He sunk a cruiser with a torpedo bomber

            The Israeli Air Force today is a big and powerful organization that only the elite pilots can think of joining. That wasn’t always the case. During the Israeli War of Independence in 1948 the Israelis practically begged veteran pilots from around the world to help their beleaguered brethren in their quest for a Jewish homeland. Most of the 101^st Squadron were Machal volunteers from many backgrounds. One of these pilots had an amazing story to tell even before he fought for Israel. Leon Frankel had sunk a Japanese cruiser during WWII and would have another hair raising experience flying for Israel.

            Born in St. Paul in 1923 Leon Frankel was just two years out of high school when he joined the navy in 1942. As with many youngsters in the 1940s he was fascinated by aviation and was elated when he was accepted into the naval aviation program. After graduating he was given a Grumman TBF “Avenger” torpedo bomber and assigned to the carrier USS Lexington.

            By February 1945 the U.S. was closing in on the Japanese home islands and B-29 Superfortresses were bombing Tokyo. Marines were about to land on Iwo Jima to provide a base for these attacks with the navy providing air support for the landings. Before the landings, aircraft carriers turned their attention to the Japanese capital with the Lexington’s planes making the navy’s first attack on Tokyo. Their mission was to destroy enemy planes and their support system. Frenkel took his plane to bomb an aircraft factory but the Japanese response was intense anti-aircraft fire. Enemy planes flew to meet the flyboys (an affectionate term for navy pilots) and two of Frankel’s buddies in his formation suffered severe damage and were “limping” back to the Lexington. Frenkel’s Avenger was able to provide adequate cover and everyone landed safely.

            Two months later, the Japanese were down to their last few capital ships and had even less fuel to keep them running. In keeping with the tradition of fighting to the death they sent the massive battleship Yamato, the cruiser Yahagi and eight destroyers to destroy the American forces invading the island of Okinawa. It was called Operation Ten-Go but was doomed from the start. American submarines had been tracking the force and soon scout planes joined the party. 400 American planes were in the air headed towards the Japanese force and among them was Leon Frankel in his Avenger torpedo bomber. Anti-aircraft fire was pouring up from the destroyers but Frankel and his wing mates pressed on the attack. A torpedo from Avenger struck the Yahagi and soon the cruiser was gone. He was credited for sinking the ship and was awarded the Navy Cross for his efforts.

            The feat of being singled out as the pilot who sank a ship was sweet and was even more so considering it was one of the enemy’s biggest threats in the entire Pacific Ocean. Frankel went back to his home state of Minnesota after the war and was heralded as a war hero. He stayed in the naval reserve as a pilot while opening up a very lucrative car business in St. Paul. Then in 1947 a phone call came from a stranger that sent him back to war over 6,000 miles away.

            Despite the fact that he wasn’t a Zionist and impassioned pleas from his mother to stay home Frankel joined the Israeli Air Force. He didn’t want it on his mind that abandoned his brethren in a time of need when his skills could help turn the tide. Before going to Israel he first went to New York and found out that the organization that recruited him was being followed by the FBI. After lying about his purposes for going overseas he was given a passport and headed to Czechoslovakia for training in planes that had been kept secret from everyone. The plane was a Czech knockoff of the famed German Me-109 called Avia S-199. It wasn’t a great plane but it was all the Israelis had to fight the Arabs with who were flying the best British aircraft. Many of the pilots, Frankel included, weren’t trained as fighter pilots and had to learn the skills of aerial dog-fighting. Several of the early Israeli Air Forces losses were due to the inexperience of the fighter pilot. Frankel was determined not to be on that list.

Finally in May 1948 Frankel made it to Israel just in time for a truce. When he landed in a C-54 transport plane, a casket was waiting to be loaded onto the plane for transport back to the U.S. It was Colonel “Mickey” Marcus that Frankel helped with transferring who was the American commander of the ground forces and was killed by friendly fire right before the truce began.

            Frankel joined Israel’s first fighter unit the 101^st Fighter Squadron but for a while there was no action. Soon the truce fell apart and Frankel began flying photo reconnaissance missions and escorting bombers to their targets. Frankel describes a job on the three B-17 Fortress bombers in these terms, “They had a position on those bombers called the bomb chucker. They would tie a rope to him so he wouldn’t fall out of the plane. Someone would hand a 70-lb. bomb to the bomb chucker, and, at a signal from the pilot, he would chuck it out of the plane. I’m serious about that.” He also talked about his photo missions. “There was no escort. You’d just fly about eight or ten thousand feet and then turn on the camera. Then fly back and do it again. It was about the scariest thing I’ve ever done. You’re flying over Jordan or Egypt all by yourself.” The S-199 planes that they were flying were primitive examples of flying machines and didn’t even have a working gas gauge.

            On one mission in September he saw an Egyptian Spitfire and began to chase it and preformed a maneuver that was supposed to have the enemy lined up in his gun-sights. However, since he had very little training as a fighter pilot the enemy got away from Frankel. He returned to base to refuel and noticed that the plane was leaking oil. A mechanic cleared him for takeoff but soon he lost all oil pressure and had to return to base again. The plane began to fill with smoke as he tried in vain to reach the nearest air base. He crash landed in a wadi but wasn’t sure if he was in Israel or Jordan. Suffering from minor injuries and armed only with a pistol he began walking and soon spotted soldiers. They were Israeli and told him that he had just walked through a minefield and were surprised that he was still in one piece. They took him in their truck to an airbase in time to see another S-199 burning. That pilot did not make it out and after the funeral the next day Frankel became limp. He had seen enough war and after 25 missions was sent to the hospital and then back to the states.

            Frankel went back to St. Paul and continued with his car business and stayed in the naval reserve. While in Israel he befriended fellow pilot and future president, Ezer Weizman, and maintained a close relationship with his throughout his life. He looked back on his time with the Israeli Air Force with fond memories. “One day during the war I was in Tel Aviv, and planes were coming in from Europe, transport planes. I went over and the planes were full of refugees from the death camps. And you know what they did; they got down on their knees and kissed the ground. But at that moment, I knew why I had come to Israel. The Talmud teaches that if you save one life, it’s the same as if you had saved the entire world. That has always stood with me.”