Source: JNS
Israeli Air Force pivotal commander, tech pioneer dies at 104
Maj. Gen. (res.) Dan Tolkowsky led the IAF during the 1956 Sinai War after beginning his military career as a fighter pilot for the RAF in World War II.
One of the Israel Defense Forces’ most influential generals, Maj. Gen. (res.) Dan Tolkowsky, who played an important role in building its strength during the state’s formative years, died on Nov. 28 at the age of 104, the Israeli Air Force said in a statement.
Tolkowsky joined the Haganah in 1936.
He served in the Israeli Air Force during the 1948-49 War of Independence, participating in bombing attacks on the Egyptian front.
Tolkowsky commanded the air force from 1953 to 1958. He led the IAF during the Sinai War in 1956, in which the IDF conquered the peninsula following the eight-year blockade that Egypt imposed on the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba.
He then headed the Defense Ministry’s Planning and Scientific Research Administration until April 1959, when he left the military.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog paid homage to Tolkowsky on Friday, sharing that he and current IAF commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar visited him at his home in Tel Aviv a few weeks before the war against Hamas in Gaza broke out in 2023.
The two presented the older man with the President’s Decoration for his unique contribution to the State of Israel, Herzog said.
“Throughout his impressive military career, which began as a fighter pilot in the British Air Force during World War II, and peaked as the fifth commander of the Israeli Air Force and subsequently in a series of roles in the field of security, Tolkowsky played an important role in building the strength of the young state in its early years,” the president tweeted.
After Tolkowsky took off his uniform, Herzog went on to say, the reservist officer continued his work for Israel and its future for decades.
“He was among the founders of Israeli high-tech, while contributing to establishing Israel as a center of scientific and technological innovation and its economic power. Today, we bid farewell to a prominent figure who stood by the cradle of the state at its birth, a scion of the family of Tel Aviv’s founders, a true officer and gentleman. My condolences to Dan Tolkowsky’s family and loved ones,” the president said.
Tolkowsky is survived by three children, nine grandchildren and many great-grandchildren, the IAF said.