Benny Peled

Benny Peled was born in 1928 in Tel Aviv

Peled was born Binyamin Weidenfeld in Tel Aviv in 1928 and later Hebraized his name. His father's family came from Romania in the First Aliyah and settled in Rosh Pinna, and his mother came from Poland in 1925. He was the eldest of three children.

He studied at Gymnasia Herzliya and then studied mechanical engineering at the Technion. As a young man he served in the Jewish Settlement Police and in the Haganah. He later completed studies in aeronautical engineering at the Technion in 1962.

In 1948 he joined the Haganah's air service as an aircraft mechanic, and in 1949 he entered the flight academy. He flew Spitfire and Mustang fighters and was among the first Israeli pilots on the Meteor jet. In 1956 his Mystère was shot down, and he became the first IAF pilot to use an ejection seat.

He commanded Hatzor base during the Six-Day War and became commander of the Air Force in May 1973. He led it in the Yom Kippur War and in the air part of Operation Entebbe in 1976. He left the IDF in October 1977.

From 1978 to 1985 he was president of Elbit, and he later served as president of Elscint. He died at his home in Ramat HaSharon in 2002 and was buried in Kiryat Shaul military cemetery.