July 19
Bob’s El Al Flight to Israel
from New York
Bob describes
his 27 hour flight from Idlewild Airport (now JFK)
Friday Afternoon 3 PM – Bob describing flight to Israel on EL AL Original Letter typed
On board aircraft 4xAKE
Dear Mom Dad & Alan,
I just finished a delicious lunch and before I take a nap I decided to write. The plane is very nice and the ride is nice and smooth. I’m lucky the seat next to me is taken by a boy about my age who is also traveling to Israel alone. He seems to be very pleasant company and I will have someone to talk to and stop off with on the trip there.
Our first stop is to Gander Newfoundland. I hope Daddy’s trip up to the country was OK. It sure felt funny saying goodbye. It seems hard to believe that I already am further away than I have ever been from home. I wish that with Gods help we will all be able to take the trip together someday. Sitting here it’s hard to think of things to say except that the next time I will be able to write will be from Israel with Gods help.
Regards to everyone
Love Bob
P.S. Alan even if I tried I couldn’t smuggle you onto the plane. Every last seat is taken. As I addressed the envelope writing U.S.A. on the cover seemed very strange.
IT IS 5:30 a.m. and we are approaching Gander for refueling. So far it’s been a real pleasure. Just finished having pineapple juice with cookies and a marked hard boiled egg sandwich.
David’s comments:
The picture at the top of this page is my Dad standing at the departure gate of New York’s Idlewild Airport. In 1963 the name of the airport was changed to JFK, after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Letter on EL AL stationary from 1957
This letter was written on EL-AL stationary given out on the plane. I spoke to the EL AL Museum and the El AL Archives department and they don’t know of anybody else who still has the old stationary. It might even be a collector’s item.
In those days, EL AL was owned by the government of Israel.
’’I just finished a delicious lunch”
In this July 19th letter my father writes how he just had a delicious lunch. In his second letter July 21st he writes how he had the most delicious meals he’s eaten in his entire life. (Most people complain about airline food.) My father was always happy with EL AL, including the food.
” The plane is very nice and the ride is nice and smooth. “
My father flew to Israel on an El Al 4X AKE, Constellation. It was a four piston engine airliner purchased by EL AL in 1955.
The old planes were very noisy and shaky but it seems my dad would always look at the bright side.
“Our First stop was Gander Newfoundland”
Gander Newfoundland was an International Airport opened in 1938. The planes needed to stop in Gander to refuel before there were direct flights crossing the Atlantic to and from London.
“Alan even if I tried, I couldn’t smuggle you onto the plane. Every last seat is taken.”
Alan is Bob’s younger brother who was 12 years old at the time and wanted to come to Israel with Bob.
Bob is correct that the plane was full. He forgets to mention that Nick Mirwis his future father-in-law who had connections with the ZOA called El Al and helped get Bob on the flight. Mr. Mirwis,of blessed memory, apparently had no objection to Bob going to Israel to meet and surprise his daughter Elaine.
Bob’s relationship with El AL
Since the first time Bob flew on El Al in 1957, he has been an unpaid public relations spokesman.
Bob considers it very important for Israel to have its own airline and has worked the past 60 plus years trying to convince American Jews and Jewish Organizations to fly El Al to help the Israeli economy.
There are many letters from El Al thanking Bob for getting the Jewish tour groups and organizations to fly El Al rather than KLM and other airlines, see attached.
Additional Comments:
Bob had left from ldlewild Airport now known as JFK. The name was changed in December 1963 to JFK Airport after President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated.
The plane stopped in Gander Newfoundland, London, Athens, Paris and finally Israel. (Bob gave no description of Gander, London, Paris or Athens. He only cared about arriving in Israel)
There were no direct flights to Israel from New York in July 1957. The First direct flights were in 1961 when El Al purchased Boeing 707-400 and soon established world records in its flights between Tel Aviv and New York – the first nonstop service between those cities, and the world’s longest nonstop commercial flight at the time (New York to Tel Aviv).
