BOAC Flight 775 (Bombay-LHR) was hijacked between Bahrain and Beirut on the 9th September 1970. After landing at Beirut to refuel, the aircraft was flown to Dawson's Field a desert strip near Amman in Jordan.
The three hijackers were supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and wanted to pressure the British government to free Leila Khaled, a member of the PFLP. Khaled had been overpowered during a failed hijacking of an El Al flight on the 6th September and was in custody in London.
The 105 passengers and 9 crew joined hostages from two other hijacked aircraft, already at Dawson’s Field. Over the next days some hostages were moved to a hotel in Amman and some were released.
On the 12th September, anticipating a military strike, the hijackers decided to leave Dawson’s Field. They blew up the VC10, followed by the hijacked TWA 707 and SwissAir DC-8, and released those hostages still at Dawson’s Field.
The last hostages were released at the end of September in exchange for Leila Khaled and three prisoners from Switzerland.
Leila Khaled in Damascus after her release from Britain
The relatively undamaged tail of the VC10 was retrieved and the horizontal stabiliser was apparently used as a spare.
The captain of the VC10 was Cyril Goulborn.
I don’t know the names of the F/O or F/E.
Was anyone here a member of the BOAC crew?
Or involved in any way?
.