Herzl Bodinger

Herzl Bodinger was born in 1943 in Haifa

Bodinger was born in Haifa in 1943, the eldest of 3 children. His father, Yitzhak, came from Romania, was a Haganah member and later helped found the Israel Police. His mother, Dina Shalem, was born in India and worked at the Royal Air Force operations center. He grew up in Kiryat Motzkin and attended a boarding school in Haifa.

He joined the air force in 1961 and finished pilot training in 1963. In 1964 he survived an emergency landing and needed rehabilitation for a back injury. He fought in the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War and later commanded squadrons, the flight school and Ramat David Airbase.

He earned a bachelor's degree in economics and business administration at Bar-Ilan University and took a course at Harvard University. In January 1992 he replaced Avihu Ben-Nun as air force commander. His term included Operation Accountability in 1993, Operation Grapes of Wrath in 1996 and the purchase of F-15I jets and Black Hawk helicopters.

After retiring in 1996, he headed RADA Electronic Industries and led a committee on planning Israel's airports. He was married with 4 children. He died on 10 November 2025 and was buried at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery.