Gideon (Geda) Shochat (Hebrew: גדעון (גדע) שוחט; 1912–1966) was a Royal Air Force pilot, colonel in the Israeli Air Force, and a former Israeli ambassador to Malawi. Shochat's daughter Alona was married to Israeli singer Arik Einstein.
Early life
Geda Schochat was born in Ottoman Haifa in 1912 to Zionist activists and politicians Manya and Israel Shochat.
World War II
In 1941, Shochat volunteered for the RAF and was sent to Asmara and Eritrea to work as a machinist, and after a few months, returned to Mandatory Palestine. In 1943, he finished pilot training in Rhodesia and served as a pilot in Egypt. Near the end of World War II, he served in Karachi as a commander for a squadron of B-24 Liberators.
Israeli War of Independence
Shochat joined the Israeli 103 Squadron in 1948. He was involved in Operation Velvetta to smuggle aircraft to Israel from Czechoslovakia for the Israeli War of Independence.
Notes
- ^ "Shochat, Gideon ("Geda")". Honor Israel's Fallen. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
- Feingenbaum, Ruth. "A Time for Song and Dance" (PDF). Bulawayo Hebrew Congregation Centenial Magazine.
- Abarbanell, Oded (23 November 2014). "Operation Velveta 1 — Part 1". Oded Abarbanell. Retrieved 2 January 2025.