Edmond Wilhelm Brillant the Levi (1916–2004) was a naval architect, Hagana member, among the founding fathers of the Israeli navy and was in the ZIM Navigation company the Israeli Merchant Marine. He dedicated his best years for the Navy buildup. Brillant was born in Jaroslaw Galicia, Poland, and was the youngest son among the four sons [1] of the famous pharmacist Wiktor Brillant [2][3][4] and his wife Laura Brillant (née Sturmlauf).[5]
Brillant was a flight amateur and joined the gliding club of Jaroslaw at the age of 13.[6][7] There he studied building gliders, aircraft, gliding and flight.
Brillant graduated from the Augusta Witkowskiego Jaroslaw Gymnasium (high school) in 1934, and started his MD studies. However, since he had a technical tendency, Brillant started learning accurate mechanics in Lviv. He immigrated to Israel (then Palestine) in 1936 on board of SS Polonia pl:SS Polonia from Port of Constanţa with a Hebrew Technion Certificate, and resided in Haifa.
Flight Club Poland
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Brillant started his mechanical engineering studies in the Hebrew Technion, and in 1937 he joined the Hagana Flight Club in “Kfar Yeladim” at Jezreel Valley as an instructor. The Kfar Yeladim flight club was the early seed of the Hagana for creating an air-arm, later became the Israeli Air-Force, under disguise of a gliding club. In 1938, he volunteered in the Palestine Police Railway Department (PPRD) of the Hagana Ghaffirs of the Jewish Supernumerary Police, and escorted trains from Zemach at the Sea of Galilee to Port Said, Egypt. During service in the PPRD, he was wounded when his train was blasted by a mine placed by terrorists during the Arab rebellion of 1936-1939. He escaped from hospital and returned to his company.[6][7]
As World War II started, Brillant wanted to volunteer the Buffs, but had typhoid and instead joined the Royal Navy as Chief Petty Officer in role of Engine Room Artificer (ERA)in 1942.Brillant was among the Jewish Hagana Volunteers to the Royal Navy, and served there till March 1946.[6][7][8][9]
Brillant served in the Red-Sea Theater aboard HMS Massawa at Eritrea and other naval bases[6] [7] .[8] Prior the takeover of Masawa by the Allies, the base was an Axis stronghold of the Regia Marina (the then Italian Navy). It was a bay which served as a harbor and shipyard with docking, thus was a strategic port for the Indian Ocean.[10]
As the Italians started to retreat, they sunk their ships.Salvage work was done by the United States Navy's Jewish Navy Officer, Commander Edward Ellsberg.[10] His team was replaced later on by the Royal Navy. There, Brillant started to learn salvage work, shallow water diving, diesel engines and other naval professions that assisted him later on in his Israeli Navy career.[6][7][8]
During Brillant's service in HMS Massawa became a pilot’s duties volunteer. Brillant's commanding officers at HMS Massawa recommended him to be commissioned [6][7][8] and assisted him to reach aviator trainings of the RN Fleet Air Arm (FAA) in 1944. His pilot duties were destroyed since the Ministry of Colonies did not allow access to aviation training for Jewish volunteers from Palestine.[6][7][8] In his file, it was written that Brillant's engineering skills were of 'great importance' to the Navy.[6][7][8]
Even though Brillant was disqualified from Royal Navy pilot duties, he continued serving and did not answer the U.S. Navy requests to join them as an officer.[6][7][8]
After his release from Navy, he returned to the Hagana and joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Naval Forces.
Brillant joined the Hagana Harbor Platoon, which later on became Flotilla 13 Navy commando unit, and took part in several of their operations. During this time, Brillant took part in converting the clandestine immigration ships of Hagana into first improvised Israeli Navy ships for the War of Independence.[6][7][8] This work was camouflaged since the British Mandate only left Haifa harbor in June 1948.
Brillant founded the damage control branch and the special salvage unit and special under water operations called YALTAM. He established the damage control floating fighting, and fire fighting training that each navy officer and sailor has to pass.[6][7][8]
Brillant served as a staff officer in the Naval Brass, and during his service he was the investigator of the 1956 sea battle in which the Egyptian destroyer Ibrahim el Awal was captured.[6][8] He analyzed the air attack and navy operation of both the French and Israelis, and his report was submitted to Lt General Moshe Dayan as well as the French Brass.[6][7][8]
Brillant also improved the conversion time of reserve fishing boats to patrol boats from 3 days into few hours.[6][7][8]
Brillant was borrowed from the Navy by ZIM [6] [7] [8] in order to lead three projects of merchant marine ship building.[6][7][8] He moved to France, and led the SS Shalom project in Chantiers de l'Atlantique. This ship was the largest passenger ship of ZIM and was the flagship. After then, he moved to Toulon to manage the building of two freight ships Keshet (Bow) and Noga (Venus).[6][7][8] In 1963, Brillant asked the IDF attaché in Paris for permission to retire from the Navy, even though they requested him to continue his service for the Fall Leaves project known as Cherbourg Project In 1969, while he was a technical superintendent in ZIM Europe lines, Brillant designed the fueling of the 5 missile boats of the Cherbourg Project that escaped the Cherbourg Harbor in operation Noah.[6][7][8][11] The fueling freight ships that were modified by him were M.V.Lea to fuel in the Gibraltar and M.V Netanya as a backup in the Biscay bay.[6][7][8][11]