King, Edward-Glenn (Bud)

He is from an American-Christian family. He was born in 1917. During World War II he served in the US Air Force as an aircraft mechanic. When he learned that the newly established State of Israel had begun to build an air force, he volunteered to take part and be one of those chosen to secretly transport commando planes loaded with spare parts and various devices urgently needed to prepare planes for the Israeli Air Force. Those who did the work, and Edward among them, were aware that the planes were overloaded with their carrying capacity, but the goal before them was that they had relaxed their safety. The five planes arrived safely in Mexico City. After a week of waiting in the city, the pilots prepared to go on their way at last. On April 14, 1948, the first two planes took off with great difficulty, taking advantage of the route to the extreme, but the third plane, where Edward served as a pilot, managed to rise to a height of only thirty meters and fell to the ground with a tremendous crash. Edward was killed on the spot, and pilot Bill Gerson died of his wounds a few hours later. Edward was laid to rest in a cemetery in Los Angeles. The two pilots are the first casualties of the air force.