had bigger worries than dealing with a couple of young people who’d just arrived.”From Haifa, Smoky and his wife traveled straight to Sarona, now known as the Kirya, in Tel Aviv where they both officially joined the Israel Air Force. At the time, the air force headquarters were located in a hotel on Yarkon Street, and later on it moved to Jaffa. Smoky was recruited as a navigator and bombardier, and Myra as a meteorologist.The next day, Smoky was already flying his first operational mission. He joined a flight on a light civilian Bonanza airplane, and together, with another South African pilot, Boris Senior, and an Israeli photographer, they set out on a reconnaissance mission in which they photographed Jordanian territory. They circled over the West Bank, enteredJordanian air space and photographed the columns of the Jordanian Legion’s armored cars making their way to the bridges toward the battle front.On their way back, Smoky and his comrades noticed fires and smoke billowing up from the Gush Etzion (Etzion Bloc) settlements, which had been under siege by the Jordanian Legion and local Palestinian fighters. A few days later, the Etzion Bloc surrendered and 242 of its Jewish women and men fighters were killed in battles or were murdered in cold blood after they had surrendered. Another 320 were taken as prisoners of war.Smoky recalls that the IAF was having a hard time finding airplanes to purchase and bring to Israel due to the UN embargo. In the end, the transitional government succeeded in acquiring fighter planes