Where Are They Now?Please feel free to post contact information here if you are looking for long lost friends or trying to find out what has happened to colleagues. Obituaries and condolences can be posted here too.
hi I'm new to thease forums so please be patient with me if I use it incorectly. I am trying to find my long lost father. I believe he was brought to england in the 80 s on some sort of libyian piolet training program. He lived in norwich for a short time in which he met my mother and resulted in me. I was told that something seriouse happened and all the piolets got sent back to Libya. I also believe he flew comercial flights. The little infomation I have is what I have been told and I'm trying to peice together if thee is any truth. Ibelieve his name to be halem busharla. And would be about 50 ish now if anyone has any info I would really appriciate it thankyou
Just out of interest Kassim, were you bought up in the Beccles area and did you spend any significant time back in Lybia? Was the majority of your education done in East Anglia?
The reason your father was probably sent back to Libya was because in December 1988, Pan American Flight 103 was blown up and crashed near Lockerbie. You will appreciate that the anti-Libyan feeling would have been pretty strong as a consequence of that action.
It seems most probable that the training to which you refer was being undertaken at a civilian training school, as I do not know of any continued involvement between the British and Libyan military at that time.
You do not say if your mother is still alive and what she is able to do to help your search. Do you have your birth certificate and is your father named on that certificate?
It seems probable that your father would have entered the country with a Visa and that his presence would have been known to British Immigration. However, I don't know which country represented Libyan interests/nationals in UK as their embassy had been closed following the death of WPC Yvonne Fletcher in 1984(?).
My suggestion is to get your birth certificate and then make enquiries as to who in the Norwich area was running aviation training courses (the local chamber of commerce might help).
I lived in Norwich until 1987 and knew lots of Libyan 'students'. Most of them were to be found in Spencers night club.
I do not think your father was on any pilot training scheme because I would have known about it (I was a pilot at Norwich Airport). Also, I was part of the airline (Air Anglia) in the early 80s and there certainly was no such scheme then. Also, he would not have flown comercially in the UK because he would not have had a licence - he may have flown comercially after returning home, of course.
Thankyou for your infomation it was a great help and has given me more options to pursue. My mother is dead and my father is not listed on my birth certificate. I will dig deeper and see what comes up thankyou again
If I recall correctly, and it's going back a long time, one of the Libyan students threatened or offered to use an aircraft in a suicide attack. As a result Libyans were banned from having any access to aircraft except as passengers.
Training for pilots and engineers had to be terminated as a result
Does your wider family or close friends of your mother, have any knowledge about your father and his identity? Are there any letters or papers amongst your mother's effects which would indicate anything about who your father was. (photographs?).
Tracking down where your father was actually studying would provide some pointers.
I must ask the delicate questions but did your father know about you, did he and your mother ever live together (that might point to a line of enquiry re Electorial Rolls {for your mother only but to identify a landlord}, Council Tax records, any involvement with social services) or did he leave your mother before you were born?
In these enquiries, local knowledge is often important and so you could enquire of the Citizens Advice Bureau or any organisations or individuals who might have had dealings with your mother at the time you were born.
Have you spoken with the parents of any of your school friends? They might have known and talked with your mother, particularly in the early years when you were at primary school.
Are you sure your father was a student pilot, could he have been training as an engineer possibly? Just a thought because I know Air UK had a large engineering department in Norwich in the 80's and I think they trained foreign nationals. Air UK has been taken over by KLM UK Engineering in Norwich now. KLM uk Engineering Ltd It might be worth writing to them, addressed to the Chief engineer. Someone of that seniority might possibly have worked for Air UK in the 80's. A shot in the dark but you never know.. I wish you the very best of luck with your search.
Thankyou for your infomation it was a great help and has given me more options to pursue. My mother is dead and my father is not listed on my birth certificate.
Have you got your mother's death certificate? I presume she died in the uk - it's just possible there might be some information on it that will help in your search.
Also I presume your mother and father did not marry?
Beccles isn't that far from Norwich. You could try cross searching the archives of the Eastern Daily Press for any mention of Libyans in Norwich or specific reference to your father. There's an aviation museum at Horsham St Faiths. There are volunteers there who have been around for a long time. Perhaps some one there may remember a Libyan in an anorak? Is it possible that he would have had to register with the Norfolk Police either before or after the embassy affair? If he flew commercial flights out of the UK, wouldn't there perhaps be some reference to a validation or licence at the UK CAA at Gatwick? He might have done an initial medical down there as well and so, there might be some reference to him on the CAA files. These are all long shots and good luck in the quest. Otherwise I suppose that if you speak and read Arabic there may still be records of his time in England somewhere in a Libyan archive or embassy file. Which country took over representation for Libyans in Britain between 1988 and 1999 and would they have records of Libyan citizens arriving in Britain? I think that although the shooting took place in 1984, diplomatic relations were only curtailed in 1988 until 1999 when they were resumed.
Just a thought, but might be worth checking any airlines that may have been leasing aircraft to Libya around that time. In the early eighties, British Air Ferries (based at Southend) certainly had a few aircraft leased out to various Libyan oil contracts at one time, and even to Libyan Arab Airlines.
