Operation Velvetta

Arrangements were also made with the Yugoslavian leader Josip Broz Tito to use the Kapino Polje Airport in the city of Nikšić[1] (an abandoned Luftwaffe airbase) as a waystation for 60 purchased Spitfires (codenamed "Yoram").

They were given permission to use the base at Nikšić and repaint their aircraft markings with Yugoslav roundels for the flight to Israel so that the shipment would not arouse any suspicions.

Pilot Tuxie Blau's landing gear failed to deploy, and although he was fine, the aircraft was severely damaged.

[1] Sam Pomerance, the mechanic-in-chief in Czechoslovakia, suggested that to make the planes as light and efficient as possible, they should be fitted with extra fuel tanks and that nonessentials, such as radios and guns, should be removed.

Pilots Modi Alon and Boris Senior ran out of fuel and had to make an emergency landing in Rhodes.

[4] Pomerance returned to Czechoslovakia and made 15 more flights to Israel, dividing the pilots into two formations.