Shlomo Lahat

Shlomo Lahat was born in 1924 in Austria

Shlomo Lahat, born Landau, was born in Vienna, Austria, to Greta and Moshe Landau. He came to the Land of Israel in 1933. His parents were among the founders of Kibbutz Ein Gev in 1937.

He volunteered for the Haganah and joined the British Army in 1942, fighting at El Alamein and in Italy with a transport unit. After his release in 1946 he went to New York to study electrical engineering and flying. In early 1948 he joined a flight course in Bakersfield, California, and left his engineering studies.

He returned to Israel in July 1948 and flew and commanded squadrons in the War of Independence and after it. In 1951 he became the first IDF officer sent to the U.S. Command and Staff school, then commanded the Tel Nof and Hatzor bases. As head of air force operations and later deputy commander, he helped plan Operation Kadesh.

In 1958 he went to study industrial management at Columbia University. From 1960 he was deputy to El Al's director general and was formally named director general in 1966, resigning in July 1967. He then served as deputy to Dan Tolkowsky at Discount Investments and helped bring about its investment in founding Scitex.