George Lichter (December 1921 – 2 August 2013) was an American fighter pilot and one of the founders of the
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...
.
[
]
Biography
Lichter was born in Brooklyn in 1921 to a Jewish family that had emigrated from Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
at the turn of the century.[ A day after the Japanese ]attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
he enlisted with the US Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
to become a pilot. Serving with the 361st Fighter Group on the European front, Lichter flew the P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...
and P-47 Thunderbolt
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...
, and participated in 88 combat missions, including the Normandy landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
.[ He returned to the United States in December 1944 and served as a flight instructor before leaving the military.
]
With the Israeli Air Force
In early 1948, following the outbreak of the 1947–1949 Palestine war
The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence ( he, מלחמת העצמאות, ''Milkhemet Ha'Atzma'ut'') and ...
, Lichter volunteered to fight for the nascent Israeli Air Force. When Israel secured the purchase of its first fighter aircraft, 25 Avia S-199s, a Czechoslovak
Czechoslovak may refer to:
*A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93)
**First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38)
**Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39)
**Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60)
**Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...
derivative of the German Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...
, Lichter traveled to Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
. He learned to fly the Avia at the airfield at České Budějovice
České Budějovice (; german: Budweis ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 93,000 inhabitants. It is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše.
České Budějovice is t ...
.[
Lichter arrived in Israel in August 1948, once the last Avia S-199 conversion course had finished. He joined Israel's 101 "First Fighter" Squadron and took his first flight in Israel on 13 August, flying Avia D-119 from ]Maabarot
Ma'abarot ( he, מַעְבָּרוֹת) were immigrant and refugee absorption camps established in Israel in the 1950s, constituting one of the largest public projects planned by the state to implement its sociospatial and housing policies.
T ...
, where the squadron had moved while the airfield at Herzliya was being renovated. He was soon on his way back to Czechoslovakia, however. Israel had acquired former Czech Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...
s and Lichter was sent to train additional pilots on the new type. He took his last flight on the Avia on 25 August.
In December 1948 Lichter participated in Operation Velvetta II to ferry the Spitfires to Israel.[
After the war ended in early 1949, Lichter left Israel but returned shortly later. He was appointed chief test pilot at ]Tel Nof
Tel Nof Israeli Air Force ( he, בָּסִיס חֵיל-הַאֲוִויר תֵּל נוֹף) , also known as Air Force Base 8, is one of three principal airbases of the Israeli Air Force. It is located near Rehovot, Israel.
Tel Nof houses sev ...
and later chief instructor at the IAF Advanced Flying School.[
]
Later life
In 1951 Lichter returned to the United States,[ Shayne 2012, p. 506] where he became active in the textile field. In 1995 he retired to Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...
.[ Lichter died on 2 August 2013 after a brief battle with ]Leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...
. He was survived by three children.[
In 2012 author Vic Shayne published a biography of Lichter titled "Ups & Downs With No Regrets".][
]
See also
*Mahal (Israel)
Mahal, more often spelled Machal ( he, מח"ל), refers to the group of overseas volunteers who fought alongside Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Some 4,000 volunteers, mostly Jews but also non-Jews, arrived from all over the w ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lichter, George
Israeli Air Force personnel
1948 Arab–Israeli War
United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II
1921 births
2013 deaths
Jewish American military personnel
American expatriates in Israel
21st-century American Jews