Dawson's field remains?
Dawson's field remains?
What happened to the remains of the aircraft blown up at Dawson's Field? Are they still there? For that matter, where is Dawson's Field in Jordan?
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If you point Google Earth to 32, 06, 21N and 36,09,35E and use the historical view to roll back to 2003, it is visible.
On the latest images, the runway appears to still be there, with a couple of buildings bisecting it.
On the latest images, the runway appears to still be there, with a couple of buildings bisecting it.
IIRC the VC-10 engines and horizontal stab. were returned to the UK.
The stab became a spare when a mod. program required removal for the work to be carried out.
I saw the engines at Heathrow during a visit to BOAC in 1971. They were all covered in sand. It was when the first 3 B747s had been delivered but were not flying due to union action.
I suspect the rest of the VC-10, the DC-8 and B707 were scrapped on site.
The stab became a spare when a mod. program required removal for the work to be carried out.
I saw the engines at Heathrow during a visit to BOAC in 1971. They were all covered in sand. It was when the first 3 B747s had been delivered but were not flying due to union action.
I suspect the rest of the VC-10, the DC-8 and B707 were scrapped on site.
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I Google Earth'd to the coordinates above and sure enough there was a runway with two buildings erected about mid point and clearly hardstandings etc. still visible on what would have been the airfield.
I passed very close to the area a few years ago, but there did not appear to be anything aviation-related in sight. A few huts and other buildings, but the area appeared to be abandoned.
Yes, it is. There were signs of construction, equipment, materials etc.,but no sign of any work taking place.
Yes, it is. There were signs of construction, equipment, materials etc.,but no sign of any work taking place.
Last edited by barry lloyd; 16th Oct 2017 at 11:31.
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After being informed by intercom that a hijacking was in progress, Captain Uri Bar Lev decided not to accede to their demands:
"I decided that we were not going to be hijacked. The security guy was sitting here ready to jump. I told him that I was going to put the plane into negative-G mode. Everyone would fall. When you put the plane into negative, it's like being in a falling elevator. Instead of the plane flying this way, it dives and everyone who is standing falls down."[6]
Bar Lev put the plane into a steep nosedive which threw the two hijackers off-balance. Argüello reportedly threw his sole grenade down the airliner aisle, but it failed to explode, and he was hit over the head with a bottle of whiskey by a passenger after he drew his pistol. Argüello shot steward Shlomo Vider and according to the passengers and Israeli security personnel, was then shot by a sky marshal.[7] His accomplice Khaled was subdued by security and passengers, while the plane made an emergency landing at London Heathrow Airport
N4790P
IIRC the VC-10 engines and horizontal stab. were returned to the UK.
The stab became a spare when a mod. program required removal for the work to be carried out.
I saw the engines at Heathrow during a visit to BOAC in 1971. They were all covered in sand. It was when the first 3 B747s had been delivered but were not flying due to union action.
I suspect the rest of the VC-10, the DC-8 and B707 were scrapped on site.
The stab became a spare when a mod. program required removal for the work to be carried out.
I saw the engines at Heathrow during a visit to BOAC in 1971. They were all covered in sand. It was when the first 3 B747s had been delivered but were not flying due to union action.
I suspect the rest of the VC-10, the DC-8 and B707 were scrapped on site.
Gentleman Aviator
I've probably told this dit before - so apologies if so - at my time of life it happens!
I was on my first tour in the RAF at Sharjah at the time. Amongst my carefully filed papers (ie - in a box somewhere in loft/garage/shed) I have a letter from the Officers' Mess at Sharjah along the lines of:
"We believe the cheque you wrote for your last Mess Bill was destroyed in the highjacked VC-10 at Dawson's Field. Please cancel the cheque and write a replacement!"
I was on my first tour in the RAF at Sharjah at the time. Amongst my carefully filed papers (ie - in a box somewhere in loft/garage/shed) I have a letter from the Officers' Mess at Sharjah along the lines of:
"We believe the cheque you wrote for your last Mess Bill was destroyed in the highjacked VC-10 at Dawson's Field. Please cancel the cheque and write a replacement!"
Sources vary wildly in their description of where Dawson's Field actually is/was. As well as the Wikipedia coordinates, which put it about 6 miles NE of Zerqa/Zarqa (which in turn is about 12 miles NE of Amman), various contemporary sources describe it as "15 miles N of Amman", "20 miles N of Amman" and "25 miles E of Zerqa".
The most reliable account seems to come from a UPI report in the Washington Post of September 9th, 1970, from a journalist who drove out from Amman to interview the guerillas and hostages. He described his route as "78 miles from Amman, the last 22 across trackless desert" (no direction specified) and the landing strip as being in an area of salt flats, quoting the TWA captain as saying that, should they be allowed to fly out, there wouldn't be any problem as "the runway here is 30,000 feet long" (reminiscent of Edwards AFB).
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No sign of any salt flats, either. It's pretty clear that those coordinates have nothing to do with Dawson's Field per the journo's report.
