Brig. Gen. Aharon "Yallo" Shavit Has Landed for the Last Time

Imagine this scene: Night falls over the Sinai Desert, enveloping the black cliffs of the Etzion mountains, west of Eilat, in darkness. On the edge of a massive construction site, a group of men dressed in dusty work clothes, exhausted from the day's labor, sit in a circle. They are silent for a moment, but then a bottle of whiskey is pulled out from somewhere and passed around among the attendees. Within minutes, the fatigue vanishes, and an animated conversation develops among those present. On the virtual table, the problems and challenges encountered during the day are raised, and practical solutions for the next day's work are adopted on the spot.

This is not a fictional description. This is exactly how the establishment of the Israel Air Force's "Etzion" base was managed in the early 1970s. Constructing an operational flight base from scratch, deep within the desolate desert expanses of the Sinai Peninsula, was an engineering and logistical challenge of unprecedented scale. Once construction was complete, many considered Etzion to be the most advanced and beautiful base the Air Force had ever possessed, until it was returned to Egypt as part of the peace accords. The phenomenal success of the base is credited primarily to one man: Aharon "Yallo" Shavit, who passed away on September 25 at the age of 91.

Shavit led the Etzion construction project and commanded the base during its early years, including during the Yom Kippur War. At eye level, without ceremonial pretense, and by virtue of a rare personal charm and natural leadership, Yallo managed to extract commitments for shortened schedules from contractors, engineers, and workers, obtaining "extras" beyond official contracts, and creative solutions to impossible problems. Under his orchestration, Etzion became the most modern, advanced, and impressive base in the Air Force at that time.

"Yallo" Shavit was one of those rare individuals who truly become a legend in their own lifetime. When he entered a room, something in the air, in the atmosphere, would shift. Throughout the three decades spanning from the Sinai War to the First Lebanon War, he was a dominant figure in the Air Force—part of a select group that included pilots and commanders like Ran Peker and Giora Rom, who embodied the spirit of the Air Force, the values of the corps, and the very fabric that made it what it is.

Brig. Gen. Aharon "Yallo" Shavit (Yallovsky) was born in Tel Aviv in 1935, the Sabra son of a family of citrus growers from Ness Ziona. "My grandfather's orchards determined the border between the State of Israel and the Gaza Strip," he told me once during an interview he granted to "Israel Hayom" Dayli about a decade ago. "The edge of the orchard was set as the nation's border."

In May 1955, he graduated from Pilot Training Course No. 17. Following the military requirements of those days, he Hebraized his surname to Shavit, but the nickname "Yallo" accompanied him throughout his entire life. From the very beginning of his path, he stood out as an exceptional pilot; during the Sinai War (1956), he fought as a fighter pilot in the mythical 101 Squadron, where he recorded two shoot-downs of Egyptian Vampire aircraft. In the Six-Day War, as the commander of 105 Squadron, he added another aerial victory to his tally – one that was entirely unique in the world: he managed to shoot down a Syrian MiG-21 while piloting a Super Mystère (Sambad), an aircraft considered orders of magnitude inferior in performance to the MiG. "Once again it became clear to me that the MiG was a superior aircraft and that I couldn’t keep up with it," he recounted in the book "G-Suit" (Halifat Lahatz). "I changed direction, he was tempted and reversed his bank. That’s where I caught him. One more bank reversal, a relatively long burst, and the MiG crashed in the center of the airfield…"

The Etzion Base was officially inaugurated in 1972 and faced its harshest trial by fire shortly thereafter. At the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Shavit was temporarily stationed with the Air Force delegation in the United States. As the fighting commenced, he rushed back to Israel and immediately resumed command of the Etzion base. Under his command during the war, 144 Squadron (which operated "Nesher" aircraft) out of Etzion recorded over 40 shoot-downs of enemy aircraft – the highest number of aerial victories among all Air Force squadrons in the war. Yallo commanded the base until July 1976, from where he proceeded to the role of Air Attaché in Washington. In his civilian life, alongside David Kolitz, he was one of the co-founders of "Elul Technologies" and one of the architects behind bringing the F-16 fighter jets to the Israel Air Force. RIP