In 1948, newborn Israel lacked the weapons to defend itself against an invasion by five well-equipped neighboring armies that was impending. Al Schwimmer, an American World War II veteran who feared a repeat of the Holocaust created factitious airlines, bought decommissioned airplanes from the US War Assets Administration, fixed them in California and New Jersey, and sent his pilots (Jewish and non-Jewish WWII aviators) to pick up rifles, bullets, and fighter planes from the only country willing to break the international arms embargo: communist Czechoslovakia. Schwimmer and key members of his team paid a heavy price for helping supply Israel with the aircraft and weapons she needed to defend herself.