British Airliner forced down 1969

[KeMac]

I seem to recall a British airliner (VC 10?) being forced down by Libyan jets in I think 1969? Does anyone recall such an incident as I have had a look on the internet but couldn't find anything.

[gruntie]

Anything to do with this (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=183686&highlight=East+African+Airways), or just coincidence?

[old,not bold]

Wasn't there a Sudanese gentleman on board the Libyans especially wanted to chat to, over a cup of tea?

And weren't there some strange British characters on board, sort of anonymous, with big boots?

And didn't several people work out that the ageing MiGs launched by Libya could never have caught up with a VC10 at FL35 or so and in normal cruise, and didn't have any AAMs that could do the job from behind and below? And then wonder why it was that the VC10 bothered to land when told to? The word "pre-arranged" sprang to some lips, I think.

All from dim and distant memory...the post rang a vague bell. I've probably got it all wrong and no doubt someone will tell us so.

[renfrew]

From "Wings across the world"
On 22July1971 a VC10 en route from London to Khartoum was ordered to land at Benghazi.Two Sudanese on board were removed and executed.

[KeMac]

That sounds like it Renfrew. I think it was a BOAC VC.10. I remember someone saying that some Lightnings should have been scambled to intercept the Libyans but I can't think where from.

[KeMac]

Gruntie - Can't say I had ever heard of that one. It sounds very similar though.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

I was very heavily involved in the "unscheduled" landing of a Britannia. If anyone wants more info pse PM me.

[merlinxx]

Would you be ref'ing to ASA (African Safari)? We used Benina as a tech stop (&Nav drop off/pick up) between MBA, NBO & BSL, GVA & LGW.

[Brewster Buffalo]

Record Summary

Scope and content Foreign airlines in Libya, including overflights: forcing down of a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) VC10 in July 1971. Includes correspondence prompted by a legal case against BOAC, brought by two Sudanese widows whose husbands had been taken off the plane and executed.
Covering dates 1976 Jan 02 - 1976 Dec 31
Availability Open Document, Open Description, Open on Transfer Former reference (Department) NFB 184/1 Held by The National Archives, Kew


Interesting....though this refers to 1971 & BOAC

[old,not bold]

I've dug out some contemperaneous cuttings and so on to refresh the ageing memory.

It's much as said above by various people; it was going southbound and was told to land almost as soon as it entered Libyan airspace.

It could have just turned round at cruise speed without descending and headed North again, perhaps landing at Rome until it was sorted out, we all thought.

The two Governments and BOAC kept shtum, but the "not-in-the-know-but-not entirely-stupid" conclusion in the Press and elsewhere was that the landing was pre-arranged. Certainly there was talk of one or two spooks on board by coincidence. The two who were taken off were not popular in UK either; in fact I seem to recall they were being deported although nothing I have confirms that.

I'm wondering if the Captain was among those who went to Bahrain a few years later to fly for GF?

[renfrew]

I find it very difficult to believe that the landing was pre-arranged and that BOAC would have acquiesced.
Again from "Wings across the world"-
"Captain Bowyer demanded clearance back to Rome,but the Libyan authorities threatened to shoot the airliner down unless he carried out instructions"

[Warmtoast]

Contemporary press cutting from The Times


By Our Foreign Staff
Colonel Bakar al-Nur, who was named President after last Monday’s abortive coup in Sudan, and his right-hand man, Major Farouk Osman Hamadallah, were executed by a firing squad yesterday, it was announced officially in Khartum. The announcement ended a day of confused events, with conflicting reports about the fate of the two men, who were taken off a BOAC aircraft by the Libyan Government in Benghazi last week and handed over to Sudan According to an eye-witness account in the Cairo newspaper At Akhbar, Colonel al-Nur earlier appeared at his interrogation with his bands above his head and flanked by soldiers armed with machineguns.
During the interrogation President Nimeiry accused him of having organized the attempted coup with Major Hamadallah, in conjunction with the Iraqi Baath Party, while the two men were in London.
The British Government protested at Libya’s “outrageous action” and called for the release of the two Sudanese. Reports reaching Cairo from Tripoli last night said the Libyan authorities denied that they forced the BOAC jet to land there.
The Libyans said that the aircraft landed because Khartum airport was closed and they claimed .that they accorded it all possible facilities.
An aircraft, carrying several prominent Iraquis to Khartum to congratulate the left-wing leaders of the Monday coup, blew up in the air near Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, early yesterday. According to an official announcement in Baghdad, all members of the delegation were killed.
Khartum radio reported that demonstrations of ‘loyalty towards General Nimeiry had begun in the capital Crowds shouting slogans in favour of the returned head of state were marching towards the radio station, it said.
The successful counter-coup was led by Lieutenant Muhammad Aly Karbass. the radio went on. It marked the end of the hardships that it said had befallen the Sudanese people in the past few days. Then President Nimeiry came to the microphone. Thanking the people whom rallied to his side, he denounced Monday’s coup as a mean plot “The people have proved themselves to be true. They stood side by side with the tanks and the soldiers to expose the mean conspiracy “. He continued: I hope every member of the armed forces and every member of the people will be with us against every renegade who belongs to the Communist Party.
“Arrest them or immediately notify the nearest police or army point, because these communists are traitors. “I announce now and I give warning that every person who attempts to conceal an outlaw will get the same treatment as the outlaw.” Earlier in the day. before the Khartum radio station fell into the hands of President Nimeiry’s troops, the military junta had announced that fighting was going on in the city. They said “revolutionary forces were battling heroically and they called on residents to come out into the streets to defend the revolution.”
During the fighting in Khartum troops supporting the military junta were reported to have surrounded the Egyptian, Libyan and Syrian embassies.
The Iraq news agency reported that the headquarters of the junta had been shelled. The BOAC VC10 forced to land at Benghazi, had 105 people on board, including many children flying to join their parents in East Africa. But after the incident the aircraft flew back to London. Accounts of how the plane was forced down varied in their detail but the main events are clear.
At 00.30 BST yesterday the pilot of the VC10, while flying over Libyan territory, was ordered to land by the Libyan air authorities. The pilot immediately turned back his aircraft towards the Mediterranean and asked permission of the Maltese authorities to land there. This was granted, but subsequently rescinded when the Maltese discovered that the plane was in Libyan air space and flying under the orders of Libyan air traffic control. Meanwhile, the Libyans threatened to shoot down the aircraft if their instructions were not obeyed. One of the passengers claimed that fighter planes were flying above and below, forcing the plane to land.
At 03.30 BST the aircraft landed at Benina airport in Benghazi and Libyan security officials came on board to talk to Colonel al-Nur. Both the colonel and his assistant were asked to leave the aircraft but they refused. The Security men then passed a message to Colonel al-Nur via a stewardess warning him that he would endanger the lives of the other passengers unless he left the aircraft. He then left the plane together with Major Hamadallah, who said they were being taken to Tripoli for questioning. The aircraft was then allowed to return to London.
Captain Johnny Meagher, the BOAC VC10 flight manager, asked about reports of fighters buzzingthe plane said last night that the crew had not seen any other aircraft.
In the Commons yesterday, Mr Joseph Godber. Minister of State at the Foreign Office, said that the Government took “a most serious view of the action taker by the Libyan authorities which is clearly in complete violation of international civil aviation practice”
On hearing of the matter, Mr Godber said he had immediately summoned the Libyan ambassador in London. “I protested in the strongest possible terms at an action which we condemned as inexcusable”, he added. “I demanded an apology and told him that his Government’s action was bound to have a severe effect on our relations with Libya.”
Hijacked rebel officers executed in Sudan

By Our Foreign Staff
Colonel Bakar al-Nur, who was named President after last Monday’s abortive coup in Sudan, and his right-hand man, Major Farouk Osman Hamadallah, were executed by a firing squad yesterday, it was announced officially in Khartum. The announcement ended a day of confused events, with conflicting reports about the fate of the two men, who were taken off a BOAC aircraft by the Libyan Government in Benghazi last week and handed over to Sudan. According to an eye-witness account in the Cairo newspaper At Akhbar, Colonel al-Nur earlier appeared at his interrogation with his bands above his head and flanked by soldiers armed with machine guns.
During the interrogation President Nimeiry accused him of having organized the attempted coup with Major Hamadallah, in conjunction with the Iraqi Baath Party, while the two men were in London.