Jewish airmen in WWII

[jhor99]

I am Jewish, during my service I knew just a few Jewish pilots ,but I ran into many who were navigators.

At wars end I was in the right place and the right time to get a job as an airline pilot. However, I had the wrong name, I spite of having approx 900 hours of 4 engine time, plus a qualified navigator rating

Jules Horowitz

[Franek Grabowski]

Hello Jules
Nice to hear you. A question to you is what was approximate number Jewish pilots and crewmembers that you have met? Do you have any idea, why there were more Jewish navigators rather than pilots?
Concerning post-war time, it was generally a not very good time for qualified pilots - plenty of them were demobbed, many of them found their first civilian job during the Berlin Airlift.
By the way, have you been flying any sorties to Southern Poland? I mean such places like Auschwitz, Blechhammer or Odertal.
Best wishes

[jhor99]

Originally Posted by Franek Grabowski

Hello Jules
Nice to hear you. A question to you is what was approximate number Jewish pilots and crewmembers that you have met? Do you have any idea, why there were more Jewish navigators rather than pilots?
Concerning post-war time, it was generally a not very good time for qualified pilots - plenty of them were demobbed, many of them found their first civilian job during the Berlin Airlift.
By the way, have you been flying any sorties to Southern Poland? I mean such places like Auschwitz, Blechhammer or Odertal.
Best wishes

When I applied for an airline job, the war wasn't over yet. At that time I was offered a job with each airline,but I couldn't accept. After I was separated from the service, andapplied 2 short months later (March 1945) I was told that they would let me know. Leaving very dejectedly, I met an ailine captain thet I knew, he advised me to change my name. They would then hire me since I had about 900 hours 4 engine time, also a navigator rating. I felt that I didn'twant to live a lie.

No, I flew out of N.Africa, my last 13flights were from Italy. My group flew to Poland later on.

[Franek Grabowski]

Sorry, I did not notice your reply earlier. Thank you for your explanations!