The growing American airlift of war materiel to Israel is visible to the public. The most welcome sight these last two days is the huge C-5A “Galaxies” transports roaring in low from the Mediterranean to land at a military air base somewhere in the hinterland.
At first, the unfamiliar sound of the giant-Lock-heeds alarmed Israelis whose ears have become finely tuned to the “nuances” of different aircraft-ours and the enemies-since the war began. But people smile now when they look skyward and identify the black-nosed fusilage and high tail of the largest American military transport available.
The “Galaxies” have been arriving at increasingly frequent intervals. The fields where they land are out of bounds to civilians. Their stay is as brief as possible. Their cargos of equipment and ammunition are loaded quickly onto trucks and the planes are serviced for take-off.
But there is enough time for Israeli officers at the bases to entertain the American pilots and air crews. The Israeli version of the inevitable “Airmen’s Bar” serves more orange and grapefruit juice than whiskey, but the latter is not entirely absent. Yesterday, the U.S. Ambassador, Kenneth Keating, visited one of the C-5A landing fields to watch the airlift in action. He would tell reporters only that he had gone there “to look around.” The daily visitations of the American transports are heartening to Israelis. They are seen as evidence that Israel has at least one good friend in the world.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
