Lou Lenart
{{short description|Israeli aviator}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Lou Lenart
| image = Lou Lenart.jpg
| birth_name = Lajos Lenovitz
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|04|24}}
| birth_place = Sátoraljaújhely, Kingdom of Hungary
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|07|20|1921|04|24}}
| death_place = Ra'anana, Israel
| occupation =
| language = English and Hebrew
| education =
| alma_mater =
| movement =
| notableworks =
| spouse = Rachel Nir (? – July 20, 2015) (his death)
| children = 1
| native_name = לו לנרט
| native_name_lang = he
}}
Louis Lenart ({{Langx|he|לואי לנרט}}; April 24, 1921 – July 20, 2015) was a Hungarian-born American-Israeli fighter pilot.{{Cite news|title = Lou Lenart dies at 94; war hero was 'the man who saved Tel Aviv'|url = https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-lou-lenart-20150722-story.html|newspaper = Los Angeles Times|date = 22 July 2015|accessdate = 2015-11-10}} His exploits during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War were documented in the 2015 documentary film A Wing and a Prayer.{{Cite web|title = Israeli Air Force, particularly its scrappy beginnings, inspires 3 films|url = http://www.jta.org/2015/05/12/arts-entertainment/israels-air-force-particularly-its-scrappy-beginnings-inspires-3-films|website = Jewish Telegraphic Agency|date = 12 May 2015|accessdate = 2015-11-13}}
Early life
Lenart was born in Hungary as Lajos Lenovitz to a Jewish family in 1921, in the town of Sátoraljaújhely, near the Czechoslovak border. His parents were farmers. When he was ten, the family immigrated to the United States, settling in the Pennsylvania mining town of Wilkes-Barre, where his parents ran a small store. As a boy, he endured antisemitic taunts and beatings.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-lou-lenart-20150722-story.html|title=Lou Lenart dies at 94; war hero was 'the man who saved Tel Aviv'|author=Los Angeles Times|date=July 22, 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|accessdate=February 10, 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jta.org/2010/06/27/news-opinion/united-states/the-man-who-saved-tel-aviv-to-get-his-due-in-d-c|title='The Man Who Saved Tel Aviv' to get his due in D.C.|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|date=28 June 2010|accessdate=February 10, 2016}}Dvir, Boaz: [https://books.google.com/books?id=0Fe9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 Saving Israel: The Unknown Story of Smuggling Weapons and Winning a Nation’s Independence], p. 31
Marine service
After finishing high school and taking a bodybuilding course, Lenart enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. After 18 months of infantry training, he was accepted into flight school. During flight training, he was severely injured in a mid-air collision. He saw action in the Pacific Theater of World War II as an F4U Corsair pilot, serving in the Battle of Okinawa and in bombing missions over Japan. He was discharged from the Marines at the end of the war with the rank of captain.
Israeli Air Force
File:Avia S-199 in June 1948 (Israeli Air Force).png
After learning that 14 relatives including his grandmother had been murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp and attending a lecture on Zionism, Lenart decided to volunteer for Sherut Avir, the precursor to the Israeli Air Force. He took part in the clandestine smuggling of salvaged Czech-supplied warplanes to Palestine shortly before Israeli independence, flying them past the British blockade. He became a fighter pilot following the Israeli Declaration of Independence and the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, flying the Avia S-199 fighter plane.
On May 29, 1948, Lenart took part in Operation Pleshet, when the Israeli Air Force launched its entire fleet of four fighter aircraft in a desperate attempt to halt an Egyptian advance on Tel Aviv, in coordination with a ground counterattack. This was the first use of Israeli fighter planes in combat, and Lenart, the most experienced of the pilots, commanded the mission. Although the attack was highly disorganized and did minimal damage, it had a profound psychological effect on the Egyptians, who had been assured that the Israelis had no aircraft. The Egyptian forces subsequently halted their advance and retreated.[https://www.timesofisrael.com/lou-lenart-pilot-who-saved-tel-aviv-dies-at-94/ Lou Lenart, US pilot ‘who saved Tel Aviv,’ dies at 94][https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3350330,00.html How I saved Tel Aviv, and made a movie about it]Wallach, Jehuda; Lorch, Netanel; Yitzhaki, Aryeh (1978). Evyatar Nur (ed.). Carta's Atlas of Israel (in Hebrew). Jerusalem, Israel: Carta. Volume 2 – The First Years 1948–1961
Later life
After the war, Lenart participated in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, the airlift of Iraqi Jews to Israel in the early 1950s, served as a pilot for El Al, and flew aerial mapping missions over the jungles of Central America.
He produced six feature films. These include "Iron Eagle" and "Iron Eagle 2". https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0501706/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_2_nm_6_in_0_q_lou%2520lenart Lenart's final movie project had the working title First Strike, and used Operation Opera, the 1981 attack on Iraq's reactor, as a story line. The script was written by his friend Lynn Garrison, who would also direct the aerial sequences.Brennan, Steve ,Israel site for First Strike epic, Hollywood Reporter, page 16, June 22, 1990
Lenart was the general manager of the San Diego Clippers in the early 1980s. He maintained homes in Israel and Los Angeles, and upon his retirement, settled permanently in Israel.
Lenart died on July 20, 2015, at his home in Ra'anana, Israel, of congestive heart failure, at the age of 94. He was survived by his wife Rachel, his daughter Michal (who had also served in the Israeli Air Force) and a grandson.{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/lenart.html|title=Louis "Lou" Lenart|publisher=|accessdate=February 10, 2016}}
Decorations
Lenart received the following awards during his service with the U.S. Marine Corps:{{Cite web|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/lou-lenart-pilot-who-saved-tel-aviv-dies-at-94/|title = Lou Lenart, US pilot 'who saved Tel Aviv,' dies at 94|website = The Times of Israel}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/louis-8220-lou-8221-lenart|title = Louis "Lou" Lenart}}
| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;" |
| colspan="3"|200px |
| colspan="3"|{{ribbon devices|number=1|type=award-star|name=Air Medal ribbon|width=110}} |
| {{Ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=United States Navy Presidential Unit Citation ribbon.svg|width=110}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=|type=service-star|ribbon=United_States_Marine_Corps_Good_Conduct_Medal_ribbon.svg|width=110}} |{{Ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=American Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=110}} |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|name=American Campaign Medal ribbon|width=110}}
|{{ribbon devices|number=3|type=service-star|name=Asiatic-Pacific Campaign ribbon|width=110}} |{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|name=World War II Victory Medal ribbon|width=110}} |
| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;" |
| colspan="3"|Naval Aviator Badge |
| colspan="3"|Air Medal w/ 5/16 inch star |
| Navy Presidential Unit Citation w/ service star |Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal |American Defense Service Medal |
| American Campaign Medal
|Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal |
Lenart received the following decoration for his service in the Israeli Air Force:
| 100px
|War of Independence Ribbon |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0501706/bio Lou Lenart] at the Internet Movie Database
{{Los Angeles Clippers general manager navbox}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenart, Lou}}
Category:American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
Category:United States Marine Corps officers
Category:United States Marine Corps pilots of World War II
Category:1948 Arab–Israeli War pilots
Category:Recipients of the Air Medal
Category:Hungarian emigrants to the United States
Category:American emigrants to Israel
Category:Jewish American Mahal personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:People from Sátoraljaújhely
Category:People from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania