Zvi Zibel

Zvi Zibel was born in 1925 in Tel Aviv

Zibel was born in Tel Aviv to Sarah and Abraham Zibel. As a boy he was sent to the Ben Shemen Youth Village and later studied at the agricultural school in Givat HaShlosha. He also learned piano, guitar and flute.

At 18 he joined the Palmach and took part in the attack on the British police in Sarona and in receiving the immigrant ship Wingate. He was arrested and held in Jerusalem, Latrun and Rafah. He later trained as a squad commander and then as a pilot.

In the War of Independence he flew supplies to besieged areas and escorted convoys to Jerusalem. On June 25, 1948, he landed at besieged Ben Shemen with ammunition and shielded his plane under fire with a tractor loaded with sandbags. He was wounded over Gush Etzion but kept flying.

He then commanded an air base and trained for several months in Czechoslovakia. A week after his return he flew in Operation Horev near Nitzana, where 4 Egyptian fighter planes shot him down and he was killed with his observer, Yitzhak Zamir. He was buried at Nahalat Yitzhak and promoted to lieutenant after his death.