FIGHTING BACK

Jeffrey Weiss and Craig Weiss tell the nonfiction story of a pair of Jewish American fighter pilots who joined the Israeli military in 1948 and each go missing, just over four months apart.

It’s a story that sounds like a movie premise, and one that fueled a grueling regimen of detective work by the authors, as the Weiss siblings detail extensively. For them, the journey of Stan Andrews and Bob Vickman afforded remarkable glimpses into the war that followed Israel’s declaration of independence on May 14, 1948 and the creation of the Israeli Air Force (IAF), which the pair joined. Although neither Andrews nor Vickman were especially religious, but both shared an interest in the Israeli cause, which they viewed as an opportunity for “a people so long victimized by anti-Semitism, to fight back against their oppressors and finally take control of their destiny.” Making that commitment meant leaving families, girlfriends, and promising postwar career paths behind; Andrews, however, expected to capitalize on his artistic and writing talents after Israel declared victory. Their choice required them to join the forces of an emerging nation that lacked experienced pilots—and only one country, Czechoslovakia, was willing to defy an American-led embargo on supplying combat aircraft to its leadership. Israel created new workarounds to build its air force, such as transporting the planes it purchased in pieces and reassembling them at their destinations. The IAF surprised the Royal Egyptian Air Force with an air attack on May 29, 1948. Although the Israelis lost many fighters that day, the Egyptians now found themselves contending with an airborne force that continued to grow in strength. A turning point came in July, when the IAF joined the army to fight against the Egyptian military for the Negev desert.

However, by then, Vickman was already missing in action, soon followed by Andrews—just months after the latter wrote “Milk Run,” a final short story about a bombing run that shared eerie similarities with his own fate, but with a key difference: “Unlike the real story, ‘Milk Run’ has a happy ending, with the entire crew reaching the safety of an American base.” The authors compellingly argue that the notion of a Jewish state, which did not initially earn significant international support, would not have succeeded without the commitments of foreign volunteers like Andrews and Vickman. The pair, they note, could easily have retired from combat as American World War II veterans; instead, they abandoned that notion for the uncertain prospect of building a new force. It’s a story of service and sacrifice that will resonate with some readers amid global uncertainties; others will take issue with some of the perspectives on the political discourse surrounding Israel, as voiced in the final chapter. Still, it’s a remarkable human-interest story that unfolds through the letters and drawings of Andrews, a “wounded, driven, certain, yet also light-hearted man at a critical turning point in his life,” and reflects on the man who might have been.

An intriguing account of the founding of the Israeli Air Force, as seen through the eyes of two American volunteers.