RustyBattleship

Maybe he was an ancestor of Harpo Marx.

Or maybe even Britney Spears.

__________________
Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.

7thsfsniper

I thought this was interesting tidbit. Byron Rickards was the panagra pilot in arequipa.


It certainly didn't do Byron Rickards much good. Thirty years after he became the world's first hijacked pilot, it happened to him again.

This time he was the victim of a father and son team, who tried to hijack a Continental Boeing 707 from El Paso to Cuba. The hijackers were not politically motivated. They were hoping Castro would reward them for bringing him a $3.3 million airliner. But by this time the US Government had changed it`s tune: as the aircraft set off down the runway, it was chased by four cars full of FBI agents and police who shot the tyres off. Two hours later the two amateur hijackers were overpowered.

__________________
The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten

GAU-8

On June 30, 1948, a Bulgarian commercial Junkers plane was successfully hijacked to Istanbul by a discharged diplomat and his family, who had to shoot dead the co-pilot (who happened to be the head of Bulgaria's civil aviation) and the radio operator in order to escape to the West.

Oh crap. Disregard. "Commercial."

We could use a hint here Glyn. Not commercial. Military?

On the morning of Friday, 20 August 71, Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas, a pilot still under training, was in the front seat of jet a trainer, taxiing out for take off. An instructor pilot from the same unit forced his way into the rear cockpit, seized control of the aircraft and having taken off, headed the aircraft towards India. With just 40 miles of Pakistan territory remaining, Minhas had only one course open to him to prevent his aircraft from entering India. Without hesitation and living up to the highest traditions of the Pakistan Air Force, Rashid Minhas tried to regain control of his aircraft, but finding this to be impossible in the face of the superior skill and experience of his instructor, forced the aircraft to crash at a point 32 miles from the Indian border. In doing so, Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas deliberately made the supreme sacrifice for the honour of Pakistan and the service to which he belonged. For this act of heroism above and beyond the call of duty, the President of Pakistan awarded Nishan-i-Haider to Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas.

__________________
When a prang seems inevitable, endeavor to strike the softest, cheapest object in the vicinity, as slowly as possible. --WW II RAF Instructor Pilot

glyn

[quote=GAU-8;487197]

We could use a hint here Glyn. Not commercial.

True, true and spoken with a mouthful of teeth!

Military?

Eb-Sloot-Lee!

__________________
Semper in excretum. Solum profunda variat.

dave lukins

Ted Strever was a Royal Air force pilot and was based in Malta during the spring of 1942. Ted took off in his Bristol Beaufort bomber on one particular mission in late July to intercept an Italian supply ship. He was shot down at sea after scoring a direct hit on the supply ship, which managed to do enough damage to Ted’s plane before sinking.
Not long after scrambling into their dingy after the crash Ted and his crew where picked up by an Italian sea plane and made prisoners of war.
It did not take them long to learn that they would be taken to Taranto in Italy where they would spend the rest of the war as prisoners.
The thought of their approaching doom spurred them into taking action against their captors. With the watchful eyes of the guard on them and limited communication the worlds first skyjack swung into action.
They started straight for the radio operator, clearly to make sure no contact was made to the base and successfully took him out. They then overpowered an unexpected guard and managed to get his weapon off him. The first part of their attack was successful but the turning point came when the co-pilot pulled a pistol on them. Luck was on their side however as it was one the Italian’s own comrades that knocked the weapon from his hands in the frantic struggle to regain control. It was after that bit of fortune in the frenzied chaos that they knew the plane was theirs, and Ted wasted no time in taking over the controls.
New problems now became apparent. The first and more immediate issue was that they were fast running low on fuel. After asking the Italian Engineer kindly (at gunpoint) to switch to reserves and by changing their route, flying rather to their base at Malta instead of the African coast, this first problem was quickly taken care of. Next was the problem of flying an Italian plane. Ted’s experience was sufficient to fly an Italian plane but to the allies this was an enemy aircraft fast approaching the Malta coast. Soon there were spitfires gunning them down. Normally the sight of spitfires off the wing of his torpedo bomber would have been comforting, however this was clearly not a Bristol Beaufort bomber and with holes being shot in his tail this was definitely not comforting. Ted hurled the first pilot back into his seat and ordered him in hurried sign-language to land in the sea.
One of the men then whipped off his shirt and took his vest — the only white article he had — and waved it out of the window making it clear that they had come to surrender — albeit to their own side!
The first wave of spits managed to do fair damage to the plane but they landed safely and the worlds 1st skyjack was over.
Astonished to see four RAF’s in the Italian plane a member of the launch team towing them back to St Paul’s Bay said “We thought it was old Mussolini coming to give himself up!”

Ted Strever received a DFC for his achievement in the war. He died in Haenertsburg, South Africa in 1997 at the age of 77.

GAU-8

glyn

dave lukins

Thank you Gent's

In 2004 after 20 years in the making, the Pentagon officially axed this futuristic helicoptor.

Tin Man

Comanche?

__________________
"Liberty is a thing beyond all price.

dave lukins

Correct...Well done

Tin Man

Ok, another easy one from me. What aircraft was the Learjet 23 based on.

7thsfsniper

the ffa p-16- a proposed swiss fighter that was never put into production.

Tin Man

Right on! Over to you mate

7thsfsniper

I'm a big fan of helicopters and this one may be too easy but here it is. Many helis today are now capable of loops, rolls and hammerhead stalls.

What was the first helicopter to do a succesful loop?

Tin Man

Sikorsky S-52 in 1949?