The burning security situation at the time of the Great Arab Revolt (1936-1939) led the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Histadrut Labor Federation to take a revolutionary and groundbreaking step – to establish a Hebrew airline – Aviron. The company received its initial funding from Keren Hayesod, to the great anger of the British. Less than a year later, the Jewish Agency for Israel opened a flight training school in the Jordan Valley and purchased a number of planes. Despite the many challenges, in 1938 two Aviron planes made a celebratory flight in the skies over Hanita at the time of its founding. Excitement ran high. In 1947, the company’s planes were handed over to the Hagana’s new “Air Service” and played a starring role in the War of Independence. The magnificent aviation infrastructure created by Aviron was used for the establishment of El Al, founded as a government company. Planes financed by Keren Hayesod supported all the well[1]known aliyah operations, bringing to Israel the Jews of Yemen and Iraq, Morocco and North Africa, the USSR and Ethiopia. Sometimes they were foreign planes purchased by Keren Hayesod, and in many cases, El Al planes.
Photo: Aviron’s long-haul airplane, Lod Airport, 1947