November 11, 2014
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