At 99, the developer of the IDF's first fighter jet reveals the secrets

Ben-Ami Gov, the developer of the IDF's first fighter jet, reveals at age 99 his life story: fighting in convoys to besieged Jerusalem, joining the Palmach without official registration, and managing the Kfir jet project. In an interview upon receiving an honorary doctorate from the Technion, he tells about the child who died in his arms and about American dependence.

Ben-Ami Gov, at age 99, reveals his life story in an interview upon receiving an honorary doctorate from the Technion. Gov, the developer of the IDF's first fighter jet, the Kfir, was a Palmach fighter who was pushed into its ranks without official registration, and drove convoys to besieged Jerusalem during the War of Independence. He describes how a child who died in his arms during a shelling in Jerusalem still haunts him to this day. After the war, instead of studying medicine as he had dreamed, he went to the US for aeronautics studies and managed the Kfir jet project. Gov also tells about the coincidental family connection to Gidi Gov, and his opinion on Israeli dependence on American armaments.