Littman, Arieh-Yehuda (Leon)

Son of Miriam (Mary) and Abraham, was born on June 9, 1923 in London, the capital of England. From an early age, he was interested in aviation. Was a Zionist from his youth, an enthusiastic member of the Habonim movement and aspired to a pioneering realization. In 1940, after graduating from high school, he was only 17 years old. He joined agricultural training on behalf of his movement, became a farmer and discovered the qualities of a counselor and organizer. He was one of the founders of the “Shmarya” kibbutz in England, contacted the nucleus who would settle in the Masorah in the Upper Galilee and spent three years in the hachshara. After three years he fulfilled his second ambition – enlisted in the British Air Force and served for another three years, from the spring of 1943 until the spring of 1946, with the rank of air sergeant, usually serving as a cop and several successful operations over Germany. Upon his release he returned to the farm, prepared for aliya and the pioneering of peace. Was a serious and serious guy in his demands from the movement and himself. He was gifted with humor and could make friends Simcha. At the outbreak of the War of Independence he went to serve his homeland in the war and in May 1948 joined the Israeli Air Force. Yehuda Aryeh excelled in his role until the day he fell, only five months later. On October 25, 1948, shortly before midnight, he took off from Sde Dov in Tel Aviv to Sodom with a supply charge. Ten minutes after take off, the right engine of his plane went up in flames. He changed direction, apparently in an attempt to reach the Tel Nof emergency landing site. The plane exploded in the air around a group of foundations near Tel Nof and crashed on the ground. All the members of the plane’s crew perished and Yehuda among them. He was laid to rest at the military cemetery in Rehovot. After his death, he was granted the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel (Lieutenant) on the 26th of Tammuz 5766 (26.6.1950), at the request of his friends, to rest at the military cemetery in Rosh Pina.