First airlift arrival of יהודים YEHUDIM from Aden.

JDC’s finding aid dates an initial orphan phase to December 14; דב Levitan DOV places the first flight’s departure on December 15. The existing first-phase study preserves that disagreement. Either could coexist with a December 16 arrival only if transport records demonstrated different milestones. The sequence is plausible, but plausibility alone does not establish it. ^{2 3}

The December 16 claim survives in the inherited arrival entry, but no passenger manifest or flight log has been recovered. It should not be repeated as a verified arrival merely because a calendar check previously treated it that way.

Refugees awaited transport under imperial controls that shaped access to aircraft and refueling. JDC’s finding aid says the initial phase was restricted to orphans and interrupted by refusal of refueling permission. Control of that practical resource could stop an escape route even after the refugees had reached the transit area. ⁴

The phase record explains the vulnerability of waiting יהודים YEHUDIM and the agency of relief institutions organizing transport. It does not identify the passengers on the inherited December 16 flight or establish a precise arrival number.

Departure permissions, aircraft logs and arrival registers could identify the first completed passage to ארץ ישראל EREẒ YISRAʾEL. A manifest would connect that journey to named passengers, including whether it carried orphans. Until those records are compared, a phase beginning cannot supply the date or passenger count of a particular arrival.

The existing December 16, 1948, arrival placement is retained as provisional י״ד בכסלו ה׳תש״ט 14th 𝑜𝑓 Kislev, AM 5709, by fixed Ivrit daytime conversion. Neither the date’s presence in the ID nor its previous verified calendar row supplies a flight record. Levitan’s December 15 departure and JDC’s December 14 phase opening describe different possible milestones; they do not independently establish the arrival. No local landing hour is held; an after-sunset arrival on December 16 would belong to ט״ו בכסלו ה׳תש״ט 15th 𝑜𝑓 Kislev, AM 5709. A separate human calendar review is needed. ^{5 6}

• What evidence could show that a phase beginning, a departure and an arrival belong to different dates?
• How did refueling control shape the ability of refugees to reach ארץ ישראל EREẒ YISRAʾEL?