The airport on Kanfei Nesharim Street in Givat Shaul
On the right, there is the silo (flour storage) of the old Jerusalem Angel Bakery. It is still there today, but its demolition is planned as the bakery complex was sold a few months ago and will be vacated at the beginning of 2024.
Three airports operated in Jerusalem at the beginning of the twentieth century. An Eagle Wing (Kanfei Nesharim) airport was opened in May 1948 and used for light aircraft that brought vital ammunition, mail, and weapons to the besieged city.
The airfield was located near the Arab villages of Deir Yassin and Jafta. Sometimes, fire was opened, targeting the planes that tried to land there.
Because of the proximity to the Arab villages and the exposure to enemy fire, during the war, a Rangers squad was sent to another airport that would serve the city.
Although the airport in Givat Shaul is considered better and safer for takeoffs and landings, another airport was opened, at a safe distance from the Arab villages, on the Emek Hamatzleva route, where today’s Saker Garden is located, next to the east of today’s Knesset building.
The squad reported to Ben-Gurion about the new airport and requested 7,000 Israeli pounds for the operations that were necessary there.
Ben Gurion wrote in his diary:
“An unexpected amount, but if the place is really suitable, work should start immediately.”
The works did begin immediately, heavy mechanical equipment from Sodom was moved under the noses of the British, and after a week of work, 500 people were recruited, including school students and volunteers, who cleared the dirt, and the first flights began to arrive from Sde Dov, near Tel Aviv.
Arab snipers from the Katamon and San Simon neighborhoods also fired at the planes from the Crossing Valley.
The airport’s operations personnel lived on the top floor of a house in the nearby Nachalat Achim neighborhood, which served as a control tower. Every sound of an approaching plane made crowds of enthusiastic residents run towards the airfield to see the miracle – a plane landing in the heart of the city.
The airport was difficult to land on because of its problematic location and the winds in the Emek Hamatzleva Valley, and also the proximity to mountains and villages.
On August 3, an “Oster” plane took off from the runway back to Tel Aviv. After takeoff and turning west to Tel Aviv, the plane crashed. Its two pilots were killed, and the debris was scattered around the Olive Groves in the area of today’s Nation Buildings.
The airstrip in the Crossroads Valley was used by the army of the newly established state for six months.
After the war, the Eagle’s Wings Airport resumed limited activity for several years. Afterward, the main airport of Jerusalem returned to the Atarot airstrip, which we will explore on another occasion.
Today, Kanafi Nesher Street is the main street of Givat Shaul and its industrial area.
Modern office towers with commercial spaces have been built on both sides of the street. There is also a plan to build the green route of the light rail line on the axis of Nesher, which will go from Mount Nof to Mount Scopus.
Old versus new, past versus history, light rail next to airplanes. This is our Jerusalem.
The flour station complex on Farbstein Street in Kiryat Moshe has demolished not long ago, and a huge residential, office, and commercial building was built there.
I will always remember when I was a child, early in the morning, after the prayer on Eve of Kippur in the Kiryat Moshe synagogue, me and Grandpa Shlomo went back home on foot to the Beit HaKerem neighborhood and felt the smell of the challahs and bread coming out of the ovens. I was drawn to it as if it were the sound of the flute of Melin. Along with many other people, we stood in line to buy fresh challahs that had just come out of the oven.
In the first year, I bought a hot challah, which I finished while walking, without realizing it, and I arrived home with a bag full of crumbs.
From that year on, I always bought 2 challahs, to have some for my family too.
Shabbat of peace to the far and near from Jerusalem
Dedicated to my late grandfather, Shlomo Cohen.
Photographer – Unknown
