Arms shipments from Czechoslovakia to Israel 1947 – 49 Between June 1947 and October 31 , 1949 the Jewish agency ( later to become the Israeli government ) seeking weapons for Operation Balak , made several purchases of weapons in Czechoslovakia , some of them of former German army weapons , captured by the Czechoslovak army on its national territory , or newly produced German weapons from Czechoslovakia ' s post - war production . In this deal , sale activities of Czechoslovak arms factories were coordinated by a special - purpose department of the " Československé závody strojírenské a kovodělné , n . p . " ( Czechoslovak Metal - Working and Engineering Works , Nat . Ent . ) Holding , called " Sekretariát D " ( Secretariat D ) , headed by Gen . Jan Heřman ( ret . ) . One of the first large contracts was signed on January 14 , 1948 , and included 200 MG 34 machine guns , 4 , 500 P 18 rifle s and 50 , 400 , 000 rounds of ammunition . The deliveries from Czechoslovakia proved important for the establishment of Israel . Total deliveries . Aircraft . Some of the aircraft were lost en route to Israel . The delivery of aircraft began on May 20 , 1948 , and was conducted from the Czech airfield near the town of Žatec . Some of the deliveries were not finished until after cessation of hostilities . Only eighteen Spitfires reached Israel prior to end of war by direct flight from Czechoslovakia during operations Velvetta 1 in September ( 6 planes ) and Velvetta 2 in December 1948 ( 12 planes ) , both operations with a refueling stop in Yugoslavia . During operation Velvetta 2 Spitfires were repainted in Yugoslav Air Force markings for the flight from Kunovice to Nikšić . The rest were shipped in crates , officially declared as scrap iron , along with 12 Merlin 66 engines , and deliveries lasted until the end of April 1950 . Other defense cooperation . Czechoslovakia also trained 81 pilots and 69 ground crew specialists , some of them later forming the first fighter unit of the Israeli Air Force , and on the soil of Czechoslovakia a group of Jewish volunteers the size of approximately a brigade ( about 1 , 300 men and women ) were also trained , from August 20 , 1948 until November 4 , 1948 . The Czechoslovak Armed Force ' s codename of the training ( mainly ) was « DI » ( an abbreviation from " Důvěrné Israel " , literally meaning " Classified , Israel " ) . Moto - Mechanized Brigade Group of Jewish volunteers trained in Czechoslovakia didn ' t take part in the 1948 war . The end of cooperation . After the Communist coup d ' état in Czechoslovakia in February 1948 , military support for the nascent state of Israel increased temporarily . However , Stalin ' s briefly held policy of support for the state of Israel soon disintegrated , and in the wake of the Stalin - Tito split , all Communist Parties had to put their foreign policy in lockstep with the Kremlin ' s to prove their loyalty . In this context the Czechoslovak Communists ended weapons sales to Israel . Subsequently , Stalin carried out an international purge of Communist Party officials suspected of sympathy for nationalist or Jewish variations of communism . The Communist foreign minister Vladimír Clementis , who had been the main supporter in the Czechoslovak government of the arms exports to Israel , fell victim to this purge in the Slánský trial .