Samuel Pomerance

Samuel Pomerance was born in 1910 in New York City

Samuel Pomerance was born in 1910 in New York City to Esther Zelda and Philip Pomerance. He went to school in New York and studied aeronautical engineering at New York University.

When World War II began, he joined the air arm of the US Navy and trained as a test pilot. During the war he worked as a supervisor at an aircraft factory. He was discharged when the war ended.

In March 1948 he came to Israel and volunteered for the air force through Mahal. He was put in charge of taking apart Avia fighter planes bought from Czechoslovakia and preparing them to be flown to Israel. The first plane landed in Israel on May 20, 1948.

He and Boris Senior commanded Operation Velvetta, which moved Spitfires from Czechoslovakia to Israel. On December 18, 1948, his plane crashed in bad weather during the second stage. He was promoted after his death to lieutenant colonel and buried at Nahalat Yitzhak military cemetery.

Hatzor air base was renamed for him as Samuel Base, but it later took back its original name. He was married to Elsie.