What are rarest Israeli insignia? 101st Squadron

[Mortaydc60]

I am new to this forum but a longtime member of the US Militaria Forum. I have been collecting for over 60 years mainly US but did branch out to other nations when could not obtain US insignia. Have some our allied nations of WW2 insignia mainly patches but developed an interest in Israeli especially the pre state period. What piqued my interest was the involment of volunteers from many nations many non jews that joined in the fight to save the new State of Israel. The one unit in particular that really sparked my interest was the first fighter squadron which was made up with these volunteers from around the world. Many of these were pilots,etc from the US,Canada,Britain and South Africa. For many years the insignia of the squadron went unidentified atleast in the US. The insignia depicts a death head wearing a helmet with wings and the # 101. In the ASMIC Trading Post it was ID'd in the early 1970's as a badge for sucide pilots. Does any one on the forum have any more information or have the badge to share?

[509thPIB]

[gwb123]

It is literally for the 101st Squadron of the fledgling Israeli Air Force.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101_Squadron_(Israel)

 

Part of the Israeli military deception during the 1948 was to use random or high numbers to identify their units, implying their forces were bigger than they actually were.

 

I'm not sure who's fertile imagination at ASMIC came up with that identification, but the conglomeration of pilots who came to fly for the new IAF were far from suicidal.

 

A pretty good docudrama was made about the unit in the move Above and Beyond, released in 2014. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Above_and_Beyond_(2014_film)

 

We discussed the movie on the USMF awhile back: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/243364-above-and-beyond-american-pilots-and-founding-the-israeli-air-force/?hl=%2Bisraeli+%2Bair+%2Bforce

[gwb123]

From Wikipedia, a short history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Air_Force Early years (1948–1967)

Avia S-199

Forerunners of the Israeli Air Force were the Palestine Flying Service established by the Irgun in 1937, and Sherut Avir, the air wing of the Haganah.^[6] The Israeli Air Force formed on May 28, 1948, shortly after Israel declared statehood and found itself under attack. The force consisted of a hodge-podge of commandeered or donated civilian aircraft converted to military use. A variety of obsolete and surplus ex-World War II combat-aircraft were quickly sourced by various means to supplement this fleet. The backbone of the IAF consisted of 25 Avia S-199s (purchased from Czechoslovakia, essentially Czechoslovak-built Messerschmitt Bf 109s), and 60 Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk IXEs, the first of which, "Israel 1", was locally assembled from British abandoned spare parts and a salvaged engine from an Egyptian Air Force Spitfire with most of the rest purchased from Czechoslovakia.^[7] Creativity and resourcefulness were the foundations of early Israeli military success in the air, rather than technology (which, at the inception of the IAF, was generally inferior to that used by Israel's adversaries). The majority, 15 out of the first 18 pilots in 101 Squadron (Israel), of the IAF's first military-grade pilots in 1948 were foreign volunteers (both Jewish and non-Jewish), mainly World War II veterans who wanted to collaborate with Israel's struggle for independence, with the rest of the military-grade pilots being Israeli WWII veterans, whereas pilots from Sherut Avir were mainly locals who flew light civilian aircraft for supply, reconnaissance, and makeshift ground attack with hand-thrown light bombs and hand fired light machine guns.

Israel's new fighter-arm first went into action on May 29, 1948, assisting efforts to halt the Egyptian advance from Gaza northwards. Four newly arrived Avia S-199s, flown by Lou Lenart, Modi Alon, Ezer Weizman and Eddie Cohen, struck Egyptian forces near Ashdod. Although damage to the enemy was minimal, two aircraft were lost and Cohen killed, nevertheless the attack achieved its goal and stopped the Egyptians.

An Israeli pilots passport page who flew to Czechoslovakia to bring back to Israel the Avia S-199.

After un-assembled planes were strafed on the ground on May 30 at Ekron airfield the fighters were moved to makeshift strip located around the current Herzliya Airport. The airfield was used as it was a bit back from the front-lines, and was clandestine since it was a purpose built strip, that was constructed after the beginning of hostilities, in between the orange orchards around Herzliya, and did not appear on published maps. The Israeli Air Force scored its first aerial victories on June 3 when Modi Alon, flying Avia D.112, shot down two Egyptian Air Force DC-3s which had just bombed Tel Aviv. The first dogfight against enemy fighters took place a few days later, on June 8, when Gideon Lichtaman shot down an Egyptian Spitfire.^[8] During these initial operations, the squadron operated with a few planes versus almost complete Arab theater air supremacy and the airplanes were parked dispersed between the orange trees. The fighters were moved in October to Hatzor Airbase from the Herzliya strip in due to its unsuitability in rainy conditions, probable loss of clandestine status, moving front lines which made former British bases safe for use, and a shift in the balance of air superiority towards the Israelis.^[9][10][11]

As the war progressed Israel procured more and more aircraft, including Boeing B-17s, Bristol Beaufighters, de Havilland Mosquitoes and P-51D Mustangs, leading to a shift in the balance of power.

[Mortaydc60]

Perhaps the ID as sucide pilots came from the fact that some of the flyers were killed just trying to take off in the ME109 do to the crazy prop rotation that caused the planes to be difficult to fly. The real irony was that here you have the Jews flying the plane mostly associated with the Nazi's and flying them against the Arab states that flew Spitfires. Great trivia fact was that Pee Wee Herman's father was one of the volunteer pilots and was in fact shot down;the incident is pretty funny and is mentioned in the documentary film.

 

Thanks for posting pics of the insignia. The badge is very rare and will post one later.