GIDEON LICHTMAN

1923 - 2018

LICHTMAN, MAJOR GIDEON, USAF (Ret), died Wednesday, March 7, 2018, in Pembroke Pines Fla. He was 94. Born in 1923 in Newark, N.J., he had a lifelong passion for aviation that began in his boyhood when he used to ride his bicycle to the airport nearby to watch airplanes take off and land. During World War II, he entered the U.S. Army Air Force through the Aviation Cadet program. He completed flight training and was assigned to the 3rd Air Commando Group on Ie Shima flying bomber escort and ground attack missions in the North American P-51D Mustang. After the war he returned to New Jersey and went to college, using the GI Bill. He kept his flying skills sharp as a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve. In early 1948, after attending a speech given by a crewmember of the refugee ship Exodus, he volunteered to fight for the nascent state of Israel. He arrived in Israel in early June 1948, and within a week of his arrival, he scored the first air to air kill of an enemy fighter when he shot down an Egyptian Spitfire on June 8, 1948. He flew more than 30 missions with Israel's first fighter squadron, the 101 Squadron. After Israel's independence was secured, he returned to the United States and to the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He was called back to active duty during the Korean War. He taught school at Southwest Miami Senior High School, in Miami, Fla., using the name "Gideon Rimon." (The pseudonym was necessary as he had been advised by Israeli military intelligence officials that the Egyptians had plans to assassinate Lichtman and his fellow volunteers upon their return to the their respective countries.) Lichtman returned to Israel in 1964 to work as a test pilot for Israel Aircraft Industries. He and his family returned to Miami, in 1965 where Lichtman resumed his teaching career and his U.S. Air Force Reserve duties. He is survived by his four children, Beth Barnet (Fred Barnet), Debbie Lichtman (Steven Ladd), Robin Dainty (James Dainty), and Lt. Col. Bruce Lichtman (Nancy Schwartz), and five grandchildren. A Memorial Service will be held Sunday, at 10:00 AM at Levitt-Weinstein Memorial Chapel, 3201 N.W. 72nd Ave, Hollywood, FL. The family will receive visitors immediately following the service at 1067 S.W. 159 Way, Pembroke Pines, FL, 33027. Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery at a date to be determined.