Harold Livingston recounts the greatest adventure he would ever know: the true story of how a ragtag fleet of predominantly American Jewish volunteers were assembled to form what would eventually become the revered and indomitable Israeli Air Force.

Just prior to the 1948 war for independence, a group of American and foreign Air Force veterans banded together in an effort to help the Israelis attain their goal of becoming a nation. Livingston masterfully delineates the austere realities that he and his compatriots endured and describes dozens of diminutive victories, secured not by acts of military genius but by jury-rigging, bribery, courage, and luck. The result is an astonishing and deftly told account of the role Livingston played in the historic battle to preserve a people and give birth to the state of Israel.