LEADER 00000cam 2200709 i 4500 001 ocn971344228 003 OCoLC 005 20171031142313.0 008 170615s2017 nyuabf b 001 0deng 010 2017028807 019 971531576 020 9780393254778|q(hardcover) 020 0393254771|q(hardcover) 024 8 40027506221 035 (OCoLC)971344228|z(OCoLC)971531576 040 DLC|beng|erda|cDLC|dYDX|dBTCTA|dBDX|dOCLCO|dOCLCF|dJAI |dIGA|dSFR|dDGU|dFM0|dYUS|dTXCHA|dWHP 042 pcc 043 a-is--- 049 WHPP 050 00 DS126.96.A3|bG36 2017 082 00 956.04/248095694|223 100 1 Gandt, Robert L.,|eauthor. 245 10 Angels in the sky :|bhow a band of volunteer airmen saved the new state of Israel /|cRobert Gandt. 250 First edition. 264 1 New York :|bW.W. Norton & Company,|c[2017] 264 4 |c©2017 300 xix, 442 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : |billustrations, map ;|c25 cm 336 text|btxt|2rdacontent 337 unmediated|bn|2rdamedia 338 volume|bnc|2rdacarrier 504 Includes bibliographical references (pages 417-421) and index. 505 0 Part one: A war waiting to happen -- Part two: Besieged -- Part three: Fortunes of war. 520 "The gripping story of how an all-volunteer air force helped defeat five Arab nations and protect the fledgling Jewish state. In 1948, only three years after the Holocaust, the newly founded nation of Israel came under siege from a coalition of Arab states. The invaders vowed to annihilate the tiny country and its 600,000 settlers. A second Holocaust was in the making. Outnumbered sixty to one, the Israelis had no allies, no regular army, no air force, no superpower to intercede on their behalf. The United States, Great Britain, and most of Europe enforced a strict embargo on the shipment of arms to the embattled country. In the first few days, the Arab armies overran Israel. The Egyptian air force owned the sky, making continuous air attacks on Israeli cities and army positions. Israel's extinction seemed certain. And then came help. From the United States, Canada, Britain, France, South Africa arrived a band of volunteer airmen. Most were World War II veterans--young, idealistic, swaggering, noble, eccentric, courageous beyond measure. Many were Jews, a third were not. Most of them knowingly violated their nations' embargoes on the shipment of arms and aircraft to Israel. They smuggled in Messerschmitt fighters from Czechoslovakia, painting over swastikas with Israeli stars. Defying their own countries' strict laws, the airmen risked everything--their lives, careers, citizenship--to fight for Israel. They were a small group, fewer than 150. In the crucible of war they became brothers in a righteous cause. They flew, fought, died, and, against all odds, helped save a new nation. The saga of the volunteer airmen in Israel's war of independence stands as one of the most stirring--and untold--war stories of the past century"--|cProvided by publisher. 610 10 Israel.|bḤel ha-aṿir|xHistory. 610 10 Israel.|bḤel ha-aṿir. 610 17 Israel.|bḤel ha-aṿir.|2fast|0(OCoLC)fst00578313 611 27 Israel-Arab War (1948-1949)|2fast|0(OCoLC)fst00980263 648 0 1948-1949. 648 7 1948-1949|2fast 650 0 Israel-Arab War, 1948-1949. 650 0 Israel-Arab War, 1948-1949|xAerial operations. 650 0 Fighter pilots|vBiography. 650 0 Airplanes, Military|zIsrael|xHistory. 650 0 Military operations, Aerial. 650 0 History. 650 0 Airplanes, Military. 650 0 Fighter pilots. 650 0 Military. 650 0 Aeronautics. 650 7 Airplanes, Military.|2fast|0(OCoLC)fst00803587 650 7 Fighter pilots.|2fast|0(OCoLC)fst00923988 650 7 Military operations, Aerial.|2fast|0(OCoLC)fst01710198 650 7 HISTORY / Middle East / Israel.|2bisacsh 650 7 HISTORY / Military / Aviation.|2bisacsh 651 0 Middle East. 651 0 Israel. 651 7 Israel.|2fast|0(OCoLC)fst01204236 655 7 Biographies.|2lcgft 655 7 History.|2fast|0(OCoLC)fst01411628 914 MID.b25349144 914 FARM248406 994 C0|bWHP
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