![]() ![]() When James Le Mesurier fell to his death in Turkey in 2019 he left behind a tangle of truths and lies. History of Israel, but it seemed like more of an adventure at the time.“I had to do it because my colleagues faced death.” Now the rescuers need saving. "We realized this was going to be part of the "We had been doing a lot of trips, a lot of different kinds of When communists came to power in China, the German Jews took flight Transporting Jews who fled to China to escape persecution in Germany. Who retired from Alaska in 1952, assisted on flights from Shanghai Knew I’d been seeing Warren from time to time said he was in Tel Avivīefore her Operation Magic Carpet flights in the Middle East, Marian, One flight and when the door of the plane opened, one of the guys who Shanghai and I didn’t know where Warren was. Had met Warren when I started working for Alaska in July of 1948," It also launched a marriage that has alsoĬelebrated its golden anniversary. Warren and Marian thought was a temporary assignment turned into a One of our crews practically lived on their plane from the end of April through June."īob Maguire, another Alaska pilot, once had to drop down to several hundred feet above the ground, squirming through hills and passes, to evade Arab gunfire. "Another one of our planes got a tire blown out during a bombing raid in Tel Aviv. "One of our pilots got a little bit too close to Arab territory when flying into Israel from the Gulf of Aqaba and tracers started arching up toward the plane," Warren said. WeĬouldn’t keep the planes on the ground in Israel because of the "Then we’d fly up the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba to theĪirport at Tel Aviv to unload. "We’d take off from our base in Asmara (in Eritrea) in the morningĪnd fly to Aden (in Yemen) to pick up our passengers and refuel," Warren Twin-engine C-46 or DC-4 aircraft, covered nearly 3,000 miles. Passengers and likely the whole crew if they were forced to land on Arabĭays often lasted between 16 and 20 hours and the one-way flights, in We had to put extra fuel tanks in the planes so we had the rangeīritish officials advised them that Arabs, angry over theĮstablishment of the Jewish state, would certainly kill all the The airport in Tel Aviv was getting bombed all the ![]() Navigation was by dead reckoning and eyesight. "It was pretty much seat-of-the-pants flying in Warren, who retired in 1979 as Alaska’s chief pilot and vice president "I had no idea what I was getting into, absolutely none," remembered She was giving me a blessing for getting themīoth Marian and Warren, the assignment came on the heels of flying theĪirline’s other great adventure of the late 1940s: the Berlin Airlift. "A little old lady came up to me and took the hem of Plane at Tel Aviv," said Marian, who assisted Israeli nurses on a "One of the things that really got to me was when we were unloading a Ironically, their faith included a prophecy that they would be returned to their Holy Land on the wings of eagles. They had never seen an airplane and never lived anywhere but a tent. Mission was accomplished-and without a single loss of life.Īs the lost tribe of Israel, the Yemenite Jews had wandered the desertsįor at least two centuries after being driven out of Palestine. But in the end, despite being shot at and even bombed upon, the It took a whole lot of resourcefulness the better part of 1949 to do And the desert sand wreaked havoc on engines. Flight and maintenance crews had to be positioned through the The logistics of it all made the task daunting. History: airlifting thousands of Yemenite Jews to the newly created Turned out to be one of the greatest feats in Alaska Airlines’ 67-year When Alaska Airlines sent them on "Operation Magic Carpet" 50 years ago, Warren and Marian Metzger didn't realize they were embarking on an adventure of a lifetime.Ī DC-4 captain, and Marian, a flight attendant, were part of what In 1949, Alaska Airlines took part in Operation Magic Carpet, the airlift of thousands of Yemenite Jews to Israel. ![]()
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