Haapalah

In 1939, Aharon Remez was sent by the Jewish Agency to New Jersey to train as a pilot.
In 1941 he volunteered for the RAF.
He was certified as a combat pilot and flew Hurricane, Tempest and other aircraft on the European front.

Aharon Remez stayed in Europe and helped in gathering survivors and in the Beriha and in Aliya Bet illegal immigration.
In February, 1947, he completed his RAF sevice and returned to Palestine.

In April, 1947, two ex-Canadian air force D.H.82Cs, supposedly for an aviation club, were acquired with donations made by a womens' organization and Canadian Jews.
In August, 1947, David Ben Gurion appointed Aharon Remez to draw up a plan for air defense - an "air service." The Yishuv had almost no trained pilots, they had no airplanes, and the British mandatory government would not allow them to bring any combat aircraft into the country.
Aharon established the air service by forming arecreational air club.
They purchased several civilian aircraft abroad, and flew them to Palestine, where they were modified to carry bombs.
Many of these were of the same model.
Because the Haganah had a permit for only one aircraft of that type, all of them were given the same ID markings.
On October 30, 1947, the two ex-Canadian air force D.H.82Cs were rolled out, having been assembled at an "Aviron" hangar, and entered service with the Haganah's aviation section at Ramla airport.
Playing a dual role, the aircraft were trainers as well as photo reconnaissance aircraft, at times even flying missions beyond the borders of mandatory Palestine.
In late 1947, when Aviron stopped operating out of Ramla and moved to Lod airport, the Tiger Moths were relocated to an airfield outside Haifa, which allowed for more reconnaissance flights in the north and on one such flight seven Syrian army camps in the Golan Heights were photographed.
In November, 1947, when Shirut Avir, IAF's predecessor, was formed, it also incorporated the Haganah's aviation section, and the two Tiger Moths became part of its inventory.
In December, 1947, 6 more Tiger Moths were purchased in England, but failed to make it to Israel.

 

In July, 1948, a few months after the declaration of the state of Israel, Aharon Remez became the second commander of the Israel Air Force.
The Air Force was a fairly insignificant arm, and he fought to make it an independent service, and to equip it with heavy bombers and advanced aircraft, but heHe met opposition from Chief of Staff Yigal Yadin.
In December, 1950, he was forced to resign.