Gordon Levett

Gordon Levett was born in 1921

Gordon Levett was born in 1921 in England to a poor family. His mother once placed him in an orphanage so that he would not go hungry.

He joined the Royal Air Force in 1939 as a ground crewman and was sent to flight school in November 1940. During World War II he trained pilots, flew transport planes and became a squadron leader. He was later court-martialed and dismissed after leaving his base in Burma without permission, and after the war he could not find work as a pilot.

While working at a diaper laundry in London, he followed events in the Middle East and volunteered for Mahal in 1948. He was sent through Paris to Czechoslovakia, where he flew dismantled fighter planes and arms to Israel in Operation Balak. He then flew with the Israeli Air Force and rose to lieutenant colonel.

After leaving the Israeli Air Force he returned to England and worked as an airline pilot, at times flying El Al planes to Israel. He wrote a memoir about his service and was honored by Israel with other Mahal volunteers in 1998. He died in England in 2000.