Benny Peled

He was born Binyamin Weidenfeld in Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine, and Hebraized his name to Peled. After a brief term as a teenager with a British Mandate Palestine military police unit, he started as a mechanic in the beginnings of the Israeli Air Force. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War he had assembled the first Messerschmitt Bf 109 which had arrived in Israel dismantled.[2] He then became a pilot and fought in the Independence war.

After the war, he was one of the pioneers of the jet age in the IAF. He commanded the first Meteor, Ouragan and Mystère squadrons.[2] In 1956 Peled participated in Operation Kadesh, the Suez or Sinai campaign, in which his Mystere jet was shot down by Egyptian anti-aircraft fire and he became the first Israeli pilot to use an ejector seat.[1] He was rescued by an IAF Piper light aircraft.[1]

Peled was a base commander during the 1967 Six-Day War.[2] He became commander of the IAF in 1973 when he was 45 years old. In that capacity he led the Israeli Air Force in the Yom Kippur War, successfully overcoming early setbacks. In July 1976 he planned and executed the air component of Operation Entebbe, the planned rescue of hostages held by terrorist hijackers in Entebbe, Uganda.[3]

In 1978, Peled became the president of Elbit Systems, a position he held until 1985.

Peled was played by John Saxon in the film Raid on Entebbe (1977).[4]

• "Benny Peled". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 11, 2010.