Aid to the State of Israel, which had not yet been established, was provided at several airfields in Czechoslovakia.
Pilots were also sent from the country to conversion courses on the German aircraft that Czechoslovakia was about to sell to the newly founded State of Israel.
After screening and medical examinations, we were sent to the Czechoslovak Air Force flight school in Olomouc. It was June 1948, about a month after the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel, whose founders had already been fighting for more than half a year against the Arabs – local and neighboring – who sought to thwart the creation of the Zionist state.
At a later stage, 16 Israeli pilots also joined our course, most of them graduates of the aviation club in the country.
We were two separate groups because the Israelis did not command the Czech language and their instruction was conducted in English.
For us, the Czechoslovak volunteers, it was clear that we were heading to the Land of Israel to fight for securing the independence of the new Jewish state, which was destined to be established according to the resolution of the United Nations. Upon the conclusion of the war, we would return to Czechoslovakia.
At the end of November 1948, the Czechoslovak government decided, apparently on orders from the Soviet Union, to halt the courses and military assistance. Due to various difficulties and disruptions, I arrived in the country at the end of March 1949. I was absorbed into the Air Force at headquarters that was located at the time at Camp "Ariel" in Jaffa.
I continued to serve in the Air Force even after the War of Independence ended, but I did not see myself as a professional military man. Together with a friend from the Air Force, I planned a transition to civilian life – while maintaining close ties with the force.
I was discharged from the Air Force at the beginning of 1951 – and did not return to Czechoslovakia.
Sixty years later, I received the pilot’s wings from the Czech Air Force, which we had not received at the time due to the abrupt conclusion of the "Czech chapter." This took place at a festive ceremony at the Air Force House in Herzliya, in the presence of Czech Defense Minister Vlasta Parkanová, Czech Ambassador to Israel Michael Žantovský, and the Chief of Staff of the Czech Army, who awarded the wings on behalf of their country, on the recommendation of the Czech Air Force commander. I was one of half a dozen graduates who were still alive.