STEWART ROBERT (ROB) SPRUNG
Rob Stewart in Geneva
By Eddy Kaplansky
Stewart Robert Sprung, better known as Rob throughout his lifetime, was born and brought up in New York. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in February 1943 and saw active service in the Pacific Theater as an Aviation Machinists Mate, First Class.
Rob Stewart in the U.S. Navy
Following his release from the Navy in March 1946, he enrolled in the University of Miami under the GI Bill of Rights, but in 1948 he interrupted his studies to volunteer for the nascent Israel Air Force.
I met Bob by chance in June 1948 on a flight out of New York. He was sitting next to me, a total stranger whose sturdy build led me to suspect that he was a plainclothes cop. And when I noticed out of the corner of my eye a shoulder holster under his jacket, I was sure that he was an FBI agent. Only after we arrived in Geneva did I discover that we were fellow volunteers on our way to Israel and the IAF. Our continuing journey on a non-scheduled DC-3 was a circuitous one on which Bob acted as flight engineer.
Soon after we landed in Haifa, Bob was assigned to Air Transport Command at Ekron Air Force base, where his task was to ensure a quick turnaround for ATC C-46 and DC-4 transport planes. ATC aircraft were then fully occupied with “Operation Balak,” the vital airlift from Czechoslovakia of much-needed fighter planes (Czech- built ME-109s) and other military hardware. Before long he was transferred to the de facto home-base of the ATC at Zatec, Czechoslovakia.
On his return to the U.S.A. Bob resumed his studies at the University of Miami, and in 1950 he obtained his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.
Source: American Veterans of Israel Newsletter: Summer 2003