The three planes are depicted against three Israeli landscapes: the B-17 Flying Fortress against the south of Israel; the Spitfire, the central region of Israel; and the Dragon Rapide, the hills of Jerusalem. The first day cover shows an Auster over an isolated settlement.

Issue: May 1998
Designer: Tuvia Kurz
Size: 40mm x 25.7mm
Plate #: 333
Sheet of 6 stamps
Tabs: 6
Printers: Government Printers
Method: Offset

In 1936, the Hagana, under the cover of the Histadrut (General Worker's Union), set up the Aviron aviation company, which purchased airplanes and trained pilots.

In 1939, the first two pilot courses were conducted, one by Betar and Etzel at Lod airport, and the other by Aviron at Kibbutz Afikim in the Jordan Valley.

The breakthrough, however, was World War II. Dozens of Jewish volunteers from Palestine were trained by the allied air forces as pilots and for several other aviation positions; many of these trainees were later to become the leaders of the Israel Air Force.

On November 10, 1947 the Hagana established its Air Force. At that time there were 35 licensed pilots in the Yishuv and about 12 light aircraft (only one was a dual engine, a Dragon Rapide).

During the early months of the War of Independence, Israel Air Force planes were busy transporting goods, delivering mail, maintaining contact with new and distant settlements in the Negev and Gush Etzion, and conducting air reconnaissance, attack, and bombing missions. Light aircraft were also used in safeguarding convoys to Jerusalem. Most missions were undertaken by the light Auster planes, purchased as scrap from the British and renovated.

The real change occurred when the regular Arab armies entered the war after the Declaration of the Independence of the State of Israel (May 14, 1948). Tel Aviv and many other settlements were unable to defend themselves from air attacks; during one attack on the central bus station in Tel Aviv on May 18, 1948, over forty civilians were killed and over one hundred injured. Attempts to purchase more sophisticated aircraft for the Air Force continued.

Negotiations succeeded in Czechoslovakia, and dozens of Messerchmitts were acquired. These began arriving towards the end of May 1948. On May 29, the First (and only) Quartet of Messerschmitts conducted its first offensive mission. The airplanes attacked the arrowhead of the Egyptian forces that had reached the Ashdod area (the "Ad Halom", or "To This Point" bridge), helping to halt the Egyptian movement towards Tel Aviv. One airplane was downed in the attack, and the pilot, an immigrant from South Africa, was killed.

In Israel's first air battle on June 3, the first commander of the first fighter squadron downed two Egyptian Dakotas over Tel Aviv.

The Air Force went on to attack Arab capitals, including Amman, Damascus and Cairo. Cairo was bombed on July 15, 1948 by a B-17 Flying Fortress, one of the three heavy bombers smuggled from the United States via Czechoslovakia.

Transport planes were also very active during the War of Independence. The arms so vital to the Nahshon Operation, the campaign to break through the road to Jerusalem, arrived in a direct nighttime flight from Czechoslovakia. This was followed by an airlift from Czechoslovakia to Israel, bringing both aircraft and arms. In Operation Dust, transport planes were able to maintain contact with the besieged Negev settlements.

In September 1948, following a long and dangerous flight, the first Spitfires, also purchased in Czechoslovakia, arrived in Israel. These were employed in combat immediately. On January 7, 1949, the Israeli Spitfires succeeded in downing five British-made aircraft in air battles above Northern Sinai.

At the start of the war, the Air Force commander was Israel Amir (May - July, 1948). He was succeeded by Aharon Remez, who was to command with his deputy Hayman Shamir for the remainder of the war.

Dozens of airmen fell during the war, many of them volunteers from abroad.