When the F-35 fighter jet, the most advanced jet to date, landed in Israel for the first time, the American pilots lined up to shake his hand..Such was the reputation, the legend, of Israeli Air Force pilot Col. Danny Shapira, who passed away over the weekend, at age 97. the Jerusalem Post reported..A combat pilot in the IDF in Israel's wars, a chief experimental pilot of the aviation industry, who left behind a daughter and two pilot sons, one of whom continued his path as an experimental pilot in the IAF..“The IAF bows its head and shares its sincerest condolences with the Shapira family,” said IAF Commander Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar..“Danny was one of the founding fathers of the IAF, a brave and professional combatant who educated generations of combatants.”.“In his groundbreaking path as a test pilot, he was one of the people who paved the path to the success of the IAF. We will continue to commemorate his glorious legacy and accompany his family. May his memory be blessed.”.Shapira, a fifth-generation Sabra who was born in Jerusalem in 1925 and grew up in Haifa, was one of the first pilots trained by the IAF who set and broke countless records throughout his illustrious career in the skies, the Jerusalem Post reported.. Israeli air combat legend, Danny ShapiraIsraeli air combat legend, Danny Shapira .He vividly remembers at age 14 seeing Germany’s Graf Zeppelin passenger ship flying over Haifa, and then telling his parents, “I want to be a pilot.”.He joined Hagana’s Sherut Avir, the IAF’s forerunner, in November 1947 where he learned to fly before turning 18 and became a glider instructor..When the decision was made to establish the State of Israel, Shapira, along with another 100 people who held flying licences, were called up to start taking reconnaissance pictures and bringing supplies such as arms to the Jewish yishuvim (communities) around Jerusalem under the guise of private flights..In May 1948, he was informed that he and ten other pilots had been selected to attend an advanced combat pilot course in Czechoslovakia, Ynetnews.com reported..Only Shapira, along with three others, Israel Ben-Shahar, Moti Hod and Yeshayahu Gazit, managed to complete the rigorous course and were awarded IAF pilot wings..He was in Europe when the War of Independence broke out, and returned to the embattled State of Israel in the famed Velvetta operation, ferrying Spitfires from Czechoslovakia to Israel via Yugoslavia along with 13 other pilots, two of whom did not make it..The day after landing back in Israel, the planes joined Operation Horev, playing a pivotal role in the large-scale offensive toward the end of the War of Independence against the Egyptian Army in the western Negev, the Jerusalem Post reported..“It was the beginning of the Israel Air Force,” he said in 2018. “We were cadets, and the air force gave us priority and promoted us to the positions we later held.”.Years later, he would say of those difficult years: “We didn’t fight with weapons, but we fought with our hearts; we had to win.”. Israeli air combat legend, Danny ShapiraIsraeli air combat legend, Danny Shapira .He said that “the wish for freedom, sacrifice, dedication and the dream to have our own country under our own flag is what won the War of Independence.”.Not without a life or death struggle, of course.."More than once or twice I faced danger to my life. I can state with satisfaction that in everything I did, I always tried to serve as a personal example,” he said..“In the revered Air Force, I was able to forge my character and do the thing I love to do the most . . . fly.".In the late 1950s, Shapira was sent with his family to France to test out a prototype of the French-made Mirage fighter jet, YnetNews.com reported.."Mon Colonel," the French experimental pilots called him, with admiration for his elite performance..Shapira recommended the Air Force Commander at the time, Ezer Weizman, to purchase the plane..Later, he was put in charge of the integration of fighters into the IAF, and supervised their operation going forward..“Every new plane that Israel received, I flew on it,” he said, explaining that for him, it was “important to be one of the first” to fly for the Jewish state..He credited the strong bond between the US Air Force, which later sold Israel F-16s and F-15s, to another historic moment in his career..In 1966, Iraqi combat pilot Munir Redfa defected to Israel in a Mig-21 fighter jet. Shapira was the first person to meet with him, Israel Defense reported..The two spoke briefly, and Shapira then took off in the foreign aircraft, in which everything was written exclusively in Russian..Shapira learned the plane’s tactical weak spots without a flight manual or checklist and even simulated dogfights..He would then be sent to the US on a secret mission to teach American pilots who were up against the same planes in Vietnam..Shapira retired from active service in the Air Force in August 1971 but was asked by then-Air Force Commander Moti Hod to join the Israel Aerospace Industry and help in the development of the firm’s Nesher and Kfir aircraft, which were based on the French Dassault Mirage 5 fighter..He was appointed IAI chief pilot shortly after joining the company..Shapira, who didn’t stop flying until the age of 72, accumulating over 12,000 flight hours, was chosen to be one of the torchbearers at the annual torch-lighting Ceremony on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem for Israel’s 65th Independence Day..The moment celebrated his outstanding contribution to the state.. Israeli air combat legend, Danny ShapiraIsraeli air combat legend, Danny Shapira
