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| - As fighting intensified throughout the region in early 1948, however, the SA's sole squadron in Tel Aviv could not meet all operational needs. Soon new detachments were deployed to the Negev and the Galilee, where several aircraft begun operating from the former RAF landing ground at Mahanayim in support of the newly formed Golani Brigade. When the brigade moved its headquarters to Yavne'el, three SA aircraft deployed to an airstrip constructed there. On 4 April 1948, two Auster Autocrats, three pilots and two mechanics, were formed into the SA's Galilee section, headed by Pesach Tolchinky. On 25 April, the unit was officially designated the SA's 3rd Squadron and given the callsign "Lavi" (Lion).
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| abstract
| - As fighting intensified throughout the region in early 1948, however, the SA's sole squadron in Tel Aviv could not meet all operational needs. Soon new detachments were deployed to the Negev and the Galilee, where several aircraft begun operating from the former RAF landing ground at Mahanayim in support of the newly formed Golani Brigade. When the brigade moved its headquarters to Yavne'el, three SA aircraft deployed to an airstrip constructed there. On 4 April 1948, two Auster Autocrats, three pilots and two mechanics, were formed into the SA's Galilee section, headed by Pesach Tolchinky. On 25 April, the unit was officially designated the SA's 3rd Squadron and given the callsign "Lavi" (Lion). The squadron went into action on the very day of its formation. Early 1948 had seen the Yeshuv on the defensive, with Arab forces dominating the roads and attacking Jewish transportation. On 4 April, with Mishmar HaEmek under assault from Fawzi al-Qawuqji's Arab Liberation Army (ALA), the squadron flew its first sorties, with Golani observers on board. Three days later it dropped ammunition to the beleaguered kibbutz, and 9 April saw its first combat mission, dropping hand-held bombs on al-Qawuqji's Syrian artillery. In all, about a dozen sorties were flown during the Battle of Mishmar HaEmek. The battle, in which the ALA was repulsed and neighbouring Palestinian villages taken, signaled a change of policy for Jewish forces in the north, and these now went on the offensive. On 27 April, an Auster Autocrat assisted a Haganah force take control of the evacuated British Tegart fort at Samakh. Fighting intensified as the end of the British Mandate for Palestine drew near. During the first half of May, the squadron flew 180 sorties, an average of four sorties per pilot per day and as many as nine. These were predominantly reconnaissance, medical evacuation and supply flights, but also included combat missions. On 1 May, the settlement (moshav) of Ramot Naftali came under attack from ALA forces which far outnumbered and outgunned its 45 Jewish defenders. With Operation Yiftah and the battles for Safed underway, there were no ground forces available to provide assistance. The Galilee Squadron came to Ramot Naftali's aid, making nine bombing and strafing sorties against the attacking forces; its aircraft suffered extensive damage from ground fire but forced an Arab withdrawal and saved the moshav.
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)