[Milsurplus] War Assets Administration

[WF2U]

The US had an arms embargo at the time on both sides of the conflict. The
surplus stuff was purchased by whatever funds the Israeli government could
rustle up plus a lot of private donations. The purchases were done via
orders by a few South American countries due to the embargo.
The first fighters the IAF had were late model Messerschmitt ME109G's
manufactured in Czechoslovakia in WW2 and were left there intact at the end
of the war. They were flown to Israel in 1948 from there. Also, surplus
US-made T-6 trainers were used as ground attack platforms. Later in the war,
68 surplus Spitfires were purchased from various sources.
Israel also got 4 stripped, intended to be scrapped surplus B-17's for
$15,000 each and some spares to make them operational.
The IAF also got 6 scrapped British Bristol Beaufighters. Towards the end of
the war, the IAF managed to purchase 4 P-51's but only 2 were operational
due to the lack of spare parts.
The Egyptian Air Force had C-47's, some of them were modified with bomb bays
and were used as bombers, escorted by Spitfires.
Egypt never had P-51's.
There were  Wireless Sets 19 and WS19 HP (with late model Canadian
amplifiers), Command Sets, BC-348's, ART-13's, BC-312's and some BC-610's
and TCS still available in the 60's and 70's, as well as RCA AR-88's,
Hammarlund SP-600's and some Collins R-388's with a smattering of Rohde &
Schwartz, Racal and Pye stuff in the Israeli surplus stores There was a mini
"Radio Row" in an old industrial section of Haifa.
Never saw RU/GF and really early WW2 stuff nor BC-654, BC-1306 or GRC-9.
There were some BC-611's there, with the usual spread of late WW2 test
equipment and BC-211 galore...

73, Meir WF2U
Landrum, SC


> -----Original Message-----
> From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of William Donzelli
> Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 5:19 PM
> To: Hue Miller
> Cc: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] War Assets Administration
>
>
> > Do you know if the wallet was US aid, or private donation, or both?
>
> The latter, but I would not be suprised if government money somehow
> entered the picture.
>
> > Surprises me just a little bit, since Israel fought the war of 1948 with
> > some pretty makeshift and sketchy armaments. I think, if i recall,
> > they had both Spitfires and Messerschmidts (limited numbers) in
> > their small airforce.
>
> Yes, but like the radios (BC-348s, BC-611s, ART-13s), those planes
> were the better bits to come out of WW2. They were not fighting with
> Brewster Buffalos.
>
> I still have some of Arthur's notes he made (typewritten, too),
> outlining lots to bid on from the golden age of surplus. I wish I
> could have saved more - the man kept records on basically EVERY piece
> of surplus he purchased. Hundreds and hundreds of pounds of old
> catalogs and his notes and invoices and things.
>
> --
> Will
> -----Original Message-----
> From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Jack Antonio
> Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 5:32 PM
> To: William Donzelli
> Cc: Hue Miller; milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] War Assets Administration
>
>
> Wasn't one of the ironies of the Israeli 1948 war that
> Egypt was attacking Israeli B-17s(escorted by Israeli
> ME-109s) with P-51s ?
>