Let's face it. Do we really want to get on a flight where they drop the temperature so low that icicles form on your nose and you have to wear a mask throughout the flight while your legs are dangling in the aisle because there is no leg room? Well, of course we do. It is the quickest way to get somewhere, although the most uncomfortable.

Since 9/11 or it should be 11/9, the security checks are long and since corona, the corona check is even longer. But since the early seventies, Israel-bound flights were always under the highest security. There was always the risk of a terrorist attack or a hijacking.

However not every airline took the same precautions. November 21 1974 British Airways flight BA870 flew from London to Brunei via Beirut, Dubai, Calcutta and Singapore. The flight had about 48 people on board, crew and passengers. At Dubai, four Palestinian terrorists, members of the Abu Nidal Organization, disguised as airport workers, approached the aircraft firing weapons, shooting an Indian stewardess who was standing on the plane's steps. The terrorists forced their way on to the aircraft and threatened to destroy the aircraft and kill the passengers, demanded that the aircraft should be refueled. With the agreement of the Dubai authorities and of British Airways, the aircraft was refueled and permitted to take off from Dubai. They wanted to return to Beirut, Lebanon but were refused entry with the excuse that the airport was closed.

The aircraft flew directly to Tripoli, Libya, where it landed and was refueled and took off bound for Tunis, arriving there on 22 November 1974. No one knew what they were demanding. In Tunis the hijackers finally made their demands:

• The release of Palestinian terrorists held in Cairo, Egypt.
• The release of two jailed Palestinian terrorists in Holland.
• An admission by Britain that the establishment of Israel was a crime.

The Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) after it split from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1974, over a dispute regarding the establishment of diplomatic ties with Israel. The ANO wanted Israel destroyed! Abu Nidal is the alias name of Sabri al-Banna. His nom de plume actually means "father of the struggle" in Arabic.

Egypt and Holland did not immediately negotiate and the hijackers stuck to their demand for the release of 7 Palestinians held in Cairo and Holland. They set a deadline of 24 hours and promised to execute a hostage every two hours past that time. When no progress was visible after 24 hours they murdered a German Banker and dropped his body to the ground from the aft passenger door. Negotiations resulted in the Cairo-held Hostages being brought to the plane in exchange for 7 Hostages. The terrorists held in Egypt where actually only under house arrest in Cairo for the firebombing of a Pan American 707 jetliner at Rome Airport the previous year in which 32 people were killed.

The terrorists held in Holland were serving five‐year prison sentences for another hijacking, almost a slap on the wrist. When the two terrorists from Holland arrived, the remaining hostages were released, leaving only a three member crew.

The hijackers were informed over the radio that all Arab governments as well as the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) had condemned their action and they became desperate,. They then requested political asylum in Tunisia which was rejected. They were ordered to surrender. The hijackers refused and set two deadlines for their demand for asylum to be met otherwise they would blow up the aircraft and their hostages. Time passed and deadlines went but the crew was still held inside with various explosives set around the cockpit.

After an ordeal totaling 84 hours a hijacker came to the cockpit and informed them that they had decided to surrender. It was over!

On board was a huge amount of mail, about 2.5 tons, most originating from the the UK between the 16th and 20th November 1974, and was destined for the Far East and Australasia. The mail was undamaged and returned to the UK onboard. Strangely only mail destined for Western Australia, received a two line instructional message: "Delayed en route -Aircraft Hi-Jack". This was probably added in Perth.

Less than 50 covers are known with this message and to date it is the only known message for a hijacking.



For more information see:

In an episode of Exploring Stamps, Graham spoke of my crash cover and I thought it would be nice to give more information than the cold facts, after all people lost their lives.

February 21, 1970, a cold and wet Saturday, Switzerland was shaken when Swissair 330 bound for Tel Aviv, crashed shortly after take-off from Zurich. Swissair Flight 330 was a regularly scheduled flight from Zurich International Airport in Kloten, Switzerland, to Hong Kong with a planned stopover in Tel Aviv, Israel.

About nine minutes after take-off, during the ascent on a southerly course, a bomb detonated in the aft cargo compartment of the aircraft. The bomb was triggered by a change in atmospheric pressure. The crew desperately tried to turn the plane around and attempt an emergency landing at Zürich but had difficulty seeing the instruments due to smoke in the cockpit. The aircraft deviated more and more to the west. “330 is going down,” co-pilot Armand Etienne told the control tower in German and added “Goodbye everybody” in English. The flight crashed a short time later due to a loss of power, killing everyone on board: 38 passengers and nine crew.

Let us look for a moment at the co pilot Armand Etienne. He was actually born in Odessa, Russia in 1918, but his family came from Lausanne, Switzerland. Armand moved to Australia and joined the RAAF in 1939 when war broke out.

Completing his training he was then assigned to a Squadron operating American-built PB-Y "Catalina" Flying-Boats. One of his fellow crews was forced into the sea, and he promptly set out on a rescue mission to pick them up. He took off to fly the mission in broad daylight, and after flying low over Japanese-held territory, he soon located his stranded comrades, and then safely brought them home. For this remarkable rescue under the eyes of the Japanese, he was decorated for his outstanding courage and grim determination with the Distinguished Flying Cross (D.F.C.).

He joined Swissair in 1953. Armand is often referred to as a Captain but on the fateful flight 330, he was the co-pilot. RIP and thank you for your service.

Continuing with our story, the PFLP-GC (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command) initially claimed responsibility out of their HQ in Beirut Lebanon, but they retracted it after a few days. One possible motive was revenge against Switzerland for three Palestinians who had been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment by a Swiss court.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) was established in April 1968 by Ahmed Jibril. Jibril recently passed away, July 7th. At the time, being of Syrian descent, he was a member of the PFLP, the PLO, and a captain in the Syrian Army. He wanted to focus more on terrorism and less on politics. The PFLP-GC is not to be confused with PFLP of George Habash. Monty Python "Life of Brian" anyone? 

The Olympics, an event of brotherhood amongst the nations. The symbol's five rings are supposed to represent the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from around the world. But let us look back at darker times.

It is 1936, Germany is controlled by the Nazi Party, and Hitler wants to show the world that the Aryans are the superior race. Germany was awarded the right to hold the Olympics a few years before the Nazis came to power. It was supposed to signal Germany's return to the international community after her defeat in WWI.

Nazi Germany's hate filled anti-Semitic policies led to an international debate about a potential boycott of the games. The International Olympic Committee pressured the German government and received assurances that Jews would be a part of the German team and that the Games would not be used to promote Nazi ideology. But of course the Nazis were not to going to abide by this. They did, however, let a single Jewish athlete take part, Helene Mayer, a fencer, who was only partly Jewish. She was on Germany’s team as a public relations façade to fool the world into thinking Jewish people still had rights in Hitler’s Germany. Of course Goebbels refused to allow the media to talk about here Jewishness.

So now we are in the Olympics and the newly constructed sports complex was draped in Nazi banners and symbols because Hitler wanted to show off. This was going to be the first time the Games were going to be televised. A big feather in Hitler's cap.