February 10, 1913
Charles Winters, an American who helps Israel acquire fighter planes in 1948, is born in Brookline, Massachusetts. Winters is afflicted with polio in his youth and because of the resulting limp is rejected by the Army for service in World War II. During the war, he works as a purchasing agent for the government.
After the U.N. partition plan is approved in November 1947, many countries, including the United States, refuse to provide arms to the fledgling Jewish state. Leaders in the Yishuv turn to Jews in the West, especially the United States, to help purchase equipment and get it into the Land of Israel. In addition to securing arms and equipment, thousands of volunteers serve in the Israeli armed forces during the War of Independence. These volunteers aere called machal, a Hebrew acronym standing for mitnadvei chutz l’aretz, “volunteers from outside Israel.” Many of the machalniks are recruited because of special expertise or experience during World War II.
Winters is recruited for his experience as a purchasing agent. Working with Connecticut flight engineer and pilot Al Schwimmer, who recruits Winters, and Las Vegas publicist Hank Greenspun, who works for Bugsy Siegel, Winters helps secure three B-17 bombers for Israel. In the spring and early summer of 1948, Winters, then running an air transport service in Miami that delivers fruits and vegetables to the Caribbean, arranges to purchase the three planes from American military surplus. Because Winters is not Jewish and has a business that uses planes, he does not arouse suspicion among American authorities.
On June 11, 1948, the three planes take off from Miami and fly to Puerto Rico. From Puerto Rico, the planes fly to the Azores, then to Czechoslovakia, where they are fitted with bomb racks and guns. Winters flies one of the planes. The three B-17s are the only heavy bombers in the Israeli Air Force during the war and help turn the tide in Israel’s favor. A fourth plane flown by Schwimmer, which takes off from Westchester, New York, is intercepted by the U.S. Air Force after leaving for the Azores from Halifax.
Winters is arrested with Schwimmer and Greenspun in 1949 for violating the United States Neutrality Act. Winters pleads guilty and is sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined $5,000. Schwimmer and Greenspun also are convicted but never serve time. Schwimmer is fined $10,000; he goes on to found Israel Aircraft Industries, one of the state’s largest companies. Greenspun also is fined $10,000; he becomes the publisher of the Las Vegas Sun and one of that city’s most powerful figures.
Winters dies in 1984, and his ashes are interred in the Templars Cemetery in Jerusalem. He is pardoned posthumously by President George W. Bush in December 2008.
